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From “WebExhibits: Poetry through the Ages”...
"Although no one knows for sure, the limerick form is thought to have germinated in France during the Middle Ages, after which it crossed the English Channel. An 11th-century manuscript demonstrates the limerick’s cadence:
The lion is wondrous strong
And full of the wiles of wo;
And whether he pleye
Or take his preye
He cannot do but slo (slay)
The form contains five lines with trimeter (three-beat) measures in the first, second, and fifth lines and dimeter (two-beat) measures in the second and fourth. While this rhyme scheme of abccb differs from an Irish limerick, the similarity is unmistakable."
The term “literature” can be ambiguous.
It can refer to writing as a high art, such as the works by Tolstoy, Austin, Joyce or Barth – which is the way I like to think of it.
But “literature’ also has a wider meaning: anything written.
In this way limericks do not count as high art, but they do count as literature. If, however, a limerick dealt with some deep and perennial issue, and if it offered a question to ponder which left a deep and lasting impression on the reader, it could transcend its lowly status and jump into the stratosphere of high art.
