Intimate Tickles Thought You Might Be Interested

Published: Tue, 10 Jul 2018 05:00:00 +0000

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Edmund Clerihew Bentley, commonly known as E.C. Bentley, was born on today’s date in 1875. He was a British writer known for clerihews: four-line biographical poems of a comedic nature and an AABB rhyme scheme. The subject of the poem is usually named in the first line, and other characteristics of the poem are its clumsy rhythm and irregular number of accents.

Bentley came up with his first clerihew at the age of 16, while in a science class. It was about a chemist named Sir Humphry Davy and was later published in 1905 in Biography for Beginners. The clerihew is as follows:

Sir Humphry Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.

Bentley followed this clerihew collection with More Biography in 1929 and Baseless Biography in 1939. Clerihews Complete, released in 1951, included all of his works.

One of his most well-known clerihews was about Christopher Wren:

Sir Christopher Wren
Said, 'I am going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls
Say I am designing St. Paul's.'

Bentley’s work influenced many other writers, who went on to write clerihews themselves. Some of them include W.H. Auden, Dorothy Parker, George Starbuck, Sir Francis Meynell, and Clifton Fadiman. On Clerihew Day, the clerihews of Bentley are read, as well as of these authors. People also write their own clerihews.

Clerihew Day, also known as National Clerihew Day, is observed next on Wednesday, July 10th, 2019. It has always been observed annually on July 10th.