Monday, March 31, 2008

Monday Poetry Stretch - Clerihew

Since tomorrow marks the first day of April, I thought something silly would be fun for our stretch this week. A clerihew is a short verse that is biographical and humorous. Here are the rules for writing a clerihew.
  • The poem must be four lines long.
  • The rhyme scheme must be a/a/b/b.
  • The first line should consist of the name of a person.
  • The poem should be biographical and humorous. Often times clerihews poke fun at famous people.
You can learn more about clerihews at Poetry for Kids and Wikipedia. You can get some advice on writing clerihews at Giggle Poetry. Here's an example.
The enemy of Harry Potter
Was a scheming plotter.
I can't tell you what he's called; I'd be ashamed
To name "he who must not be named."
So, what kind of clerihew will you write? Will your subject be literary or political? Leave me a comment about your poem and I'll post them here later this week. Have fun with this one!

6 comments:

  1. Failed triumph

    I wrote one about the frontman of the Strokes. He's totally rad!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Edward Bernays

    Edward Bernays
    Discovered the ways
    Of Subconscious persuasion
    Which made him the father of mass manipulation.

    -- John Nixon, 2007

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've tweaked an old two-liner of mine about astronomer Tycho Brahe into a clerihew.
    This may be my favorite form of poetry..

    http://riddleburger.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/clerihew-for-miss-rumphius/

    ReplyDelete
  4. I tried this out, although I'm afraid my wit wasn't as sharp as I would have liked.

    http://havingwrit.blogspot.com/2008/04/clerihew.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Okay, here's one, obviously by the mother of young children:

    Oscar the Grouch
    Needs a therapist's couch
    To combat depression
    And garbage obsession

    ReplyDelete
  6. Better late than never - no?? Here's mine:

    P-ewwwwww Clerihew

    ReplyDelete