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Sunday 13 February 2011

Exploring Poetry - CLERIHEW ( Edmund Clerihew Bentley)

Welcoming you all to week 6 of " Exploring Poetry ".Every week a new prompt is published here on " Monday " and stays open until further notice .Poems on any themes selected by the respective owner should be written based only on the chosen Poetry Form.You can write and link them up or share if you already one .Good Day!

This Week's Prompt :CLERIHEW

Clerihew are four line whimsical poem that is written about specific people.The form was invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley.It was at the age of sixteen, while he was at St. Paul's School in London, that Bentley first started writing clerihew as a diversion from school work.Bentley's first collection of verse was published in 1905 as Biography For Beginners. Further collections appeared in 1929 and in 1939. It was soon after the publication of the first volume that the name 'clerihew' was applied to this particular form of light verse.Bentley is also credited for his  introduction of the modern detective novel following his publication of Trent's Last Case [1913] which is claimed to be an inspiration for many writers of that genre.

One of his example is :

Sir Humphrey Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.

How to write a Clerihews :
Clerifew is a amazing funny poems just having a few simple rules:
  • It has four lines of irregular length.
  • It has the rhyming pattern of abab,the first and second lines rhyme with each other, and the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other.
  • The first line names a person, and the second line ends with something that rhymes with the name of the person.
  • The third and fourth lines are usually longer than the first two
  • A clerihew should be funny in nature
Clerihew :

Took a flight to London,Mr.Kannan 
to see his one month old grandson
As soon as he landed he went to embrace
his grandson who peed at his face

by Christine E.Striemer
More Clerihew


Welcome on board !Click the ADD LINK below to link in your CLERIHEW.

28 comments:

  1. Like this?

    Lindsay Lohan is a quite mess.
    Now I hear she stole a dress.
    I'm not sure why I should care.
    Turn on the news, she's always there.


    Well, I broke the rule where I was supposed to rhyme her name, but "Lohan" is a tough one.

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  2. hehe..Bryan!that was really funny.
    I liked your Clerihew very much

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  3. Hehe I do like this ... and I've seen it happen!

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  4. ROFL at the second one
    awesome writes :D

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  5. ROFL at the second one
    awesome writes :D

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  6. By coincidence, last week I wrote a couple of these in my political blog about former Presidents Carter and Bush:
    Presidential Clerihew

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  7. unique one,
    have fun!

    Happy Rally,
    all is fixed now.

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  8. Hmmm.. this is new for me.. but wow, I like that..

    Oh yes, found you through Thursday Poets Rally Week 38... You are 3rd of my choice and yeah, something different and special from the first two.. :)

    Glad I make it here and if you do have the time, which I hope you will, do drop by for a visit at
    http://www.tingtasy.com/2011/02/collections-of-tings-poetry-tpf107.html

    Thanks and see you!! *HUG*

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  9. ha. these are rather fun..you really have to watch those little ones...

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  10. What an interesting form... I can see that this one can lead to great fun indeed... will try it out some day.. and yes I liked yours a lot...

    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/02/whispers-night-along-sea.html
    Twitter @VerseEveryDay

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  11. @all Thanks friends :)
    @krislen -hey,Thought I missed you somewhere.Glad to have to back :)

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  12. @Shasi - Thanks and when you try it, dont forget to link it here :)

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  13. Interesting!

    Ricky Ponting wearing a hat,
    Arrived proudly with his bat.
    Everyone wished him luck,
    Oops! He bowled out on a duck.

    How's this?

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  14. hehe...lol that was very nice.Hope Ricky Ponting does not read this post ;)

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  15. Dear Friends,
    Happy to your Clerihew poems here.But it will be much better if you link them up in the"add link" button above so that many people can have a clearer view of your poems and read them.I have extended the time limit to months since people new to these forms need more time to link up.Your sharing is appreciated always :)

    Thanks,
    Iwrite4u

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  16. Its good to visit this through Thursday Poet's Rally at Jingle... I enjoyed re-reading it..

    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/01/whispers-wanderer.html
    Twitter @VerseEveryDay

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  17. LOL. Loved yours and Bryan's Clerihews. I pondered writing some / one of these soon but haven't done it yet. If I can find some time later or tomorrow I will... and I promise to link it up above and not leave it here in the comments. :)

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  18. Done! Thanks for makinf my lunch break more fun! I liked Clerihews so much I couldn't write just one. :)

    Clerihews About Me, For You

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  19. @Shashi -Always welcome!
    @Rachel-Read them and they told more about you.Kudos!Keep them coming.

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  20. Uma, the way you experiment the syles are awesome.. Due to my hectic schedule, I couldn't join you.. Hope to join you soon.. Regarding the mail: I am little confused beacuse of my hectic schedule..

    Someone is Special

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  21. I learned a new poetry form! Always fun to do! Here's my link-also posted above.
    http://lolamousedroppings.blogspot.com/2011/02/short-gorey-story.html

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  22. Thanks for the info on Clerihew it was quite educational :)

    Nice one :)

    Here's mine

    http://hindawy.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/the-right/

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  23. Oh nice...Clerihew...will try one sometime soon!

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  24. Quite a funny one. interesting, will try to write a few!
    http://hemarao.wordpress.com

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  25. I started experimenting with clerihew very recently, and they're definitely a fun form. Here are my first tries: Presidential Clerihew.

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  26. Here i sit, broken-hearted,
    Tried to shit but only farted,
    Later on, took a chance,
    tried to fart but shit my pants. =D

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