Iphigenia

Hi Inge,
I really like the idea of your Limerick — it has a playful and imaginative tone, and the rhythm works nicely overall.
The opening with “Iphigenia” is the only part that slightly disrupts the AABBA rhyme structure, so the limerick pattern doesn’t fully lock in yet.
Your take on Iphigenia is also an interesting creative reinterpretation. In the original myth she doesn’t literally escape the pyre through her own cleverness — she is usually saved by divine intervention — so this is more of a playful reworking of the story than a strict retelling. That actually fits quite well with the light, humorous spirit of a limerick.
One note on wording: “the smoke was obtuse – an intelligent ruse” is inventive, but it is semantically quite loose. “Obtuse” doesn’t really describe smoke in a literal sense, so the line works more through sound, contrast, and wordplay than through clear meaning. The contrast with “intelligent ruse” is clever, even if the middle image is deliberately abstract.
Overall, it’s an imaginative and witty piece — it mainly needs a small adjustment in the setup to make the rhyme scheme fully consistent. Thank you for it.

Take care,
cheerio,
Rolph