Clerihew page: Light Verse Resource Center

Clerihew

Invented in 1890 by schoolboy Edmund Clerihew Bentley (later to win fame as mystery writer E.C. Bentley), the clerihew is a quatrain about a famous person, rhyming aabb. There are no rules about the length or rhythm of the lines. The lines of the couplets do not even have to mimic each other's structure. The name of the subject is always mentioned in the first line; most modern clerihews include nothing else in that first line but the name. Bentley's first lines were often longer. Few would accept as a genuine clerihew a verse structured so as not to require a rhyme of the subject's name.

back to forms menu

Jacques Brel Is alive and well. Actually, no. I lied. He died. --Louis Phillips	Sir Christopher Wren Said, "I am going to dine with some men. If anybody calls Say I am designing St. Paul's." --E. C. Bentley
Billy Graham Adores baked ham. And need we repeat You are what you eat? --Robert M. Sebastian	Alberto Giacometti Used to binge on spaghetti. Of which very large portions Induced optical distortions. --William H. Wiatt

Professor Dewar
Was a better man than you are.
None of you asses
Can condense gases.
--E. C. Bentley

[Sir Christopher Wren] and [Professor Dewar]
from The Complete Clerihews of E. Clerihew Bentley, introduction by Gavin Ewart;
[Jaques Brel] © 1986 Louis Phillips, from Playbill;
[Billy Graham] © 1993 Robert M. Sebastian, from Light Quarterly,
by permission of the author's estate,
In Memoriam: Robert M. Sebastian, May 8, 1908 - May 1, 2001;
[Alberto Giacometti] © 1995 William H. Wiatt

Light Verse Resource Center | Verse Forms | Hall of Fame | Light Verse Links

Doggerel Daze Homepage * Books * Resource Center * How to Order * Contact Us

More laughs per page--guaranteed!

Doggerel Daze
10144 Riedel Place, Cupertino CA, 95014
E-mail: info@ddaze.com

Webmaster: info@ddaze.com