1. Limerick as a genre of English poetry
Plokhotyuk A.
11-th Form
Irida School
Superviser of studies-
Andronova S.V.,
English teacher

2. Aim:
- to get acquainted with English poetic folklore;
- to learn about the history and structure of limericks;
Tasks:
- to study the structure of limericks;
- to get acquainted with the authors and translations of limericks;
- to conduct a survey of classmates;
- to present a selection of my classmate’s own translations of English limericks.
The object of study:
Limericks make the object of our study

3. The history of limerics
Limerick is a type of poetry, so to say “a nonsense poem” which is filled with humor and wit. Limerick poetry is a play of words.
The characters of these poems are comical, funny people. Limerick is made to cheer you up, it can also make you thinking and inspire you too.

4. Limerick poems can be traced back to the 14th century English history
Limerick poems can be traced back to the 14th century English history. Limericks were used in nursery rhymes and other poems for children. Limericks were short, relatively easy to compose and they were often repeated by beggars or the working class in the British pubs and taverns of the 15th , 16th and 17th centuries. It is believed that the word originates from the Irish town of Limerick. There is also a suggestion that it comes from the Irish word “a menny lay” meaning “a happy song”.

5. The most famous English author of limericks is Edward Lear, an
English poet and artist. He was born in 1812 in London. He was the
12-th child of the family and had to earn his own living at the age of
15. When he was 19 he began to work as an artist at the zoo. In a year
he published a book of coloured drawings of parrots.
The Earl of Derby liked Lear`s work and invited him to stay with
his family and paint the collection of his birds. Lear worked there for 4
years and it was during that period that he wrote his first limericks to
amuse Earl`s grandchildren. Those nonsense verses were illustrated by
charming pen drawings.

6. In 1846 he gave 12 drawing lessons to Queen Victoria and could
successfully continue his career at the royal court or in the estates of
the English aristocracy, but he chose the life of an independent artist .
However, Lear had many skills and talents: he fluently spoke and
wrote in several languages, was a landscape painter and a brilliant
draughtsman, an excellent botanist and ornithologist, composed
music for a lot of his own poems. Lear was considered to be a weirdo,
and he certainly was. Despite the hard work, he lived very modestly.
Lear disliked the high society way of life. He loved solitude. The only
one who spent his days close to Lear for about 10 years,
accompanying him everywhere, was a cat, FOSS by name.

7. In 1846 in London a little book was published with the strange name
of "Book of nonsense". The book sold out in no time. Hilarious
nonsense, or nonsense, as they are called English, are very appreciated
by young readers.

8. Poems consist of 5 lines where the first line rhymes with the second and the last one, and third with the fourth. As in any short story there is a first acquaintance with the character: the author specifies his name and the names of the other people. The following 3 lines should tell the story of the curious case of the life of a person. The fifth shows the public reaction to the event. The first and the last lines must end the same way. Limerick usually has the rhyme scheme AABBA.

9. 3.For he said, 'To eat mice, short lines 4. Is not proper or nice‘
a person a place
1.There was an old man of Dumbree, 2.Who taught little owls to drink tea;
3.For he said, 'To eat mice, short lines
4. Is not proper or nice‘
5.That amiable man of Dumbree.
1-A 2 – A 3 – B 4 – B A

10. The was an old man from Peru
Who dreamt he was eating his shoe
He awoke in the night
In a terrible fright
And found it was perfectly true
Жил – был в Китае чудак
Который во сне ел башмак
Он ночью проснулся
И ужаснулся
Что это именно так

11. Limericks are translated into many languages
Limericks are translated into many languages. Widely known translations of the limericks made by V. Orlov, S.Satin, O. Astafieva and others. But the best interpreter of the English poems of nonsense in Russia is Samuil Marshak. He was born in 1887 in Voronezh. He loved poetry very much and at the age of four he tried to write them, and at 11 he began to translate Roman poet Horace.
The secret of his translation of limericks is to preserve the rhyme, poetical size of poems and not to lose a humorous character of them.

12. Marshak`s translation of the limerick :
There was a young lady of Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger
They returned from the ride
With the Lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger
Улыбались три смелых девицы
На спине у бенгальской тигрицы
Теперь же все три –
У тигрицы внутри ,
А улыбка на морде тигрицы

13. Such writers as G. Oster, K. Chukovsky, B. Zakhoder , D
Such writers as G.Oster, K.Chukovsky, B. Zakhoder , D. Kharms are also considered to be the outstanding representatives of the similar genre of literature, as the poems of nonsense , limericks and a word-play.
G. Oster K. Chukovsky
B. Zakhoder D. Kharms

14. Conclusion
1) We can conclude that a limerick is a literary genre
that emerged in the 18th century and still popular
today. The limerick has it’s own characteristics which
make this genre unique and different from all
others, strictly fixed rhyme, 5 lines, etc.
2) In this research I analyzed the limericks in the
English language and their translations into
Russian.
3) It seemed interesting, so we decided to make our own translation, illustration and resent it to you.

15. List of literature and sources
Епанчинцева О.Ю. История появления лимериков. 2010
Цыдендоржиев С.В. Английские лимерики в моих переводах./ ПрофиСтарт,2009
Детские стихи, «Узорчатая поэзия», лимерик на уроках английского языка/ DoMy English.Ru