A limerick has five lines.

Lines 1, 2, and 5 have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another.

Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other.


Here I'll give you an example:

My rhyme is beginning to stink.
They should prob`ly be washed down the sink.
If I could clean`em with soap,
then there`d be a bit more hope,
I`d go back to indullable ink.

Now there are many more rules to Limericks as far as word sounds. Writing a simple standard limerick seems the best choice for beginning limerick writers, such as myself.

There once was a little girl
Who thought she found in a shell a pearl
She touched it real quick
And something did lick
That gave her hair a little twirl