A clerihew is a short, funny poem with four lines that describes a real person, often someone famous. It has a simple structure and a playful tone. The poem usually follows an AABB rhyme scheme, where the first two lines rhyme with each other and the last two form another rhyming pair.
The lines can be uneven in length and rhythm, which helps make the poem feel more humorous. A key feature is that the first line normally includes the person’s name, often leading to deliberately awkward or exaggerated rhymes. The form was invented by the English writer and humorist Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956).
Clerihews are not meant to be serious or accurate biographies. Instead, they exaggerate or invent details about someone’s life to create a joke. Much of the humour comes from clumsy rhymes, surprising word choices, or silly situations involving the person being described.
They are easy to write: start with a well-known person’s name in the first line, rhyme the second line with it, and then create a new rhyming pair in the third and fourth lines. Because the rules are loose and the tone is informal, clerihews are often used in classrooms and writing activities,