March 24, 2016

Let's take closer look at those Clerihews.

Donald J. Trump,
Like him or lump,
Wants to build a huge wall;
We'll find out this fall.

— Clyde
Okay. Nice! That's from the comments to last night's "A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley."

Clyde
Tried
To follow the rules
Unlike some of those fools.

So did Curious George:
Professor Ann Althouse
Larry’s her spouse.
He helps her with blogging
And the sink when clogging.
Good! First line is the name of a ((famous)) person and nothing more. Second line rhymes, then 2 more lines that rhyme with each other. There's no rule about meter or number of syllables, but keep it amusing and delightful.

Curious George
Knew how to forge
A Clerihew about me, Meade
And the clogging he freed.

Now, Cath did one about me before Curious George, and she followed the rules:
Professor Ann Althouse
Allows us all t' grouse
In this welcoming forum
With varying decorum.
Cath
Hath
Written a Clerihew
For the literary few.

Another appropriately rule-following Clerihewer is mccullough:
John Kasich
Pronounced like basic
Wants to get along
But is getting schlonged
McCullough
Could cull a
Great word from the pile
And make us all smile.

IN THE COMMENTS: Ignorance is Bliss said:
Ignorance is Bliss
Is seriously piss
'd, to Let's take a closer look he alluded
Yet his poem was excluded
Ah! Yes:
Ann Althouse, Professor
And Meade, who impress'd her
Con-Law she unmuddies
Plus Critical Breast Studies

48 comments:

Unknown said...

Blogger Ann
Can
Come up with a rhyme
In almost no time


Barak Hussein
Wouldn't jump on a plane
He's a man in Havana
But not our man in Havana

Wait can a word rhyme with itself?





David Begley said...

Ted Cruz
Getting screwed
Wants to be Prez
Kasich screwing it up

Laslo Spatula said...

Laslo Spatula
Crawls the Althouse comments like a tarantula
This trapdoor spider
Opens the Overton Window a little bit wider.

I am Laslo.

CStanley said...

Barack Obama
Got the Seals to kill Osama
But now from Syria and Iraq
The JV team plans attacks

Ann Althouse said...

Unknown
Has blown
My patience
Putting all that space in

glenn said...

"There was an old man from Nantucket........ Never mind.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Clerihews
Turned words into curlycues
Tumbling round the tongue
Spewing forth in fun

Ann Althouse said...

I was trying to think of a rhyme for Obama
Only came up with pajama and mama
I'd forgotten Osama
And all that drama

Curious George said...

First, wow. I'm a famous person now.

Second:

"Ann Althouse said...
I was trying to think of a rhyme for Obama"

Easy. "Lucktard"

Anonymous said...

Melania Trump
Naked rump
The Donald got mad
Gave Ted Cruz a big sad


CStanley said...

@Althouse:
Also, perhaps he'll go see a llama
After dancing the tango
And all that fandango

Sean Gleeson said...

Sean Gleeson
Has no reason
Not to try, oh,
Four lines of bio.

Anonymous said...

Damn Big Space!
Embarrassed face
Don't know how ya got there
Appeared out of thin air

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CStanley said...

An alternate:
Barack Obama
Got the Seals to kill Osama
When reelection came, got an assist from Candy
So al Qaeda was on the run and all was dandy

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Ignorance is Bliss
Is seriously piss
'd, to Let's take a closer look he alluded
Yet his poem was excluded

Wince said...

The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person put in an absurd light... The form was invented by and is named after Edmund Clerihew Bentley. When he was a 16-year-old pupil at St Paul's School in London, the lines about Humphry Davy came into his head during a science class. Together with his schoolfriends, he filled a notebook with examples.

Edmund Clerihew Bentley
Cast schoolmates in an absurd light very gently.
A notebook full of clever Clerihews written with wit and passion,
Today that kind of schoolboy behavior is called a micro-aggression.

BarrySanders20 said...

Barack Obama:
All cool and no drama!
But the truth's been laid bare:
There's no there, there.

Saint Croix said...

Pro-lifers are so dogmatic
It makes us quite dramatic
Respect a baby's right to life
And make that single mom your wife

Robert Edick said...

Donald J. Trump
While out on the stump
Retweets with aplomb
And makes beans into bombs.

BarrySanders20 said...

Barack Obama
Surprised by a llama
While golfing in Argentina one day
Shanked that shot into Uruguay

BarrySanders20 said...

Chris Matthews
Does Interviews
Thinks he's a good egg
O gives him a tingly leg

BarrySanders20 said...

John Kerry
Now serves Barry
A French-looking political hack
Halped those who were stuk in Irak

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BarrySanders20 said...

Handsy Joe Biden
Had a smile that'd widen
Joining girls who pose for a pic
The creepy goofy lunatic.

BarrySanders20 said...

Elizabeth Warren
Isn't foreign
Born here not Japan or Kazakstan
In fact she's a Native Ameri-can!

trumpintroublenow said...

Donald j trump
Never in a slump
His followers have his back
But others they attack.

BarrySanders20 said...

Mick Jagger
Has got that swagger
He's a man of wealth and taste
Give him shelter and satisfaction, or he'll lay your soul to waste

BarrySanders20 said...

Steve Miller
Songwriting thriller
Well, kind of
Spoke of the pompetus of love

BarrySanders20 said...

Spinal Tap
Music's crap
Turn the amp up way past 7
Cousin Nigel's goes to 11

David Begley said...

These are great.

BarrySanders20 said...

Michael Jackson
Not born Anglo-saxon
But at death's knell
It was hard to tell

BarrySanders20 said...

JoAnne Kloppenbopper
Rebecca Bradley's trying to stop her
I want Bradley don't you see
Because Bradley APPEALS to me

BarrySanders20 said...

Me
Today at work I'm absentee
No more rhymes I'm sad it's true
I got sidetracked by clarihew

Saint Croix said...

Ryhmin'
Simon
Hymen
Ouch

Saint Croix said...

Do it wrong!
It's not beer pong
Do it right!
It's out of sight

Meade said...

Saint Croix
Boy
What a short
retort

Meade said...

Edmund Clerihew Bentley
named his poetry style so gently
"Bentley" he chose to eschew
Said Ed, “Let it be 'Clerihew'”

Etienne said...

Wikipedia says the first line has to end in a name. I don't know who's right, nor do I interrupt my coffee swallow over it...

Meade said...

Bronson Koenig
Winning
Some cry, “lucky shot”
Step back, jump, t’was not!

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...

Wikipedia says the first line has to end in a name. I don't know who's right, - coupe

Whenever Wikipedia disagrees with any source this side of DailyKos, you could make a good living betting Wikipedia was wrong. If you end the line with a name, you start drifting into Limerick territory, like the "man from Nantucket."

tim in vermont said...

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Penitentiary should do a stint in
Thinks she's Maggie Thatcher
Will never be able to match her.

tim in vermont said...

Ok, one more try

Hillary Rodham Clinton
There's a prison she should do a stint in
Goldwater girl at her core
She still thinks the answer is war.

List-a-Beefy said...

I wrote some Madison restaurant clerihew for our book that got excised when it came in 10,000 words too long (I think I have an Ovens of Brittany one somewhere):

Old Fashioned
Becomes impassioned
Like some kind of Sconnie food nerds
About bratwurst, beer, and cheese curds

Greenbush Bakery
Has had it with donut fakery
Kosher donuts set bar time a-twitter
Nothing quite like a fresh apple fritter

OSS
Our sausage success
In cased meats, they're the first
To move away from bad to wurst

Mickies Dairy Bar
Draws students near and far
Can you quantify the stomach ache
From eating more than one pancake?

mikee said...

Little Willy, what a fright!
Played with a stick of dynomite.
Curiosity seldom pays.
It rained Willy for seven days.


The classics remain the best.

fishlamb+_+ said...

Donald J. Trump
Took to the stump
Said The Donald (duck)
"I like his pluck"