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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A FABLE FOR FIVE YEARS OLD, by JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A little boy had bought a top Last Line: A lumpish, wooden-headed dunce. Variant Title(s): The Boy And His Top | |||
THE BOY AND HIS TOP A LITTLE boy had bought a top, The best in all the toyman's shop: He made a whip with good eel's skin, He lashed the top and made it spin; All the children within call, And the servants, one and all, Stood round to see it and admire. At last the top began to tire; He cried out, 'Pray, don't whip me, master, You whip too hard; I can't spin faster; I can spin quite as well without it.' The little boy replied, 'I doubt it; I only whip you for your good. You were a foolish lump of wood; By dint of whipping you were raised To see yourself admired and praised, And if I left you, you'd remain A foolish lump of wood again.' EXPLANATION Whipping sounds a little odd, It don't mean whipping with a rod. It means to teach a boy incessantly, Whether by lessons or more pleasantly, Every hour and every day, By every means, in every way, By reading, writing, rhyming, talking, By riding to see sights, and walking: If you leave off he drops at once, A lumpish, wooden-headed dunce. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PROSPECTUS AND SPECIMEN OF PROPOSED NATIONAL WORK: THE PROEM by JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE SIR GAWAIN by JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE AT SAGAMORE HILL by EDGAR LEE MASTERS MANOKWARI, IRIAN JAYA; IN MEMORIAM, ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE by KAREN SWENSON THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE A BALLAD OF TREES AND THE MASTER by SIDNEY LANIER A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE SOUL AND BODY by ANDREW MARVELL ON AN ANNIVERSARY by JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE NATIONAL ODE; INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA by BAYARD TAYLOR |
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