The Lonesome Child
The baby in the looking-glassIs smiling through at me;She has her teaspoon in her hand,Her feeder on for tea.
And if I look behind her ICan see the table spread;I wonder if she has to eatThe nasty crusts of bread.
Her doll, like mine, is sitting closeBeside her special chair,She has a pussy on her lap;It must be my cup there.
Her picture-book is on the floor,The cover’s just the same;And tidily upon the shelfI see my Ninepin game.
O baby in the looking glass,Come through and play with me,And if you will, I promise, dear,To eat your crusts at tea.
Words in this poem
- teaspoon n.
- A small spoon used in stirring and sipping tea, coffee, etc., and for other purposes.
- feeder n.
- One who, or that which, gives food or supplies nourishment; steward.
- pussy n.
- A pet name for a cat; also, an endearing name for a girl. [Dim. of puss.]
- tidily adv.
- In a tidy manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lonesome Child 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, The Lonesome Child, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/the-lonesome-child.html, id L27627.
Form and metre
The Lonesome Child is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in common measure.
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-A glass · meA · hand · teaA
- 2 -A-A i · spreadA · eat · breadA
- 3 -A-A close · chairA · lap · thereA
- 4 -A-A floor · sameA · shelf · gameA
- 5 -A-A glass · meA · dear · teaA
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. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The baby in the looking-glass | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Is smiling through at me; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| She has her teaspoon in her hand, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Her feeder on for tea. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And if I look behind her I | 8 | ········ |
| Can see the table spread; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I wonder if she has to eat | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The nasty crusts of bread. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Her doll, like mine, is sitting close | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beside her special chair, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| She has a pussy on her lap; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| It must be my cup there. | 6 | ······ |
| Her picture-book is on the floor, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The cover’s just the same; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And tidily upon the shelf | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| I see my Ninepin game. | 7 | ······· |
| O baby in the looking glass, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Come through and play with me, | 6 | ······ |
| And if you will, I promise, dear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To eat your crusts at tea. | 6 | ······ |
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.