08 February 2016
· A new poem making an important point about talent ·
When the voices start talking, there’s nothing for it but to sit down and write until they stop. I don’t expect this rate of limerical output to continue, but we’ll see how it goes. Been a long time since I noodled around with poetry.
Limericks weren’t a thing in my day, though I took early steps in that direction in a couple of my plays. Everyone was still trying to wrap their heads around the verse form that Thomas Wyatt and my Uncle Henry introduced earlier in the (16th) century, which came to be known as the English sonnet. I don’t use its other adjectives (Elizabethan or Shakespearean), and to give credit where it’s due, neither should you. Wyatt and Surrey were a generation ahead of Elizabeth and myself, and nearly two ahead of Willy, who was not involved.
I did a decent job with the Sonnets. They’ve created an entire analytical industry, still going strong. Some analysts are insightful, some miss the boat, and some couldn’t hit water if they fell overboard.
Perhaps in another 400 years people will be analysing my limericks.