Re: National Clerihew Day (10 July)

On 7/10/2024 2:57 AM, Ross Clark wrote:

Birthday of Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956), journalist, writer of detective novels, and humorous poet.
Created (aged 16) the poetic form named after him.
 Whimsical four-line verse.
First line is name of someone well known.
Second line makes a general observation about them.
Third and fourth lines are comical or nonsensical.
Line lengths are irregular.
Rhyme scheme: AABB
 A couple of ECB's originals:
 Lewis Carroll
Bought sumptuous apparel
And built an enormous palace
Out of the profits of _Alice_.
 Sir Christopher Wren
Said, "I am going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls
Say I am designing St Paul's."
 More here:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerihew

i'm sure that...  Lots of ppl who consider themselves
      cultured and well-read
               have never heard of  a  "Clerihew poem"  or [echo verse]
i once met a young man who was in his 2nd(?) year in his
Ph.D. studies of English Lit. at an American university...
(he spoke pretty good English)
            i said something about a limerick and he'd never heard of it.
          A  Ph.D.  student  of  English Lit
          Betrays an Aptitude of being Unfit.
          It's fine to study   Shelly,  Keats,  and    T.Eliot
          But the toilet fun of "Nantucket" -- Could tell he it?
______________________________
The most famous "Nantucket" poem isn't actually a poem but a limerick, a humorous five-line verse form. Here's the classic (and slightly risqué) version:
             There once was a man from Nantucket,
             Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
                 But his daughter named Nan,
                 Ran away with a man,
             And as for the bucket, Nantucket.