Clerihews: a personal history.

Clerihews: a personal history. It was many years ago that I first became acquainted with a form oflight verse called a clerihew cler¡¤i¡¤hew?n.A humorous verse, usually consisting of two unmatched rhyming couplets, about a person whose name generally serves as one of the rhymes. . At the time I was reading some poetry byW. H. Auden. Most of Auden's poetry was serious, but some of it waslight, and I especially liked the following: James Watt Was the hard-boiled kind of Scot. He thought any dream Sheer waste of steam. This was not only witty, but had a fine economy of language, andwas clearly the work of a good poet. At the time, though, I didn'tknow that this was a "clerihew." Later, however, I noticed other poems in the same form. Whatcharacterizes the form is that it is pseudo-biographical, with the firstline always including the nam e of the person (and usually consisting ofthe name only). It has 4 lines, with a rhyme pattern of AABB AABBAmerican Association of Blood Banks. AABBAmerican Association of Blood Banks A professional, non-profit organization established in 1947 and dedicated to the education, formulation of standards, policy and other facets of . Althoughthis rhyme pattern is invariable in¡¤var¡¤i¡¤a¡¤ble?adj.Not changing or subject to change; constant.in¡¤vari¡¤a¡¤bil , the lines are of irregular length,possessing the rhythm of speech. This irregularity A defect, failure, or mistake in a legal proceeding or lawsuit; a departure from a prescribed rule or regulation.An irregularity is not an unlawful act, however, in certain instances, it is sufficiently serious to render a lawsuit invalid. is sometimes employedfor comic effect, just as the rhymes are often humorously contrived. Theoverall effect is a witty or whimsical comment about the person inquestion, sometimes shrewdly accurate (as in th e case of James Watt) andsometimes merely expressing the attitude of the poet. But the commentshould not run contrary to what is known about the person. Like the limerick, the clerihew is indigenous to the Englishlanguage English language,member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. . In fact, it is a purely invented form, its inventor being anEnglish schoolboy in the late Victorian period See Dionysian period, under Dyonysian.See also: Victorian named Edmund ClerihewBentley E. C. Bentley (July 10, 1875 – March 30, 1956), was a popular English novelist and humorist of the early twentieth century, and the inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics. . Being bored with his studies in St. Paul's This article refers to the Canadian electoral district, for other uses see Saint Paul (disambiguation), Cathedral of Saint Paul, St. Paul's Church St. School inLondon, Bentley began at age 15 or 16 to write this kind of verse as adiversion, and was soon joined in this by one of his classmates Classmates can refer to either: Classmates.com, a social networking website. Classmates (film), a 2006 Malayalam blockbuster directed by Lal Jose, starring Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Indragith, Sunil, Jagathy, Kavya Madhavan, Balachandra Menon, ... , G. K.Chesterton. Some years later, in 1905, the first collection of these"clerihews" was published under the title "Biography forBeginners." The very first clerihew that Bentley wrote was: Sir Humphrey Davy Abominated gravy. He lived in the odium Of having discovered sodium. This isn't first-class, of course, but Bentley was ontosomething, so he continued. Sir Christopher Wren Said, "I am going to dine with some men. "If anybody calls, "Say I am designing St. Paul's." Ge tting better, Bentley went on to Daniel Defoe Lived a long time ago He had nothing to do, so He wrote Robinson Crusoe. And It was a weakness of Voltaire's To forget to say his prayers, And one which to his shame He never overcame. In addition to Bentley, Chesterton, and Auden, many other peoplehave written clerihews over the years, some of them poets, some not.Those that I've liked best have been ones that require the readerto participate, to supply something, as a puzzles does. The followingthree clerihews are examples. Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa Apparently refused an unrefusable offer. It is widely feared That he just James Joyce Had an unusually loud voice. Knightly knock eternally wood he make Finnegan's Wake. Did Descartes Depart With the thought "Therefore I'm not"? Despite learning to recognize and enjoy clerihews, it neveroccurred to me to write one until this past year. I was prompted to doso by reading one by a fine contempo rary American poet, Daniel MarkEpstein Daniel Mark Epstein (born 25 October 1948 in Washington, D.C.) is an American poet, dramatist and biographer.Epstein earned his B.A. from Kenyon College. He has been awarded an NEA Poetry Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Prix de Rome (1977), the Robert Frost Prize, . For some reason, many modern poets are known either by allthree of their names or by their first two initials and last name.Perhaps it's an unconscious stratagem STRATAGEM. A deception either by words or actions, in times of war, in order to obtain an advantage over an enemy. 2. Such stratagems, though contrary to morality, have been justified, unless they have been accompanied by perfidy, injurious to the rights of to be taken seriously in aculture that has increasingly relegated poetry and poets to the realm ofthe inconsequential in¡¤con¡¤se¡¤quen¡¤tial?adj.1. Lacking importance.2. Not following from premises or evidence; illogical.n.A triviality. . Epstein's cl erihew, like Auden's, has thepolish of the professional poet, and runs as follows: Paul Gauguin Was a ladies' man. He loved them from Tahiti to Provence. Honi sol qui mal y pense. For some days, as I puttered round the house, I would derive asense of satisfaction in reciting this little verse to myself. Once,some years ago, I had a print of one of Gauguin's paintings on mybedroom wall. And Gauguin had always symbolized for me (as for Epstein)the artist's liberation from the restrictions of conventionalmorality. He was a kind of culture hero. But gradually I became dissatisfied with the attitude expressed bythe poem. I felt its romanticism was a little too easy. Having learnedsomething over the years, about Gauguin and about life, I began to feelthat a balancing view was needed. So I constructed what might be calleda counter-clerihew. My effort did not result in a verse as smooth as Mr.Epstein's. Its rhythm is a little "sprung" (allowable ina clerihew), but at least it said what I wanted to say. Paul Gauguin Was once a family man, But abandoned his wife and children and consorted with whores And died blind, covered by syphilitic sores. From this I went on to try my hand at another clerihew. Iwasn't especially interested in constructing one about a famousfigure, past or present. Rather, I was interested in constructing onethat would be a kind of puzzle, one that would require the reader tofigure out what was going on. The result was not a very difficultpuzzle, but I was fairly satisfied with it. It goes as follows: Clara Hughes Was the name on which Miss Bow would muse When in her private heaven of heavens, She dreamed of marriage to Mrs. Charles Evans. Feeling that this improbably pairing perhaps needed furtherexplanation, I constructed a complementary clerihew. Clara Hughes? Why on earth would Miss Bow choose That fate? Why, to be the little leave that leavens The big lump that was Mr. Charles Evans. My only other foray into Verb 1. foray into - enter someone else's territory and take spoils; "The pirates raided the coastal villages regularly"raidencroach upon, intrude on, obtrude upon, invade - to intrude upon, infringe, encroach on, violate; "This new colleague invades my the form was to devise a tribute to theinventor of the clerihew. He (and others) had celebrated (or skewered)so many famous figures that I thought he deserved a clerihew of his own.I soon discovered that this was not an original thought. There wereseveral already written, the best known of them being: E. C. Bentley Mused while he ought to have studied intently. It was this muse That inspired clerihews. I thought this was a little pedestrian, though it was definitelybetter than one written by the gentleman (who shall remain nameless) whocalled the clerihew "the lowest verse form in existence." Hisgoes as follows: This form was evidently Invented by E. Clerihew Bentley. He did nothing else well, But what the hell. This lacks wit because (among other things) it lacks truth. It isas unfair as it is ungenerous un¡¤gen¡¤er¡¤ous?adj.1. Slow or reluctant in giving, forgiving, or sharing; stingy.2. Harsh in judgment; unkind.3. Mean-spirited; illiberal; ignoble. . The fact is that E. C. Bentley became awell-regarded and influential writer of detective fiction Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centers upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. Detective fiction is the most popular form of both mystery fiction and hardboiled crime fiction. . His mostfamous novel, "Trent's Last Case Trent's Last Case is a detective novel written by E. C. Bentley and first published in 1913. Plot summaryTrent's Last Case is actually the first novel in which gentleman sleuth Philip Trent appears. ," published shortlybefore World War I, is still read. It was the first work of detectivefiction to make character and pl ot as important as the puzzle and itinaugurated the gold age of British detective fiction, as practiced bysuch writers as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. Bentley served aspresident of the prestigious Detection Club in London during much ofthis time. So he deserves better than the ill-informed put-down put¡¤downor put-down ?n. Slang1. A dismissal or rejection, especially in the form of a critical or slighting remark: "Such answers were, perhaps still are, a . . . shownabove. My own effort to pay tribute to the inventor of the clerihew may bemy last such effort, so I'll close with it here: E. C. Bentley Was a truly prodigious scholar, evidently. He authored dozens of biographies, so I'm told, Before he was even 17 years old. ROLLIN STEARNS Holden, Maine Holden is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,827 at the 2000 census. GeographyAccording to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 83.2 km2 (32.1 mi2). 8 0.1 km2 (30.9 mi2) of it is land and 3.1 km2 (1.