{"id":55811,"date":"2015-04-27T00:09:56","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T07:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=55811"},"modified":"2015-04-27T00:09:56","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T07:09:56","slug":"clerihew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/55811","title":{"rendered":"clerihew"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tMaryJane Butters was milking her cow<\/em><\/p>\n

When Megan cried, “Hurry, Mom, follow me NOW.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Together, they ran to the garden to see \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

A beanstalk (heirloom) as big as a tree.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo by Tim Sackton via Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

That, my friends, was a clerihew.<\/p>\n

Cleri-WHO?<\/p>\n

No\u2014like this:<\/p>\n

KLER-i-hyoo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

More than mere willy-nilly rhyming verse, this type of half-pint poem has rather distinct rules. A true clerihew must contain \u2026<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A bit of wit<\/li>\n
  2. Four lines of uneven length with the rhyming scheme AABB<\/li>\n
  3. The name of the subject within the first line<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But, wait\u2014there’s more \u2026<\/p>\n

    According to Edmund Clerihew Bentley<\/span><\/a> (1875-1956), originator of the form (at age 16!), a true clerihew will either a) position the subject’s name at the end<\/em> of the first line, or b) use only the name as the first line. Why? Because the whole point of the poem, he declared, is to rhyme with awkward names.<\/p>\n

    Maybe I need to take another stab at it? Perhaps something more along these lines:<\/p>\n

    MaryJane Butters<\/em><\/p>\n

    Was stymied by stutters<\/em><\/p>\n

    When she spied a strange cat<\/em><\/p>\n

    Wearing THIS as a hat.<\/em><\/p>\n