By Elaine Magliaro
It appears that light verse for adults has gone out of vogue. That saddens me. I enjoy reading the work of writers like Ogden Nash, Morris Bishop, Arthur Guiterman, and others.
One of my favorite Guiterman poems is Ancient History. Here’s how the poem begins:
I hope the old Romans
Had painful abdomens.
I hope that the Greeks
Had toothache for weeks.
I hope the Egyptians
Had chronic conniptions.
Click here to read the rest of the poem.
Today, I’m posting some examples of a specific form of light verse called the clerihew. A clerihew is a four-line poem composed of two rhyming couplets. The clerihew pokes fun at a famous person. The first line should end with the name of the famous person. The form was invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956). Here is one of Bentley’s clerihews:
Sir Humphrey Davy
Detested gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.
Here are three clerihews that I wrote in 2008:
Eve,
So naive
In her birthday suit,
Tempted Adam with forbidden fruit.
Sir Isaac Newton—
There’s no refutin’—
With a force of nature had to grapple
When he got conked on the head with a falling apple.
Socrates’
Analyses
Were deducted, so they say,
Through an interminable series of Q and A.
Here is a clerihew that I wrote about Max Baucus after the story broke that he was having an affair with a staffer named Melodee Hanes when he nominated her for a position as a US Attorney.
Senator Max Baucus
Of the “slap and tickle” caucus
Considered Melodee Hanes
To be one of his Capitol gains.
Click here to read more clerihews written by Bentley and others.
Philosophical Clerihews by Ronald de Sousa
Maybe some of you would like to try your hand at writing a clerihew. If so, share yours with us by posting them in the comments.
Nicole Plyler Fisk
Gene Howington
FFS Guest Blogger
Joy of Fishes
Chuck Stanley
shortfinals
Terry Welshans
ann li-summers
wordcloud9
Flowers For Socrates 
Spike Milligan was a great hero of mine – in his case, he actually WAS a hero, having served with the Royal Artillery throughout the campaigns in North Africa and Italy, until he was wounded. His prose, plays and work as a comedian are perhaps better known than his poetry, but his late-night BBC2 ‘Muses with Milligan’ was full of poetic frivolity. Here is a ‘near-clerihew’ of his….
A boxer named Rocky McGregs
Signed a contract to train on boiled eggs
But now he’s finding
The contract’s binding
Oh, and DO try Millgan’s ‘Adolf Hitler, My Part In His DownFall’, the start of a magnificent autobiographic series of works.
shortfinals,
Thanks for reminding me about Spike Milligan. I’ve read some of his humorous verse written for children. Here’s a link to some poems he wrote:
http://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poems/best/spike_milligan
Thanks, Elaine. On an earlier thread I grouped about the shrinking number of poetry readings in my town … this helps fill that void.
Grouped is supposed to be groused. My kindle is your typical “know it all”
Robert Burns did it many times in verses from larger pieces. Here are two from Tam O’Shanter.
Fun to see you in a new setting! Love your clerihews — your wit is sharp and your word choice is perfect!
From The Complete Poems of John Lillison, England’s greatest one-armed poet.
‘Pointy Birds’
O pointy birds,
O pointy pointy,
Anoint my head,
Anointy-nointy.
(All apologies to Steve Martin. Elaine, I love the idea of Poetry Friday. I hope you decide to make it a regular event.)
Mary Lee,
Thanks for stopping by. It’s good to reconnect with one of my friends from the kid lithosphere.
—–
Gene,
I hope to make Poetry Fridays a regular event at FFS.
Has anybody written a clerihew aimed at Bentley?
RTC,
Here is one I found that was written by Michael Curl:
E. C. Bentley
Mused while he ought to have studied intently;
It was this muse
That inspired clerihews.
http://thinks.com/words/clerihew.htm
I have written a few clerihews in my time–political ones, whose subjects are now long forgotten. Here’s one I wrote after our Prime Minister missed the photo-op at a G20 meeting due to some personal business:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
probably wishes he’d been sharper
and not missed the G20 photo op
by making some kind of pit stop.
Yeah, I know, pretty bad!
And, oh yes, meant to say that yours are clever and sharp. I especially like Eve and Senator Baucus!
Violet,
Thanks so much for,sharing your original clerihew with us!
What a lovely new virtual home you have here, Elaine. The poems you shared here made me smile, loved all of them! 🙂
Really love the Eve one! LIght verse isn’t my thing, which makes me admire even more those who can pull it off! Thanks for sharing.
Fun! Clerihew is such a great form and your sampling is delightful! = )