A/N: Sorry to all readers who find this annoying, but I just got my first ever flame and I'm keen to answer it but a) the flamer apparently wasn't brave enough to sign in properly so I could answer him/her and b) I don't want to spam up my profile.
Here's the flame:
dsjgk:The fact that you were eleven isn't any excuse. I learned the rules to
writing a limerick when I was in 4th grade. The second and last lines don't
rhyme with the first, the second line doesn't have the right rhythm, the third
line is too long, and the entire thing doesn't make very much sense. I'm still
only 12 and wrote a book of limericks as a class assignment when I was 10 and
in 5th grade.
My answer:
Lucky you, because you see, I was never taught how to write a limerick. That may seem strange to you with your superior education, but either the particular schools I went to didn't have that in their curriculums or my parents had a bad habit of moving just before I could learn. As someone who does not write poetry – ever, I'm sure you'll be pleased to learn – I think this was okay, given that's it's supposed to be a bit of fun. Besides, I was trying to write something Horace would come up with, perhaps I should have made that clearer in my A/N, and I doubt he would know how to write a proper limerick either.
The poems I have read that have been labelled "limericks" in books, television programs and such, were written in that style, so as an ignorant child who didn't know and was never taught differently, I think my age at the time is in fact an excuse as I took everything I read literally and almost as gospel, as I'm sure many children do.
And if I got it wrong, why did published poet Carol Ann Duffy, whose work is taught in my current school, write a poem in a very similar style? "Mrs Darwin" for reference sake, if you want to complain to it about her as you obviously know more.
On that note, allow me to thank you for taking the time to send pointless abuse my way without even stopping to consider the variables that could lead to my state of ignorance. As I said, I've never had a flame before, apart from a correspondence with another member of fanfiction that turned sour, and now that I have I know how to deal with it, much in the way one has to be bullied to learn how to get a thick skin and/or stand up for oneself.
Thank you.
P.S. I can't quite understand how it doesn't make any sense; Horace gets bored waiting there, which is why he attempts to write a poem in the first place and "the reason was because he was poor" refers to the fact that despite Keren defending the castle for most of his adult life, he found out his cousin was to inherit everything from his uncle and he nothing, which he was angry about for emotional reasons and worried for practical reasons, which led to his aforementioned betrayal. I fail to see how it makes no sense.