Author's Notes
A clerihew is a simple four-line poem where the first line rhymes with the second line, and the third line rhymes with the fourth line, regardless of meter. This type of poem was made famous by the 20th century British author Edmund Clerihew Bentley. Most often, the subject of a clerihew is a famous person or character. I learned about clerihews from the December 1997 issue of GAMES Magazine—Kappa Publishing—where they had a contest to make up clerihews about one of the Games 100 and Electronic Games 100 of 1998. Each of the Arthur clerihews has the first line be a name of the character and an epithet. The second line of each clerihew rhymes with the epithet. Each clerihew expresses what I thought about season 1 before season 2 aired.
Arthur Read, Average Eight-Year-Old
Has had many stories told
About his orycteropine self
Which, originally, could only be found on a bookshelf.
D.W. Read, Arthur's Little Sister
Is said to be as annoying as a blister.
What annoys me is the lack of episodes featuring Spanky,
Toady, and Blankie.
Francine Frensky, Rude Girl
Is likely to hurl
Insults at Arthur like "Four-Eyes" and "Baby".
Will her attitude ever change? Hopefully. Maybe.
Buster Baxter, Lazy Bum
Says that he's dumb
And that he wants to be like
His "Big Brother" Mike.
Muffy Crosswire, Pampered One
Thinks you can't have fun
When you're poor,
That it's such a bore.
Alan "The Brain"...What's His Name?
I'm up to a guessing game.
They better not leave it anonymous.
He got eliminated at "fear", will he ever get to "autochthonous"?
Sue Ellen Armstrong, Globetrotter
Used to live where it was hotter.
She's good at martial arts and playing the alto sax,
So watch your backs!
Binky Barnes, School Bully
Is fully
Persuaded that he deserves all the food he took.
He refuses to admit that he has ever read a book.
Fern the Shy Writer
Entered a poetry contest because they delight her.
Encore!
This character I'd like to get to know more.
Author's Notes
Aardvarks are of the family orycteropidae. Autochthonous is the winning word of the 2004 Scripps National Spelling Bee.