Does a limerick have to have five lines?
Edward Lear and the mysterious origins of Limericks
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to write limericks about great figures in history, you can be sure that I will rise to the occasion. Poetry is about processing the timeless and ethereal. And what could be more timeless than history? Sometimes it seems to go on forever!
In fact, there’s an old adage that says the winners write the history and the losers write the poetry. What does that say about those who write poetry about history? I’m honestly not sure.
In any case, we know there are at least two sides to every story. And history is filled with stories. So here are a few more versions you probably haven’t heard before. Perhaps they’ll conjure up old memories of the Middle Ages, or high school social studies, or something else entirely.
Charles Martel (688-741)
There once was a knight called the Hammer
In combat he made quite a clamor
Put a stop to the Moors
At the Battle of Tours
What a beacon of medieval glamour
El Cid (1043-1099)
There’s an uppity Spaniard El Cid
Who fought Muslims wherever they hid
He’d kill Christians too
And maybe a Jew
He was an unstoppable kid
Genghis Khan (1162-1227)
There’s a forceful Mongolian Khan
Who plundered from dusk until dawn
Scourging the land
With saber in hand
He conquered them hither and yon
Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498)
The Catholics once went on a mission
Put forth by a man of position
Señor Torquemada
Could tolerate nada
So he started a Grand Inquisition
Louis XIV (1638-1715)
Louis Quatorze could sure paint the town
Feting Versailles in the duds of a clown
Et pourquoi pas?
L’etat c’est moi!
And that was the way that he carried the crown
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
Napoleon stood like a tower
With hunger for absolute power
But gone was his luck
When Wellington struck
For that marked the fiend’s final hour
Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916)
There was once a Siberian peasant
Whose appearance was somewhat unpleasant
While helping the czar
He rose like a star
His libido, they said, was incessant
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
There’s a march from Ahmedabad to Dandi
Where the Indian beaches are sandy
They made their own salt
And were ordered to halt
But orders meant nothing to Gandhi
Further Reading
If you liked these limericks about history, please consider sharing the page or subscribing to the blog. You might also enjoy:
- Limericks about Ancient Rome
- Limericks about Western Philosophy
- Limericks about American Politics
- What is a limerick?
