Variants of the form of poetry referred to as Limerick poems can be traced back to the fourteenth century English history. Limericks were used in Nursery Rhymes and other poems for children. But as limericks were short, relatively easy to compose and bawdy or sexual in nature they were often repeated by beggars or the working classes in the British pubs and taverns of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventh centuries. The poets who created these limericks were therefore often drunkards Limericks were also referred to as dirty. Edward Lears Book of Nonsense included the poetry form of Limericks. His work with limericks were, however, was not in any way indecent and this particular book proved to be extremely popular in the nineteenth century and this was contributed to by the humorous magazine Punch which started printing examples of limericks leading to a craze by its readers. The first edition of Edward Lears Book of Nonsense was published by Thomas McLean on 10th February 1846. There were altogether seventytwo limericks in two volumes which sold at 3s 6d each. These limericks have proven to be extremely popular with children.

Website: http://www.poetry-online.org/limericks.htm