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Clerihew

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A whimsical biographical quatrain with irregular meter and rhyme.

Detailed Definition
A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem with an AABB rhyme scheme, invented by E.C. Bentley; it uses absurdity and bathos to deflate famous figures, combining factual snippets with comic incongruity for satirical or playful effect.
Example
Example in poetry:
Clerihew is a four-line biographical comic verse: “Sir Humphry Davy / Abominated gravy”; invented by E.C. Bentley; modern examples target celebrities (“Elon Musk tweets / while the planet wrecks”); the form uses irregular rhyme and absurdity; clerihew appears in satirical and light verse traditions
Additional Notes
Clerihew is a whimsical four-line biographical poem with AABB rhyme and irregular meter, invented by E.C. Bentley; it humorously distorts famous figures with absurd or trivial details.
Also Known As
Biographical quatrain humorous four-liner comic biography light verse form
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