Analysis of Limerick:There was an Old Man with a owl

Edward Lear 1812 (Holloway) – 1888 (Sanremo)



There was an Old Man with a owl,
Who continued to bother and howl;
He sat on a rail
And imbibed bitter ale,
Which refreshed that Old Man and his owl.


Scheme AABBA
Poetic Form Limerick 
Metre 11111101 101011001 11101 001101 101111011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 153
Words 33
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 5
Lines Amount 5
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 115
Words per stanza (avg) 31
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

9 sec read
116

Edward Lear

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author and poet, and is known now mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. more…

All Edward Lear poems | Edward Lear Books

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