Rhyme for Your Life

Summary
Binky struggles to think of any rhymes for a homemade card, but, after having a dream, finds himself unable to stop rhyming.

Plot
This episode begins with Arthur and his class about to see a play at a Renaissance fair. Before the play starts, Arthur encounters Binky, who is dressed in a beige cloak, and holding a cane in his right hand. He tells him that he is cursed because of a tale of rhymes and woe and that he will tell him how it happened before the play.

In Binky's story, Binky is trying to figure out what to give his mother for her birthday, so he decides on giving her a poetic birthday card. But unfortunately, Binky finds himself unable to write a birthday poem for his mother, so he goes to the local library and attempts to bribe Fern into writing the poem with a pickle and a sandwich. Fern turns him down and suggests that he looks for himself. Later that evening, after reading some poetry books and watching some television before bed, Binky doses off and "wakes up" in a strange land that is far away. He begins to notice that everyone in the village is only speaking in rhyme, and find out it is a crime to speak in prose, so evidently, Binky is arrested for not speaking in rhyme, but eventually escapes with the help of poet William Carlos Williams, a poetic prisoner who believes that people should be able to speak in prose in Verseburg, the land where they are located. Later, Binky learns how to speak rhyme and rescues Clementine (D.W.) from a purple monster that had eaten Dr. Rhymenstein (Mr. Ratburn and D.W.'s father in the dream) and is rewarded for his bravery when he returns to the town. (The reason for Binky's previous arrest was because he reported the murder of Dr. Rhymenstein and the capture of Clementine without using rhyme).

Binky then wakes up from his dream and goes to bed. The next morning, Binky wishes he could've remembered it so that he could tell his mother for her birthday. His mother finds the card waiting for her in the living room, but there is nothing written in it. When Binky tries to explain why, he ends up making a rhyming poem of why he loves his mother. His rhyming soon gets out of control and can't stop, so he puts on the cloak and uses the cane to express his sorrow. Back at the Renaissance fair, Arthur gets Binky to stop rhyming by saying that nothing rhymes with "Arthur." Binky gleefully realizes that the "curse" is broken and he is free, dropping the cloak and cane and running off to see the play. But unfortunately, Arthur accidentally says a rhyme and takes puts on the cloak and carries the cane, for he is now cursed by rhyme, thus ending the episode.

Cultural references

 * Several famous real poets are mentioned:
 * William Carlos Williams was a real poet. Some of his poems include "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "Shadows.'
 * Pablo Neruda, the city's founder, was another famous poet.
 * Some of Sylvia Plath's works include Two Lovers and a Beachcomber by the Real Sea, and Ennui. The name of that poem is referenced in the episode "The Good, the Bad, and the Binky."
 * Binky also mentions Walt Whitman after he rescues Clementine from the purple orange.
 * Rita Hareworth is a parody of Rita Hayworth, a famous actress.
 * When Binky and William Carlos Williams escape their cell, it is a take off from the film The Shawshank Redemption because the main character escapes his jail from behind a poster as well.
 * The frame story may be a reference to the Samuel Taylor Colleridge poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
 * When Binky and William Carlos Williams are in prison, a doctor's bag can be seen. This is a reference to Williams being a doctor.

Episode connections

 * Binky mentions the "Giant Clam" nightmare from "Double Dare."

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