Esercizio intermediate di scrittura in inglese: Limerick Challenge

La sfida è quella di comporre un limerick in inglese!

Ingliando ti verrà incontro suggerendo tante possibili rime baciate, ma tu avrai il compito di creare la storia tenendoti strettamente alle regole di ritmo e di rima per questa forma di piccola poesia.

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Cos’è un limerick?

Il limerick è un breve componimento in poesia, tipico della lingua inglese, dalle ferree regole, di contenuto umoristico o anche apertamente nonsense, che ha generalmente il proposito di far ridere o quantomeno sorridere.

Un limerick è sempre composto di cinque versi, di cui i primi due e l’ultimo, rimati tra loro, contengono tre piedi e dunque tre accenti (stress); il terzo e il quarto, a loro volta rimati tra loro, ne contengono solo due.

Le rime seguono dunque lo schema:

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Come si sviluppa un tipico limerick?

Mentre in realtà le possibili varianti sono infinite, in modo da dare una certa coerenza all’esercizio, useremo la formula che fornisce nella prima riga la provenienza del protagonista.

Prima riga – 3 sillabe accentate (7-10 sillabe in tutto)
Introduce il protagonista, anche con uno o due aggettivi, dicendo da dove proviene.

Seconda riga – 3 sillabe accentate (7-10 sillabe in tutto)
Parla di qualche peculiarità del protagonista. Deve fare rima con la prima riga.

Terza e quarta riga – 2 sillabe accentate (5-7 sillabe in tutto)
Porta avanti la storia con ulteriori descrizioni/usanze/azioni. Le due righe devono fare rima tra di loro con una rima diversa dalle prime due righe.

Quinta riga – 3 sillabe accentate (7-10 sillabe in tutto)
Porta a conclusione la storia con una battuta finale. Deve tornare a fare rima con le prime due righe.

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Per esempio:

There was a young man from Calcutta,
Who polished his doorstep with butter;
He thought it looked neat,
Shining under his feet,
Till he slipped, and fell straight in the gutter.

A wise young lady from Gloucester,
Kept all of her friends on a roster;
She’d have them to dine,
But just one at a time,
Concerned at how much it would cost her.

Ci sono altri esempi QUI.

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Allora, sei pronto?

Utilizzando i suggerimenti qui sotto, comincia a formulare il tuo limerick, sfruttando l’occasione per imparare il nome di qualche mestiere nuovo e/o qualche altro vocabolo nuovo. Ricordati che il limerick deve avere un senso linguistico ma non è necessario un senso razionale! Quello che conta sopratutto, oltre alla rima, è la cadenza. Quindi, occhio al numero di accenti in ogni riga e se sono piazzati bene per dare il giusto ritmo.

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1) Who was he/she?

Scegli il tuo protagonista dalla lista qui sotto o proponine uno nuovo.

accountant, actor, actress, artist, athlete, baker, banker, barber, barman, beggar, boy, builder, butcher, butler, cashier, chef, chemist, cleaner, clerk, cobbler, consultant, cook, crone, dentist, doctor, driver, drunkard, farmer, fireman, gardener, girl, guide, judge, lady, lawyer, lifeguard, lord, maid, man, merchant, midwife, miner, musician, nanny, nurse, peasant, physician, pilot, plumber, policeman, politician, postman, preacher, priest, prisoner, professor, reporter, researcher, sailor, salesman, schoolboy, schoolgirl, scientist, showman, singer, soldier, spy, student, stylist, surgeon, tailor, teacher, technician, thief, tourist, translator, waiter, waitress, witch, wizard, woman, writer

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2) What was he/she like?

Descrivi il tuo protagonista con uno o due degli aggettivi qui sotto o proponine qualcuno nuovo.

adventurous, affectionate, aggressive, ambitious, amusing, ancient, artistic, bald, blind, bold, boring, bossy, brave, brilliant, carefree, cautious, charming, cheerful, chatty, classy, clever, confident, courageous, courteous, coy, creative, cruel, cunning, curious, cute, cynical, daring, determined, devious, dirty, dynamic, eloquent, evil, faithful, fanatical, foolish, forgetful, fortunate, friendly, frivolous, funny, generous, grumpy, gullible, happy, hard-working, honest, hopeful, humble, intelligent, inventive, joyful, kind, lazy, lively, loyal, lucky, mean, mischievous, modest, moody, mysterious, nasty, nice, noisy, nosey, obese, old, paranoid, passionate, patient, peaceful, popular, quiet, reckless, reliable, reserved, romantic, rude, sarcastic, selfish, sensible, sensitive, serious, sexy, shy, silly, skinny, smelly, strange, stout, stubborn, stupid, successful, talented, tall, vain, vibrant, vivacious, warm-hearted, wise, witty, young, zealous

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3) Where was he/she from?

Scegli un paese o una città di provenienza tra quelli qui sotto e presenta il tuo protagonista (riga 1 del tuo limerick).

🔴AYR, KILDARE
affair, air, au pair, aware, bare, bear, beware, care, chair, dare, declare, despair, éclair, fair, fare, hair, heir, millionaire, pear, prayer, rare, repair, scare, share, square, stare, unfair

🔴BAGHDAD
add, bad, dad, fad, glad, lad, mad, pad, sad

🔴BANGKOK
baroque, block, dock, frock, Jock, knock, lock, loch, mock, rock, shock, sock, stock, Van Goch, wok

🔴BAR
aha, bar, bazaar, bra, car, cigar, far, ha-ha, hoorah, jar, scar, shah, spa, star, tar, tsar

🔴BEIRUT
acute, beaut, boot, brute, chute, cute, flute, fruit, hoot, loot, lute, mute, newt, pollute, repute, root, route, salute, shoot, suit

🔴BELGRADE
afraid, aid, blade, brigade, crusade, fade, glade, grade, grenade, jade, laid, made, maid, paid, parade, persuade, raid, shade, spade, suede, trade

🔴BERLIN, TURIN
bin, chin, din, gin, grin, inn, kin, pin, shin, sin, skin, spin, thin, tin, twin, win

🔴BERN, LUCERNE
earn, burn, churn, concern, discern, fern, learn, spurn, stern, turn, urn, yearn

🔴BOMBAY
away, clay, day, decay, delay, grey, May, obey, pay, play, rosé, say, sleigh, stay, stray, today, tray, weigh, way

🔴BONN, CEYLON, SAIGON
anon, con, don, gone, John, on, scone, shone, swan

🔴BORDEAUX
ago, aglow, blow, bow, crow, dough, flow, foe, glow, go, grow, Joe, ho-ho, know, low, mow, no, oh, row, throw, show, slow, snow, so, toe

🔴BRAZIL, SEVILLE
bill, chill, drill, fill, grill, hill, ill, kill, mill, pill, skill, still, thrill, will

🔴BREST, TRIESTE
arrest, best, breast, chest, crest, depressed, dressed, guessed, guest, jest, nest, pest, quest, request, rest, stressed, suggest, undressed, vest, well-dressed, west

🔴CANNES, JAPAN, MILAN
ban, began, bran, can, clan, cyan, fan, flan, man, nan, pan, plan, ran, spick-and-span, tan, van

🔴CARLISLE
bile, dial, file, guile, isle, mile, Nile, pile, smile, style, tile, vile, while

🔴CHURT
alert, curt, dessert, dirt, flirt, hurt, shirt, skirt,

🔴COLOGNE
alone, bone, clone, cone, crone, drone, flown, groan, Joan, known, loan, moan, stone, throne, thrown, trombone, unknown, zone

🔴CORK, NEW YORK
cork, chalk, fork, hawk, pork, stork, talk, walk

🔴CRETE
beat, cheat, compete, complete, deceit, defeat, delete, discreet, eat, elite, feet, feat, fleet, greet, heat, meat, neat, petite, pleat, repeat, retreat, seat, sheet, sleet, street, suite, sweet, treat, tweet, wheat

🔴CREWE, CORFU, PERU
bamboo, blue, boo, brew, canoe, chew, clue, coup, crew, dew, do, flu, glue, gnu, goo, grew, kazoo, knew, kung fu, loo, moo, new, ooh, pew, phew, pooh, queue, screw, shampoo, shoe, stew, taboo, too, true, two, view, who, zoo

🔴DELHI
belly, jelly, smelly, telly

🔴DUNDEE, TORQUAY
agree, bee, decree, degree, employee, fee, flea, flee, free, glee, jamboree, key, knee, Marie, pea, plea, quay, referee, refugee, sea, see, ski, tea, three, tree

🔴DUNKIRK
berk, berserk, jerk, lurk, murk, smirk, perk, quirk, Turk, work

🔴FIFE
knife, life, rife, strife, wife

🔴FLINT
hint, glint, mint, print, splint, sprint, squint, stint, tint

🔴FRANCE
advance, chance, dance, glance, lance, prance, stance, trance

🔴GAUL
all, ball, brawl, call, crawl, fall, hall, mall, Paul, shawl, small, squall, stall, tall, wall

🔴GENEVA
beaver, believer, cleaver, deceiver, diva, fever, lever, receiver, viva

🔴GOOLE, BANJUL
cool, drool, fool, ghoul, mule, rule, spool, stool, tool, yule

🔴GOWER
cower, devour, flour, flower, glower, hour, power, scour, shower, sour, tower

🔴GUAM
alarm, arm, balm, calm, charm, embalm, farm, harm, palm, psalm

🔴GWENT, KENT
bent, cement, cent, dent, event, ferment, gent, intent, lent, meant, per cent, prevent, rent, repent, scent, sent, spent, tent, went

🔴HESSE, SHEERNESS
address, bless, caresschess, confess, cress, distress, dress, finesse, guess, less, mess, oppress, press, possess, princess, stress, success, undress, yes

🔴HONG KONG
along, belong, gong, long, pong, prong, song, strong, thong, throng, tong, wrong

🔴HOOK
book, brook, cook, crook, hook, look, nook, rook, shook, took

🔴HYDE
beside, bride, decide, guide, hide, inside, outside, pride, provide, ride, side, stride, tide, tied, wide

🔴IRAQ
attack, back, black, crack, Jack, knack, mac, pack, plaque, quack, rack, sack, shack, slack, smack, snack, track, unpack, whack, yak

🔴JOHORE, BANGALORE
adore, amour, ashore, awe, before, boar, bore, chore, claw, décor, door, drawer, encore, explore, flaw, floor, four, gnaw, guffaw, jaw, law, macaw, more, oar, paw, poor, restore, saw, score, shore, signor, snore, store, straw, sure, swore, Thor, tour, war

🔴KEELE, LILLE
appeal, conceal, deal, eel, feel, heel, kneel, Neil, ordeal, peel, reveal, seal, squeal, steal, steel, veal, wheel, zeal

🔴KEEN, THE FOREST OF DEAN
bean, been, between, canteen, Christine, clean, cuisine, foreseen, green, keen, latrine, machine, marine, mean, obscene, queen, ravine, routine, sardine, screen, seen, scene, teen, unseen,

🔴KHARTOUM
boom, bloom, broom, doom, gloom, groom, loom, plume, room, tomb, zoom

🔴KINTYRE
admire, afire, choir, desire, enquire, fire, hire, perspire, pyre, require, retire, spire, squire, tyre

🔴KOS
across, boss, cross, loss, floss, gloss, moss, toss

🔴KUWAIT
crate, create, date, donate, eight, fate, gate, great, hate, irate, late, mate, ornate, plate, rotate, slate, state, straight, vibrate, weight, wait

🔴LONDON TOWN
brown, down, drown, clown, crown, drown, frown, gown, noun, renown

🔴MADRAS
brass, class, farce, glass, grass, pass, sparse, surpass

🔴MADRID
bid, did, forbid, hid, kid, lid, quid, slid, squid

🔴MALANG, PENANG
bang, clang, fang, gang, hang, meringue, pang, prang, sang, slang, sprang, tang, twang, hang

🔴MANILA
gorilla, killer, miller, pillar, thriller, vanilla, villa,

🔴MERE, TANGIER
appear, beer, cashier, cheer, clear, dear, deer, disappear, ear, engineer, fear, frontier, gear, gondolier, Guinevere, hear, here, insincere, jeer, near, persevere, pier, pioneer, queer, rear, severe, sincere, smear, sneer, sphere, spear, volunteer, weir, year

🔴MONCRIEF, TENERIFE
beef, belief, brief, chief, grief, leaf, reef, relief, thief

🔴MOSELLE
bell, cell, dwell, fell, gel, hell, shell, smell, spell, tell, well, yell

🔴MOZAMBIQUE
beak, bleak, cheek, chic, clique, creek, freak, Greek, leak, leek, peak, peek, reek, shriek, Sikh, sleek, sneak, speak, squeak, streak, teak, tweak, weak, week

🔴NEPAL
all, ball, bawl, brawl, call, crawl, fall, hall, mall, Paul, recall, small, squall, stall, tall, wall

🔴NICE, GREECE
cease, crease, fleece, geese, grease, lease, niece, obese, piece, peace, police, release  

🔴OSTEND
attend, bend, blend, defend, depend, descend, end, friend, intend, lend, mend, offend, pretend, send, spend, suspend, trend

🔴PALM BEACH
beach, bleach, each, peach, preach, reach, screech, speech, teach

🔴PARMA
armour, calmer, drama, farmer, karma, llama, pyjama

🔴PERTH
berth, birth, earth, mirth, worth

🔴PEKING
bring, cling, ring, sing, sling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing, wing

🔴QUEBEC
check, cheque, deck, fleck, neck, trek, wreck

🔴RANGOON
afternoon, baboon, balloon, bassoon, cartoon, cocoon, croon, dune, goon, June, monsoon, moon, noon, prune, raccoon, saloon, soon, spoon, tune, tycoon, typhoon

🔴ROME
chrome, comb, dome, foam, gnome, home, roam

🔴SALE
ale, Braille, exhale, fail, frail, gale, Grail, hail, inhale, jail, male, mail, nail, pail, pale, quail, rail, snail, stale, tale, trail, veil, whale

🔴SARK
ark, bark, clerk, dark, mark, Mark, park, quark, shark, spark

🔴SEOUL
bowl, coal, control, foal, goal, hole, mole, patrol, pole, role, roll, soul, stroll, toll, vole, whole

🔴SIAM, VIETNAM
am, clam, dam, damn, exam, ham, gram, jam, lamb, pram, ram, sham, swam, tram, wham, yam

🔴SKYE, DUBAI, SHANGHAI
buy, bye, cry, die, defy, deny, dry, eye, fly, fry, goodbye, guy, hi, high, July, lie, pie, reply, sigh, shy, sly, spy, supply, sty, thigh, tie, try, why

🔴SLOUGH, BILBAO
allow, bow, brow, ciao, cow, how, meow, now, plough, vow, wow

🔴SOUSSE
abuse, Bruce, deuce, deduce, excuse, goose, juice, loose, moose, mousse, noose, produce, recluse, reduce, seduce, spruce, truce, use, Zeus

🔴SPARTA, DJAKARTA
barter, charter, garter, martyr, sonata, starter, taramasalata

🔴SPAIN, BAHRAIN
brain, campaign, cane, chain, complain, crane, drain, gain, grain, humane, insane, Jane, lane, mane, mundane, pain, plain, plane, rain, stain, strain, train, vain

🔴SURREY
curry, hurry, flurry, scurry, worry

🔴THE ISLE OF WIGHT
alright, bite, bright, delight, excite, fight, flight, fright, good-night, height, ignite, kite, knight, light, might, night, polite, quite, recite, right, sight, site, spite, tonight, white, write,

🔴THE RHINE
benign, design, divine, fine, line, mine, nine, pine, resign, shine, shrine, sign, spine, swine, twine, vine, whine, wine

🔴THRACE
ace, base, bass, brace, case, chase, disgrace, embrace, face, grace, lace, pace, place, race, space, trace

🔴TIBET
baguette, bet, brunette, couchette, courgette, croquette, debt, delight, duet, forget, fret, get, jet, met, net, pet, pirouette, regret, set, silhouette, sweat, threat, toilette, vet, wet, yet

🔴TOULOUSE
abuse, amuse, accuse, blues, booze, bruise, choose, confuse, cruise, fuse, lose, muse, news, refuse, snooze, use

🔴TROY, NAMHOI
boy, buoy, coy, enjoy, joy, ploy, Roy, soy, toy

🔴VAUGHAN, CAPE HORN
born, corn, dawn, fawn, horn, lawn, mourn, pawn, prawn, sworn, torn, thorn, worn, yawn

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4) What was his/her peculiarity?

Metti in evidenza qualche peculiarità del tuo protagonista utilizzando le rime fornite insieme al nome del paese/città di provenienza che hai scelto (riga 2 del tuo limerick).

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4) What happened?

Sfruttando le rime offerte qui sopra (quelle di una delle città che non hai scelto per il tuo protagonista), oppure utilizzando quelle offerte qui sotto, porta avanti la tua storia (righe 3 e 4 del tuo limerick).

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aboard, award, board, broad, chord, cord, ford, fraud, hoard, lord, sword, ward

advice, concise, device, dice, ice, lice, mice, nice, rice, precise, price, spice, suffice, twice, vice

aim, blame, came, claim, dame, fame, flame, frame, game, lame, name, same, shame, tame

bag, brag, flag, gag, mag, nag, rag, sag, snag, wag

bank, blank, clank, drank, flank, Frank, plank, prank, sank, shrank, stank, tank, thank, yank, Yank

bap, cap, chap, clap, flap, gap, lap, map, nap, strap, trap, yap

bead, bleed, breed, deed, feed, greed, need, plead, read, seed, speed, Swede, tweed, weed

beam, cream, dream, gleam, seem, steam, stream, team, theme

bed, bread, dead, dread, fed, fled, head, instead, led, red, said, spread, thread, tread, zed

begun, bun, done, fun, gun, none, nun, one, pun, run, son, sun, ton, undone

big, dig, fig, gig, jig, pig, twig, wig

bike, hike, like, pike, spike, strike

bit, fit, git, hit, kit, knit, quit, sit, twit, wit

boat, coat, goat, float, gloat, note, oat, quote, stoat, throat, vote, wrote

bog, cog, dog, fog, frog, hog, jog, log, smo

bought, brought, caught, court, fought, fort, fraught, nought, port, report, snort, sort, sport, support, taught, taut, thought, thwart, wart

brick, chick, click, flick, lick, Mick, pick, quick, sick, stick, thick, tick, trick, wick

brim, dim, grim, gym, him, hymn, limb, prim, slim, swim, trim, whim,

brood, crude, dude, feud, food, Jude, mood, nude, prude, rude, shrewd

bug, hug, jug, mug, plug, rug, shrug, slug, thug

bum, come, crumb, dumb, gum, hum, glum, plum, mum, numb, rum, scum, scrum, some, sum, tum, thumb, swum

bunk, chunk, drunk, gunk, junk, monk, punk, sunk, stunk, trunk

calf, half, graph, laugh, scarf, staff

cave, crave, brave, gave, grave, knave, rave, save, shave, slave, wave

chime, climb, crime, dime, grime, lime, mime, prime, slime, time

chip, drip, clip, grip, hip, kip, lip, pip, ship, skip, slip, strip, tip, trip, whip, zip

clout, doubt, drought, flout, gout, pout, shout, snout, sprout, stout, trout

cluck, duck, luck, muck, pluck, stuck, suck, truck, yuk

cot, dot, forgot, got, hot, knot, jot, lot, not, plot, rot, shot, slot, spot, squat, swat, tot, trot, what, yacht

load, road, rode, strode, toad

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5) How did it finish?

Adesso, tornando alla rima che hai usato per le prime due righe del tuo limerick, porta la tua storia alla sua peculiare conclusione (riga 5 del tuo limerick).

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Ricordati sempre di rispettare rigorosamente lo schema:

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Tutto fatto?

Controlla ad alta voce che il tuo limerick si legga bene con la giusta cadenza e il giusto numero di accenti in ogni riga. Quando ne sei convinto, postalo tra i commenti. Non tarderò a dare il mio parere!

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Your comments are always very welcome.

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