The Clerihew

A clerihew [kler-uh-hyoo] is a poem made up of four lines - two couplets. The first line contains the subject of the poem. Lines one and two end in rhyming words. Lines three and four end in words that rhyme. Here is a clerihew definition of - clerihew, then a few examples about famous people.

The Clerihew

What's a Clerihew?

Four short lines about someone,
Famous now or dead and gone.
A pair of couplets for this game,
The first line is your victim’s name.

* * *
EDISON
Thomas Alva Edison
Invented the bulb with discipline. 
Without the Wizard of Menlo Park
We’d all be living in the dark.

EINSTEIN
Albert Einstein
Had a relatively brilliant mind.
If you doubt or even dared to
He could simply mc² you.

MONET
The water lilies of Monet
Drift upon a canvas bay.
A master of his profession,
He made a good Impression.

T.S. ELIOT
Eliot was under the delusion
That everything's an allusion.
Each line from T.S.
Requires a P.S.
© Charles Ghigna

Are you ready to try writing a clerihew or two of your own?