How to Write a Clerihew (but be nice!)
I probably shouldn’t teach you how to write a clerihew. It’s not very nice.
The clerihew was invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley when he was in the English equivalent of high school, so you know he was up to no good. He introduced it to his poet friends, like W.H. Auden and G.K. Chesterton, who also wrote in the form. Bentley published several collections of clerihew, including Baseless Biography, which basically tells you what the form is. If you’re familiar with a limerick, a clerihew is similar. It has rhyme and attitude. It’s meant to be funny.
Read more at TS Poetry
