Limerick vs “Pantun”

think one of the most fun activities during our class with Dr. Edwin is when we learn about limerick. What is limerick? Limerick is a five-line poem written with one couplet and one triplet. If a couplet is a two-line poem rhymed poem, then a triplet would be a three-line rhymed poem. The rhyme pattern is a a b b a with lines 1, 2 and 5 containing 3 beats and rhyming, and lines 3 and 4 having two beats and rhyming. They often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, puns and other figurative devices. Some people say that the limerick was invented by soldiers returning from France to the Irish town of Limerick in the 1700’s.
For some extent, I feel that the rules in writing the limerick are just same as Malay’s heritage which is “Pantun”. In “Pantun”, it also has certain pattern to be followed. If is a “Pantun 4 Kerat” the patern is a b a b. Moreover, limerick is like a stem poem.
On that day, Dr Edwin asked us to create a limerick and presented it as a group. There are two types of limerick which is template A and Template B. These are the templates that we had to complete them. My group had decided to present our limerick using the template A.

Template A

There once was a _________________ from _______________.
All the while s/he hoped _______________________________.
So s/he _____________________________________________.
And _______________________________________________.
That _________________________from _________________.

Template B

I once met a ___________ from ______________________.
Every day s/he ____________________________________.
But whenever s/he _________________________________.
The _____________________________________________.
That strange ____________________from______________.

Below is my group’s discussion on limerick.

There once was a lecturer from Serdang.
All the while she hoped she was in Pulau Redang.
So she went there.
And had an affair.
That stern lecturer from Serdang.

I enjoyed the activity because of course we are doing something different on that day not as usual where we are restricted to analyze and reading a text. Some more I am happy when reading some of the limericks that my course mates presented because some of them were funny. Overall, I hoped that in the future there will be more such an activity like this because instead of having fun in the class indirectly it will develop students’ creativity. Hehe…