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From: HenHanna <HenHanna@devnull.tb>
Newsgroups: sci.lang,alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: National Clerihew Day (10 July)
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2024 12:13:05 -0700
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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.