A clerihew (/ ˈ k l ɛr ɪ h j uː /) 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.

Clerihew Poems. Examples of Clerihews and a list of new poems in the correct poetic form and technique. Share and read short, long, best, and famous Clerihew poetry while accessing rules, format, types, and a comprehensive literary definition of a Clerihew.

clerihew, a light verse quatrain in lines usually of varying length, rhyming aabb, and usually dealing with a person named in the initial rhyme.

The British detective writer Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1976) invented this form of comic poetry. It consists of a skewed quatrain –– two rhyming couplets (aabb) of unequal length that whimsically encapsulate a person’s biography. The form spoofs metrical smoothness.

But what makes a Clerihew a Clerihew? The short answer is it’s a four line verse in the style set out by the work of Edmund Clerihew Bentley. Clerihew was born in 1875 and supposedly devised the first Clerihew while a schoolboy at St Paul’s School, Hammersmith.

The meaning of CLERIHEW is a light verse quatrain rhyming aabb and usually dealing with a person named in the initial rhyme. Did you know?

Clerihews are four line poems, with an aabb rhyming scheme, and in which the first line will generally end with the name of the subject of the poem. This form of verse takes its name from the middle name of its creator, the British writer Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956).

A clerihew (/ ˈ k l ɛr ɪ h j uː /) 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.

A Clerihew is a comic verse consisting of two couplets and a specific rhyming scheme, aabb invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956) at the age of 16. The poem is about/deals with a person/character within the first rhyme.

Clerihew poetry definition. A clerihew is a form of short humorous verse, typically biographical and usually whimsical, showing the subject from an unusual point of view, but there is more to a Clerihew.