The Limerick Primer was posted to me via the ALT.JOKES.LIMERICKS newsgroup - Which is also where I 'borrowed' most of the limericks that are on these web-pages from.

 This is offered as an encouragement to those who are new to the group, and may be a bit reluctant to post their efforts. The form is the thing, and it is not difficult to master. You are encouraged to jump right in, but please take that extra few minutes to polish your verse - it can make a world of difference.

What is a Limerick? - To be a Limerick, a verse MUST have:

Five lines.
Lines one, two, and five MUST rhyme.
Lines three and four MUST rhyme - this is known as the aabba pattern.
Lines one, two, and five MUST each have exactly three metric feet.
Lines three and four MUST each have exactly two metric feet.
That's a total of 13 metric feet, in case you weren't counting.

da DAH da, da DAH da, da DAH
da DAH da, da DAH da, da DAH
da DAH da, da DEE
da DAH da, da DEE
da DAH da, da DAH da, da DAH

More about metric feet, later, and it will have nothing to do with oversized shoes.

A good Limerick will have a clever, unanticipated punch line as line five.
A good Limerick will not be insipid or pointless.
A good Limerick often has puns, word play, eccentric spelling, or some other witty feature.
Any nonsense poem that lacks five lines, thirteen metric feet, or the aabba rhyme pattern is simply not a Limerick. It might be a sing-song or a la-de-da, but it's not a Limerick.

This is a Limerick with the metric feet CAPITALIZED; sound it out:

There ONCE was an OLD man from WHEEL-ing
Who HAD a pe-CUL-i-ar FEEL-ing
Said the SIGN on the DOOR
Please don't SPIT on the FLOOR --
He JUMPED up and SPAT on the CEIL-ing.

Here's another good illustration:

If you want to write lim'ricks sublime,
(And I'm sure you can learn, given time)
Forget "meter" and "feet",
Just remember this beat,
And whatever you write--make it rhyme!

(Thanks to Lynn)

There you have it. We hope that this has been helpful. Have fun, and you may want to visit this comprehensive limerick site: <http://www.katsden.com/webster/limerick.html>

Thanks to all who helped put this primer together.