The clerihew is a bit of rhyming doggerel invented by Edmund
Transcription
The clerihew is a bit of rhyming doggerel invented by Edmund
The clerihew is a bit of rhyming doggerel invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956). Traditionally, it's a four-line verse made up of two rhyming couplets, with meter intentionally (often ridiculously) irregular. Its purpose is to offer a satiric or absurd biography of a famous person. Here are collections of clerihews Jasper Rose gave to friends for Christmas 2002, 03, 04 and 05, reproduced now c/o Sydney Afriat (without permission) for the sake [sic] of others 02 A few Musical Clerihews for Christmas 03 A Few Frivolous Clerihews for The Festive Season 2003 04 Cunning Clerihews To Stuff a Sock or Two Christmas 2004 05 B9 & 4 tun 8 CLERIHUS 4 XMAS Jasper Rose His wont to compose When not yet again a picture Would have to be another stricture Can anyone do better? Please try! Submit Rose or other Competition entries to [email protected] or [email protected] A few Musical Clerlhews for Christmas Pablo Cas81s FMnz liked to play with his pals. They said: Hey there' Fellow! Bow that Bach on your 'cello. Died in a last creative spurt. His repute was undiminished By the symphony he left unfinished. Edvard Oriel Joined the Nordic League WhenIbsenasked: "00 be a doll And rustle up some music for my troll.- Sca1attl Wrote a fugue Maestoso, batty, He collaborated with his cat ! Now how about that ! w. a. '-.,art JANACEK Loathed high tech, And would not let his Cunning Vixen frisk Thought Ethnic was smart $0, for him a Rondo alia Turca: - For Chopin the Mazurka. S~ On any kindof plasticdisk. -.El1IV8 Cast a magical spell On Mother Goose For the Ball«t~ Ru~ Kurt WeDl Had style! With librettos by Bert Brecht He belonged to the ELECT. Heil ! Herr Direktor Richard Strauss! His operas so Schon, so Marvellous! Tone Poems too. Many, Many Thanks! For Till EulensDiaae/sMerrv Pranks! John Philip Sousa Rlriplt YGlfgltan WIlIiCUtIS Sang while riding on the trams With sundry traffic thunders blending He intoned the "Lark Ascending." Some use a metronome to mark The gigues and sarabandes of Bach A practice which spells utter ruin Opined Yehudi M.nuhin. As a conductor Zabin ~.-bfa Takesrankas a firstraterI Fromhis shape, I'd guess,at eating He wouldalso take somebeating. ChxISTopba .~w~ Favours Irish Bogwood For it endows all transverse flutes With ancient and melodious toots. Abbe Llszt Smashed his fist On a precious pianoforte' ( And did other things as naughty! ) WFeltx Mendelssohn Had lived to play the saxophone His 'Midsummer Night's Dream' Would be reckoned MAINSTREAM. Brahm.Ala rms Better to bore Like Louis Spohr Carl Maria von Weber When he went into labour Delivered a Concerto: and, you bet, He composed it for the clarinet' For many years Composer - Luciano Pavarotti Drove the soccer fans quite dotty Singing operatic snatches At world cup football matches. Remained the rage. Was bittedby a bruiser. Henceall the appallinggroans Emittedby his Sousaphones. I His silences (4 mins) were purest gOI~; His noises were what left one cold! A few Frivolous clerihews for 1:taefestive Se4son20°3 I SMA~, Ct~c,otIM.ttt.: .sa~ aow~ o~ ASttttt Afra.:d kt mi.eht ~Lt I~ A ~Lt. WilliamDyce MadehisMadonnaslookeversonice But17 d ratherhavePe~ll BaX At theendof theday. Klossowskide Rola,'Balthus', Kept a phallico-calico puss; And taught him how his tail to twirl At every passing nubile girl. En~lish Philoso~hers ThomasHobbes,Malmesburiensis In Disputation never rushed his fences He'd snap a syllogism with a crunch And settle down to a long late lunch. ITJiru~~6eno£es 'Duncan's,~~s, c{M's Vane.ssa 9£ 'MDOTe Wassure Wasfree with herJr...Ii[yfawurs, 'TIie onfy thine that matteredto mankind 6(I;Ss fter 1 Was 'states of minJJ. So; she was the girl on toy 'At the0metj4~FIO)'. Jolin Stuan Mill Found tile /fji! of tk mind decidedly chill F 0~ animolil'elting on Women :r Subjeaio n He azme lip with a purely mental eret:tiJn I lo/uz M aynalri Xt:yneJ Suffered tile u.nN1/pzn.ry pain.r Ti/ aPn.r dL Dp;ux wit/z .lopoklova Landedhimin clo~ ... At Still LifesRogerFry Would try, and try, and try / But no amount of elbow grease Resultedin a masterpiece Andrea Verocchio Sells well in Tokyo Ever since Sony Promoted the Plastic Colleoni. ~e_i.c.5Vt.M.ts SAd I ~~ }:)e1.~t'\.9 ok 1 what stet... I Lw.~LowCQ.stLtt~td One day MBIY Fedden k£Sc-AYety. A 'f)Lt1:j thAt kt ~i.a tI\.otsti..c.R. To 'pA~t'\.9 gtrls o~ 'pi,trst~ wALberswi.c.k.. StanhopeForbes Concoctedsomefantasticdaubs Gettingfishergirlsto play the fool in Victorian Newlyn Woke up feeling awfully leaden, Bm by mid afternoonshecameto the boil, And knocked ofIthree gouachesand a sizeableoil. Amadeo Modigliani Courted girls through a mixture of good looks and blarney; When he added booze and hard drugs to the blend That spelt the EN D . Questionsof Attribution Grumbledand grunted, Giorgione; "This modemsd1olarshipis all baloneyl" It's mine, not Titian's, TheconcertCham~l tlU just a jumpedup ~tit maitre" NicholasHawksmo~ ... JacksonPollock Worshippedno God but only Molochl GreatI loot from an ego trip With a dripl Said; -Maybe Vanbrogh talks mo~ BUt donor let Blenheim bewilder Yon -1 was dle builder. W Prirnili!d,tSaa kina: Douanier Rousseau Tbou.gbnaif. wasa Pro. Goodnessonly knowses How unlike GrandmaMoses. Sebastiana del Piombo Came.a cropper, cooking up a combo A madly ambitious plan - Alfred Wallis,ancientseaman, Wascapturedby a paintingdemon Andbecamethe ocean'sbard Capturingits beauty on stray scraps of card. Michelangelo as 'ideas manr Georgia O'Keefe Lost all self belief When she could not find the pistil In her thistle. George Stubbs SUffered innumerable snubs. From critics who thought that painting the horse Was indescribably coarse. Architectural Extras I' C. R. MacIntosh Made tea drinking posh At Mrs. CranStOn's, ~nishing care. I Perched,ona tall "oockeddesignerc",ir. In ranking his work, Le Corbusler Grew choosier and choosier; ~illa Savoie? Superbe! Ronchamp? O.K.! Chandlgargh? Malheureusement- a bit belowpar!* Sir John Soane Emitted an almighty posthumousgroan For what Posteritydid to his Bank STANK! - Lawrence Alma Tadema, shortened to Tad, Was halfway between a gent and a cad, In the Tepidarium keeping secret vigils He painted Roman bimbos, brandishing.. their strigils. A Last Judgement MichelangeloBuonarotd Drove severalRoman Pontiffs potty; Medici,dellaRm-ere~ Faroese! TOT:A.IMENTE CRAZY! Yessir! Michelangelo Made that there ceiling GLOW! If all ~ get Isa crick in the neck Well- WHATTHE HECK! ~ !6~ a:w~ ~ ICtJtI;#" a' ~ 4W' IL., 611~ 2001: IrisMurdock Neversufferedfrom'writers'block' It maysoundsnitty Butthatwasa pfty. + R; John Constable Flungfiddleson the lawn-sogoes the fable It wouldhave been a tallerorder bolder. Toplant,withpianos,theherbaceous H,G,Wells Neverstoppedin cheaphotels: .As THEpopularnovelistit befits MEto retaina suiteat theR/7Z" WilliamMorris(his friendscalledhim Topsy) Wasnabbedby a lovely Oxfordpopsy But, beingJaney Burden,she'dnotgiveup L.S.Lowry thehunt Stayedindoorswhen it was show'ry But nevercouldresist SaltfordianSnXJg or Mancunianmist. Till she'd corneredRossettiand nabbed Scawen Blunt ~ t , ~ The two Sitwellscribblers,Osberland Sach~J No doubt,had a cerlaincachet But 'IIhenyou add Edith, Sitwellscribblerthe third, Theresult's patentlyabSurd. Claude Hated when it snowed. It had to be sunny For his money. Sir WalterScott Wrotequitea ht. Buta nowl a day Keptthecreditorsat bay. MIS.EdithWharlon Gothermotoringcoateecaughton Herchauffeursgogg/es.FrantiG HenryJames CalledthefXJOf chapsomefrightfulnames. WhenMIS.WoolfwasIMngE.M.Forster MostcordiallyendolSed her But,equivocally, shookhishead Whenshewasdead. Of l.uckSamuelPepys Had heapsand heaps: Survivingthe Bubonic In '65 was supersonic. Sittingin his car John Piper Adjustedhis windscreenwiper. ~at a pain! Paintingthe rain AGAIN! MaybeJ.KRowling Is equallybadat battingandbowling Butherpublishers(Bloomsbury)with bountiful batches of HarrYPo'tte~ heidOOto sOmeSuperslip . catches. Sir T1KJm8s Lawrence Viewed faces with growing abho"8nce: It Ratherthan fashion anothershinning eye, ~ Another plumppink ClJeek,I'd muchrather d' 11 Ie, 4, PoorBrune/leschi! Designingdotne$ drovehim pesky BarbaraPym Induk}edherutnKJst whim Eatingtonsof applecrumble Buyingloadsof lovelyJUMBLE. Foolingwithonepointperspective Provided8 rorredive. DonatoBramante Uppedthe architectural ~ OfferingRome A hemispherical dome. BaJdasssare Longhena! Lifeenhancer!Lifesustainer! Wedrinkto yourandVenice's~ A workof quitetranscendent beauty. ArthurWaley Practicedideogramsdaily Buthisreactionsweremorethan calligraphic Snarledupin rushhourtraffic. Richard Rogers l Provedto be theprinceof badgers: THEMILLENIUM DOMEgoodgrie" Justanotherburgerwithoutanybeef! Bonifaziode' Pitate (A nameintolerablyarty) Wasjust a Venetiansecondrater - perhaps-a topicehockeyskater! ParisBordone Neverdrew,or rode,a pony Orstraddledanykindof horse: A Venetianladof course. PoetLaureatesEnough I RobertBridges K~pthisice creamin a hundredfridges. It'~a littleknownfactthat TUTTIFRUTTI In~piredhis TESTAMENTOFBEAUTY. AndrewMotion: Doeshe weartoomuchhairlotion? He'dbettergivehisheada rinse Beforehe writesaboutthePRINCE! TedLeureateHughes Is alwaysin thenews Butonlyas theaften11ath OFSYLVIAPLATH!