Named eponymously for its creator, Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956) an English author, the clerihew is a four line verse, incorporating (usually as a rhyme) the name of a famous person and details of their life and achievements - frequently with a certain whimsy and inaccuracy!

A famous example of a clerihew is:

Sir Christopher Wren

said "I am going to dine with some men

If anyone calls

Say I am designing St Paul's"

This shows the mixture of undeniable historical truth (Wren did, indeed, design St Paul's!) with a a degree of absurdity and conjecture that typifies the clerihew. The metre is often intentionally laboured and with an element of doggerel.

Although Clerihew invented the form whilst still a schoolboy, the first clerihews in print did not appear until 1928. He was to self-publish 3 volumes of the verses.

Contemporary authors of his, including "Father Brown" creator G.K Chesterton, and the eminent poet W.H. Auden admired the form, and wrote clerihews of their own.

Although most clerihews are brief biographies, there are a few on other matters, including, somewhat self-referentially, the art of biography itself.

It remains popular today and has found a new home on Twitter!

More Info: en.wikipedia.org