Microblog Mondays 3: Lucy’s Limmerick

November 10, 2014 by Usha Pisharody 24 Comments

… alternately titled, “Learning from Lucy”, this post is about an awesome Monday 😀 , specifically the third period of school today which saw me in Class 6, reading Mary Howitt’s “The Spider and the Fly” – a personal favourite, when I decided to introduce the learner group to rhyme scheme.

So, class six, and I did some rhyming words after which I put up four nonsense lines, kept shuffling them, and putting the “a” and “b”, according to which ever line they happened to be in- the group was getting into the act 🙂 Finally, we arrived at this aabb stanza, as given in the picture – an absolutely absurd, nonsensical four liner, when Lucy’s clear tones piped up from the second last row of the class!

Teacher, if we add one more line we would have a limmerick. Astounded (for I KNOW even a learner from the higher classes would NOT be able to identify this form of verse!), I asked her what it was, to which she said, very casually, a silly verse which has five lines, and the first two lines rhymed, the next two rhymed, and the last line rhymed with the first two. I gaped, I did; seriously- and asked her to make it one, by suggesting the last line! The class gaped along with me- this  sweet, absolutely laid-back, earnest, young lady sure had us saluting her knowledge! Hers is the last line, and hers is the Limmerick! (I know, I know, I have misspelt the darn word, but shall let it be… just to let you know, I am still a learner 😀 )

This post is incomplete without adding a line about the Queen of the Limmerick – Gulshan, whose comments on a few blogs here are all in the said form 🙂 She manages to churn ’em out magically, at the drop of a hat 🙂 🙂 Gulshan, meet Lucy, who I hope is going to follow in your creative footsteps!

And kudos to Lucy’s parents too – for having introduced their daughter to the wonder of the language and its forms! This is what I have learnt today- that each day I shall find magic, and be amazed 🙂 – Open-mouthed, and with utter glee 🙂

What did you learn today?

This part of the #MicroblogMondays series, about which you can read up more, when you click on the picture below 🙂

10 November, 2014

Click on the titles below to read the earlier editions of this meme 🙂

Microblog Mondays 1

Microblog Mondays 2