CPC POETRY CHALLENGE PREVIEW: The Friday Fling Creates Cartoon Characters in Clerihews!

August 27, 2012 · Scotorum

This is a special preview for the CPC Friday Fling poetry challenge. Poems should be posted there after the challenge opens Thursday evening at 8 PM EDT.

Friday Fling #195 August 31st 2012

Do you remember the Fling we did where you were challenged to write about your favorite cartoon character? I think we may have done that more than once. Anyway, we thought this time, just for fun, we’d challenge you to MAKE UP a cartoon character! And write about him/her/it in a Clerihew!

The Clerihew is a short poetry format which, much like the Limerick, is specifically designed to discuss people – well creatures. As explained by ShadowPoetry.com,

A Clerihew is a comic verse consisting of two couplets and a specific rhyming scheme,
aabb invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956) at the age of 16. The poem
is about/deals with a person/character within the first rhyme. In most cases, the first
line names a person, and the second line ends with something that rhymes with the name of the person.

One of the most remembered Clerihew from Bentley’s collection is:

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

Here’s a more recent example:

Garfield the cat
The On his rear he sat.
Eating lasagna galore
All about the decor.

Since you are free to invent not only the character but a name for him/her/it, you can determine what rhyme ends the first couplet!

If Disney or Warners’ calls asking about movie rights, Michelle or I will be sure to let you know!

This week the Friday Fling invents fictional favorites and clarifies them in Clerihews!

Be sure to save time to read and comment comically on your fellow Pals’ inventions. Then go enjoy an amusing weekend!

Fickle Finger of Fate Award for August 24th

Congratulations Barbara!

Here are some images to stir your muse. Actually one or more of these may be real cartoon characters already, we just have not seen any of them in a real cartoon yet ourselves. But they are shown here mainly to get you thinking about what attributes your imaginary character would possess, before you Clerihewize it.

Poetry