Little Brother’s Story
We sat in front of the fire;Grandmother was in the rocking chair doing her knittingAnd Little Brother and I were lying down flat.“Please tell us a story, Grandmother,” we said.But she put her head on one side and began counting the stitches,“Suppose you tell me one instead.”I made up one about a spotted tigerThat had a knot in his tail;But though I liked this about the knot,I did not know why it was put there.So I said: “Little Brother’s turn.”“I know a perfect story,” he cried, waving his hands.Grandmother laid down her knitting.“Do tell us, dear.”“Once upon a time there was a bad little girlAnd her Mummy gave her the slipper, and that’s all.”It was not a very special story.But we pretended to be very pleasedAnd Grandmother gave him jumps on her lap.
About this text
Little Brother’s Story is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59276; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Katherine Mansfield, Little Brother’s Story, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/little-brother-s-story.html, id L27573.
Form and metre
Little Brother’s Story is 19 lines in a single stanza.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-B-B---C--AC----- fire · knittingA · flat · saidB · stitches · insteadB · tiger · tail · knot · thereC · turn · hands · knittingA · dearC · girl · all · story · pleased · lap
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| We sat in front of the fire; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Grandmother was in the rocking chair doing her knitting | 13 | /·˘···/˘·/·/˘ |
| And Little Brother and I were lying down flat. | 12 | ·/˘/˘···/˘·· |
| “Please tell us a story, Grandmother,” we said. | 11 | ····/˘/·˘·· |
| But she put her head on one side and began counting the stitches, | 16 | ·········˘//˘·/˘ |
| “Suppose you tell me one instead.” | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| I made up one about a spotted tiger | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| That had a knot in his tail; | 7 | ······· |
| But though I liked this about the knot, | 9 | ········· |
| I did not know why it was put there. | 9 | ········· |
| So I said: “Little Brother’s turn.” | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| “I know a perfect story,” he cried, waving his hands. | 13 | ···/·/˘··/˘·· |
| Grandmother laid down her knitting. | 8 | /·˘···/˘ |
| “Do tell us, dear.” | 4 | ···· |
| “Once upon a time there was a bad little girl | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| And her Mummy gave her the slipper, and that’s all.” | 12 | ··/˘···/˘··· |
| It was not a very special story. | 10 | ····/˘/˘/˘ |
| But we pretended to be very pleased | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And Grandmother gave him jumps on her lap. | 10 | ·/·˘······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.