Edward Lear (1812-1888) wielded a masterful hand with this form and was given credit for popularizing it. Limericks make fun of everything and everybody. The lilt of limericks is captivating and helps the listener catch on. This form is a five line poem, written in anapestic rhythm (a metrical foot composed of two short syllables followed by one long one). Lines 1, 2, and 5 contain three beats which rhyme aa, bb, a. Lines 3 and 4 contain two beats that rhyme.
Examples:
Before we even said grace
He sat and filled up his face
He gorged on salami
Ate all the pastrami
Then exploded with nary a trace.
~G.B. Lipson
I knew a big fool name of Fred
Who did nasty things to his head
He tried a dumb trick
With a very hard brick
And he wound up stone dead in his bed!
~G.B. Lipson