Where does the name clerihew come from, you ask? The clerihew is named after its creator, Edmund Clerihew Bentley. My favourite part? Bentley was supposedly just sixteen years old when he invented it!
We'll begin with an overview of the basic components that make up a clerihew.
(Wait, you say, what's with the bowl of melted chocolate? Don't worry, you'll figure it out sooner or later!)
A Clerihew Is...
Based off an AABB rhyme scheme
Written about a person, often someone famous (you don't have to choose someone well-known. Feel free to write about someone you know well instead.)
Humorous poetry
A quatrain (four-line poem or stanza)
Let's dive straight into creating a clerihew line by line:
The sources I consulted do not agree on how the first line should be written. Here are two different opinions:
Writersdigest.com says that the "first line is a person's full name."
Poetry4kids.com says that "the first line names a person."
You get to decide. Do you want your first line to be just a name, or do you want it to be more than that? The only really important thing is to make sure that your subject's name appears somewhere in the first line.
Are you ready to get writing? I am! Pull out your poetry notebook and set it up like this:
A
A
B
B
Next, decide who you are going to write about. I am going to pick myself as the subject of my clerihew. Here is my first line:
A Good grief! That girl, Lilyana Page.
Remember, clerihews are supposed to be humorous. They often tell you something funny about the person that the clerihew focuses on.
Whatever you put in your second line, make sure it rhymes with the end of your first line.
A My, does she like to rage
Rage? About what? This gets the reader interested. They want to know what I (Lilyana) like to rage about.
There are two more lines left. Lines three and four must rhyme with each other, but should not rhyme with lines one and two. Got that? Okay, here we go:
B about chocolatiers and how so many of them are bad at their jobs.
B Please excuse her — Lilyana comes from a family of chocolate snobs.
There you go. Together we have created all four lines necessary for a clerihew. I'll put them all together so that you may see the finished result.
Good grief! That girl, Lilyana Page. My, does she like to rage
about chocolatiers and how so many of them are bad at their jobs.
Please excuse her — Lilyana comes from a family of chocolate snobs.
There is one more step. We need to evaluate this clerihew, to make sure that all of the necessary components are here. I will make a checklist below:
Is this clerihew...
✔ About a person (is the person's name mentioned in the first line)?
✔ Following an AABB rhyme scheme?
✔ Humorous?
✔ Four lines long?
✔ Easy to understand?
If the answer is yes to all of these questions, then your clerihew should be ready to share with the world!
If you need help getting your creative juices flowing, check out these fun prompts:
Who says that clerihews have to be about people (Well, I kind of did, but that's not the point!)? Write a poem about your pet or a favourite animal. Keep it amusing.
Pretend you have sold some jokes to a comic magazine, and now they want a short bio to print alongside your jokes. Write your bio in clerihew style.
Do you have a friend who loves to laugh? Make a card for them, and put a clerihew about your friend inside.
Don't forget to have fun!