Clerihew Clerihew A clerihew () is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person put in an absurd light, or revealing something unknown or spurious about them. 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): A clerihew has the following properties: Clerihews are not satirical or abusive, but they target famous individuals and reposition them
Clerihew of the clerihew in his columns for "The Daily Telegraph". There has been newfound popularity of the form on Twitter. Bentley's first clerihew, published in 1905, was written about Sir Humphry Davy: The original poem had the second line "Was not fond of gravy"; but the published version has "Abominated gravy". Other clerihews by Bentley include: and W. H. Auden's "Academic Graffiti" (1971) includes: Satirical magazine "Private Eye" noted Auden's work and responded: A second stanza aimed a jibe at Auden's publisher, Faber and Faber. Alan Turing, one of the founders of computing, was the subject of a clerihew written