A clerihew (/ˈklɛrɪhjuː/) is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem of a type invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person, and the remainder puts the subject in an absurd light or reveals something unknown or spurious about the subject. The rhyme scheme is AABB, and the rhymes are often forced. The line length and metre are irregular. Bentley invented the clerihew in school and then popularized it in books. One of his best known is this (1905):
Sir Christopher Wren
Said, "I am going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls
Say I am designing St Paul's."[1]
^Bentley, E. Clerihew (1905). Biography for Beginners. ISBN 978-1-4437-5315-9.
A clerihew (/ˈklɛrɪhjuː/) is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem of a type invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the...
Edmund Clerihew Bentley (10 July 1875 – 30 March 1956), who generally published under the names E. C. Bentley or E. Clerihew Bentley, was an English novelist...
Edmund Clerihew Bentley (inventor of the clerihew verse form), he was given the name Nicholas, but opted to change the spelling. Nicholas Clerihew Bentley...
the "Clerihew Store", a device for drying coffee beans, for which he received the Isis Gold Medal. Clerihew was born in Aberdeen, to George Clerihew, builder...
least some formal conventions. Common forms include the limerick, the clerihew, and the double dactyl. While light poetry is sometimes condemned as doggerel...
light verse competitions as part of its Style Invitational Alla barnen Clerihew Double dactyl Epigram Limerick McWhirtle Michael Braude Award for Light...
verbatim) Chastushka: ABAB, ABCB, or AABB Cinquain: ABABB[citation needed] Clerihew: AABB Couplet: AA, but usually occurs as AA BB CC DD ... Décima: ABBAACCDDC...
thriller. Chesterton prefixed the novel with a poem written to Edmund Clerihew Bentley, revisiting the pair's early history and the challenges presented...
Suns), was released in 1990. Dark Sun (1995) by Richard Rhodes features a clerihew about Fuchs: Fuchs Looks Like an ascetic Theoretic: 57, 488 In 2022, Fuchs...
offered Welles the part of the victim in Trent's Last Case, based on Edmund Clerihew Bentley's novel. In 1953, the BBC hired Welles to read an hour of selections...
very greatly What you say, or what you do. I'm Mackail – and who are you? Clerihew The Balliol College Annual Record, 2002, p. 30. Amis, Kingsley, ed. (1978)...
28 – Thomas de Hartmann, Russian composer (b. 1885) March 30 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English writer (b. 1875) March 31 – Ralph DePalma, Italian-born...
(see that article for an extensive list of subgenres and types) Aubade – Clerihew – Epic – Grook – form of short aphoristic poem invented by the Danish poet...
Graffiti" as one of the celebrities, literary and otherwise, captured in a clerihew: Adalbert Stifter / Was no weight-lifter: / He would hire old lags / To...
McDonald, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1899) 1956 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English author and poet (b. 1875) 1959 – Daniil Andreyev, Russian...
produced by the Truro-based production company O-region. Edmund Clerihew Bentley's first clerihew, published in 1905, was written about Sir Humphry Davy: Sir...
philosopher, poet, yogi and guru G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936); writer Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956); journalist and poet Leslie Mathews (1875–1946); cricketer...
George Clerihew, MD Inspector-General of Hospitals, on 23 April 1874 at St Barnabas, Kensington. The couple quickly had two children, Edmund Clerihew Bentley...
Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago, IL. Turing was the subject of a clerihew written by the pupils of his alma mater, Sherborne School in England: Turing...
but with 5 extra couplets just after each tercet. Cinquain: "ababb". Clerihew: "aabb". Enclosed rhyme (aka enclosing rhyme): "abba". Ghazal: "aa ba ca...
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