Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Limericks about Limerick

Today we are in Limerick, from which the poetry was born. And though I have done extensive Googling, I cannot find out why poets chose to name this type of poetry after the town in Ireland. Still, most everyone loves a good limerick, even if they don't know what it is. Limericks originated with Mother Goose rhymes in the late 1700s. They are five line poems with a rhyme scheme of aabba (which means that lines one, two, and five all rhyme and lines three and four rhyme). Lines one, two, and five should contain seven to ten syllables and lines three and four should contain five to seven syllables. And I'm explaining all of this because... I wrote a series of limericks about our trip to Limerick instead of a boring blog post. So here it goes:

There was a group that left Cork this morning
And traveled to Limerick without warning
We had a long bus ride
But it was no skin off our hide
Because we made it in time for lunching

Limerick as seen from the tops of King John's castle.

There was a cathedral called St. Mary's
It was as beautiful as it was airy
Though we walked in the rain
It was without any pain
We arrived without being scary

St. Mary's cathedral

St. Mary's was built in 1168
By grandsons of King Boru of late
Because it was old
Many stories were told
In the walls and the halls and the grate

The altar of St. Mary's 

Many people were buried in the church
But this did not cause our stomachs to lurch
We wandered around
Before sitting down
On pews that were made of birch

Tomb inside St. Mary's.

There was a castle for John the king
Though John never thought to bring
Himself for a visit
So actually it isn't
English but a Norman thing

King John's castle

The castle of King John
Meant the Gaelics couldn't carry on
King Henry came to stay
And Queen Lizzie took Catholicism away
And so the age of the English began to dawn

Cali and Kathleen trying on clothes as part of the interactive exhibit at King John's.

The castle had a view
I wish you could see too
The River of Shannon
Looked just like heaven
I guess this picture will have to do

View of the Shannon River which runs through Limerick.

The castle of King John was fun
We stayed until the day was done
We played around
And made lots of sound
And explored towers, more than one!

Cali and Jordan on top of the tower at King John's.

Tomorrow we wake up early to head to the Cliffs of Moher, but tonight we are celebrating Cali's twentieth birthday with good food and yummy toffee bread pudding... A great night in honor of a great girl.

Group picture at King John's. (Photo creds: Sam McCurry)

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