Balliol rhyme

A Balliol rhyme is a doggerel verse form with a distinctive meter. They are quatrains consisting of two pairs of rhyming couplets, each line having four beats. The first couplet contains the name of a particular individual, and the second couplet usually elaborates on that person's character or exploits or weaknesses.

The form is associated with Balliol College, Oxford. It originated with "The Masque of B-ll--l", published anonymously in 1875 by a group of Balliol undergraduates.

Balliol rhymes are almost always about a person. They are four lines long and the rhyme scheme is usually AABB. They are not to be confused with Clerihews.

Examples
About Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol (from "The Masque of B-ll--l"):


 * First come I. My name is J-w-tt.
 * There's no knowledge but I know it.
 * I am Master of this College,
 * What I don't know isn't knowledge.

About George Nathaniel Curzon:


 * My name is George Nathaniel Curzon,
 * I am a most superior person.
 * My cheeks are pink, my hair is sleek,
 * I dine at Blenheim twice a week.

About the building of the Athenaeum Club (it does not follow the AABB rhyme scheme):


 * I'm John Wilson Croker,
 * I do as I please;
 * Instead of an Ice House
 * I give you - a frieze!