There Once Was a Lass from Manila

THE LIMERICK competition [“From the Editor,” April 16] has turned out to be one of NR’s more successful ventures. No fewer than 132 limericks were submitted to the judges—Linda Bridges, Allen Randolph, and myself. The sheer bulk of jaunty versification, the repetition of the theme of shoe fetishism, the irrepressible ingenuity of rhymesters faced with “Imelda”—we had to be veritable Stakhanovites of facetiousness to get through it all.

A general criticism must at once be advanced. Many of the entries were not limericks at all, but light verse in a free style. Still more were written by people who had apparently seen the limerick on a printed page and so wrote in broken lines that visually resembled the limerick form. But the lines, when scanned or spoken, were revealed to be rhyming prose.

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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THE LIMERICK competition [“From the Editor,” April 16] has turned out to be one of NR’s more successful ventures. No fewer than 132 limericks were submitted to the judges—Linda Bridges, Allen Randolph, and myself. The sheer bulk of jaunty versification, the repetition of the theme of shoe fetishism, the irrepressible ingenuity of rhymesters faced with “Imelda”—we had to be veritable Stakhanovites of facetiousness to get through it all.

A general criticism must at once be advanced. Many of the entries were not limericks at all, but light verse in a free style. Still more were written by people who had apparently seen the limerick on a printed page and so wrote in broken lines that visually resembled the limerick form. But the lines, when scanned or spoken, were revealed to be rhyming prose.