Tag Archives: aabb

Clerihew

By | | ,
Comments Off on Clerihew
A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley, at age 16.
A clerihew has the following properties:
  • It is biographical and usually whimsical, showing the subject from an unusual point of view; it pokes fun at mostly famous people
  • It has 4 lines of irregular length and metre (for comic effect)
  • The rhyme structure is aabb; the subject matter and wording are often humorously contrived in order to achieve a rhyme, including the use of phrases in Latin, French and other non-English Languages[2]
  • The first line contains, and may consist solely of, the subject’s name.
Clerihews are not satirical or abusive, but they target famous individuals and reposition them in an absurd, anachronistic or commonplace setting, often giving them an over-simplified and slightly garbled description (similar to the schoolboy style of 1066 and All That)
The unbalanced and unpolished poetic meter and line length parody the limerick, and the clerihew in form also parodies the eulogy.
Note:  I have found that many what have been presented as Clerihew  have not been
rigorous about the first line name-rhyming.  Indeed I have not.  I have also tended
to use a fixed meter.  They can be fun, but we must remind ourselves they are not
formally Clerihew and should be labeled accordingly when attempting a rigorous interpretation.
Example Poems
Bruce  (Clerihew)
Bruce Willis continues alive,
Now showing Die Hard number five.
I’m a Bruce Willis junky, sure.
He is my Schwarzenegger cure.
Arnie    (Clerihew)
If Schwarzenegger tries once more
his movie ceiling’s near the floor.
A machine using Arnie’s voice
looks to be a desperate choice.
© Lawrencealot – October 21, 2012
Visual Template
Note:  there can be no definitive template for this form for meter and
line length are irregular.  This is merely one example.

Redondilla

By | | , ,
Comments Off on Redondilla
NOTE:I have included the definition from two different sources here.  The first specifies the minimum number of quatrains, the 2nd does not.
The 2nd requires that the meter be TROCHAIC, the first is indifferent.
Well, boys and girls – indifferent wins.  I spent some time on 5 different sites and found NOT ONE trochaic poem in English, and several that did not have FOUR STANZAS.
This is simply a poem consisting of four quatrains in tetrameter, preferably iambic  or trochaic.  The rhyme scheme can be aabb, abab, or abcb.  (Although some sources will advise otherwise, syllable count is secondary to rhythmic flow).  Most descriptions do not mention meter.  I have found in the English language most use Iambic and any rhyme scheme, even mixing them.  (An insult, in my way of thinking.)
redondilla, a Spanish stanza form consisting of four trochaic lines,
usually of eight syllables each, with a rhyme scheme of abba.
Quatrains in this form with a rhyme scheme of abab,
sometimes also called redondillas, are more commonly known as serventesios.
Redondillas have been common in Castilian poetry since the 16th century.
The word is derived from the Spanish redondo, meaning “round.”
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/494744/redondilla
Example Poem
Tropical Storm (A Redondilla or a Serventesio )
Surging currents falling rain
cloudy grey and gasping sky.
Seabirds leaving, wonder why.
Season of the hurricane.
Board your windows stock your shelves
Candles, girlfriend, water, food,
Stranded people making feel good.
Living, loving, by ourselves.
“Mom and pop are coming too??”
“Having to evacuate!”
“Gosh and gee that’s really great.”
“Your folks too? Least we could do. ”
Moms crochet by candle light,
dads play cards and guzzle beer.
You and I with bed in here
writing poems day and night.
(c) Lawrencealot – July 24, 2012
Visual Template
Written in footless trochaic tetrameter.