There Was a Child Once
There was a child once.He came to play in my garden;He was quite pale and silent.Only when he smiled I knew everything about him,I knew what he had in his pockets,And I knew the feel of his hands in my handsAnd the most intimate tones of his voice.I led him down each secret path,Showing him the hiding-place of all my treasures.I let him play with them, every one,I put my singing thoughts in a little silver cageAnd gave them to him to keep ...It was very dark in the gardenBut never dark enough for us. On tiptoe we walked among the deepestshades;We bathed in the shadow pools beneath the trees,Pretending we were under the sea.Once—near the boundary of the garden—We heard steps passing along the World-road;O how frightened we were!I whispered: “Have you ever walked along that road?”He nodded, and we shook the tears from our eyes....There was a child once.He came—quite alone—to play in my garden;He was pale and silent.When we met we kissed each other,But when he went away, we did not even wave.
Words in this poem
- tiptoe n.
- The end, or tip, of the toe.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
There Was a Child Once 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, There Was a Child Once, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/there-was-a-child-once.html, id L27592.
Form and metre
There Was a Child Once is 27 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 ABC------B--B----BD-D-ABC-- onceA · gardenB · silentC · him · pockets · hands · voice · path · treasures · oneB · cage · keep · gardenB · deepest · shades · trees · sea · gardenB · roadD · were · roadD · eyes · onceA · gardenB · silentC · other · wave
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There was a child once. | 5 | ····· |
| He came to play in my garden; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| He was quite pale and silent. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Only when he smiled I knew everything about him, | 13 | /˘·····/˘···· |
| I knew what he had in his pockets, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And I knew the feel of his hands in my hands | 11 | ··········· |
| And the most intimate tones of his voice. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| I led him down each secret path, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Showing him the hiding-place of all my treasures. | 12 | /˘··/˘····/˘ |
| I let him play with them, every one, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| I put my singing thoughts in a little silver cage | 13 | ···/˘···/˘/˘· |
| And gave them to him to keep ... | 7 | ······· |
| It was very dark in the garden | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| But never dark enough for us. On tiptoe we walked among the deepest | 17 | ·/·˘/···/······/˘ |
| shades; | 1 | · |
| We bathed in the shadow pools beneath the trees, | 11 | ····/······ |
| Pretending we were under the sea. | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| Once—near the boundary of the garden— | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| We heard steps passing along the World-road; | 10 | ···/˘˘/··· |
| O how frightened we were! | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| I whispered: “Have you ever walked along that road?” | 11 | ·/˘··/·˘/·· |
| He nodded, and we shook the tears from our eyes.... | 11 | ·/˘······/· |
| There was a child once. | 5 | ····· |
| He came—quite alone—to play in my garden; | 11 | ···˘/····/˘ |
| He was pale and silent. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| When we met we kissed each other, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| But when he went away, we did not even wave. | 11 | ····˘/···/· |
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.