Celebrating Clerihew Day – What?

There are several ‘holidays’ to celebrate today. It’s National Kitten Day, Nikola Tesla’s birthday, National French Fry Day, and World Kabab Day among others. So much to choose from. I do enjoy wacky, weird holidays; the more obscure, the better - but Clerihew Day? What the heck is a Clerihew?

A clerihew a poetic style invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956), an English novelist, journalist, and humorist, best known for his humorous, whimsical four-line biographical poems focusing primarily on historical figures and celebrities. The form was popularized in 1905 when Bentley published “Biography for Beginners”. It was also used by Bentley’s contemporary friends like critic and wit C.K. Chesterton and poet W.H. Auden, for example.

I was feeling a bit disappointed in myself for not knowing what a clerihew was. I graduated from college with a BA in English, for goodness sakes. You’d think I would have heard of this poetic form somewhere along the line. Heck, I know acrostics, categoricals, villanelles, haikus, and limericks plus all the common poetic forms like odes and sonnets and ballads, but never have I come across the clerihew. I’ve obviously led a sheltered life.

To celebrate his day, you can read his entire collection on Internet Archive, if you wish, but here’s a sample.

(Spoiler alert: These three examples will probably be more than enough!)

And my thoughts on Clerihew Day:

After reading E. C. Bentley

I feel I should comment gently.

He wasn’t that great a poet.

It’s just as well I didn’t know it.

Have a pleasant Clerihew Day. Next up… ROAD TRIP!!!