外文诗歌类型055：Limerick

Limerick，利默里克，爱尔兰西海岸城市，出产的火腿非常有名。
利默里克的约翰王城堡（King John's Castle）是最有名的景点。该城堡建于1210年，毗邻香农河（River Shannon），当时属于很先进防御性建筑。据说，它前后经历了5次大规模的围城战，至今屹立不倒，历次的考古挖掘中，发现了不少士兵的遗骸。

约翰王城堡

但是，这里说的Limerick诗歌，并不是源于利默里克市，而是源于18世纪的英格兰。Limerick在英格兰几乎是家喻户晓的诗歌类型，它的中文名称是：

五行打油诗

一听就知道这是一种平易近人的诗歌类型，时而诙谐幽默，时而尖酸刻薄，用词和意境都“难登大雅之堂”，又被叫做“淘气的诗”（naughty poem）。

为什么英格兰的五行打油诗会以爱尔兰城市来命名呢？真实原因不得而知，据说最早的打油诗里面提到一个来自利默里克的士兵，balabala，英格兰人对爱尔兰的地域黑。

五行打油诗有5行，押韵方式为 AABBA，即1、2、5句押一个韵，3、4句押一个韵。
传统的五行打油诗，第1、2、5 句稍微长一些，为3音步；第3、4句稍短，为2音步。但当代的五行打油诗对音步要求没那么严格，只保留1、2、5句稍长，3、4句稍短的形式。第5句要和第1句呼应。

五行打油诗是一种谐趣叙事诗。在五行内要叙述一件事，还必须有趣，朗朗上口，有严格的结构要求，创作起来还是有一定难度的。

流传广泛的一首Limerick

**There Once Was a Man From Nantucket
by Princeton Tiger in 1924

There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

十九世纪英国诗人爱德华·李尔（Edward Lear）也许是最著名的五行自由诗作者——尽管他不是这种诗歌形式的创始人。为了向“文学废话”这一类型致敬，李尔在1846年出版了一本收录了117部作品的诗歌合集，名为《废话之书》（A Book of Nonsense）。其中的五行打油诗，既贯彻了幽默、愚蠢的特点，同时仍然坚持严格的文学结构。

下面是他的几首作品

There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a Bee;
When they said, ‘Does it buzz?’
He replied, ‘Yes, it does!’
‘It’s a regular brute of a Bee!’

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared! —
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.”

There was a Young Lady of Ryde,
Whose shoe-strings were seldom untied.
She purchased some clogs,
And some small spotted dogs,
And frequently walked about Ryde.

There was an Old Man of Quebec,
A beetle ran over his neck;
But he cried, ‘With a needle,
I’ll slay you, O beetle!’
That angry Old Man of Quebec.

There was a Young Lady whose bonnet,
Came untied when the birds sat upon it;
But she said: ‘I don’t care!
All the birds in the air
Are welcome to sit on my bonnet!’

最后，再介绍一首生动活泼的儿童诗

(by Mother Goose)

Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one;
The mouse did run.
Hickory Dickory Dock

嘀嗒嘀嗒嘀嗒嘀
老鼠跑到大钟里
大钟一声咚
老鼠跑匆匆
嘀嗒嘀嗒嘀嗒嘀