Cradle Song
O Timothy TimHas ten pink toes,And ten pink toesHas Timothy Tim.They go with himWherever he goes,And wherever he goesThey go with him.
O Timothy TimHas two blue eyes,And two blue eyesHas Timothy Tim.They cry with himWhenever he cries,And whenever he cries,They cry with him.
O Timothy TimHas one red head,And one red headHas Timothy Tim.It sleeps with himIn Timothy's bed.Sleep well, red headOf Timothy Tim.
Words in this poem
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Cradle Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Now We Are Six, Project Gutenberg ebook #70516; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: A. A. Milne, Cradle Song, in Now We Are Six (1927), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70516, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-now-we-are-six/cradle-song.html, id L27247.
Form and metre
Cradle Song is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBAABBA. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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 ABBAABBA timA · toesB · toesB · timA · himA · goesB · goesB · himA
- 2 ABBAABBA timA · eyesB · eyesB · timA · himA · criesB · criesB · himA
- 3 ABBAABBA timA · headB · headB · timA · himA · bedB · headB · timA
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O Timothy Tim | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Has ten pink toes, | 4 | ···· |
| And ten pink toes | 4 | ···· |
| Has Timothy Tim. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| They go with him | 4 | ···· |
| Wherever he goes, | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| And wherever he goes | 6 | ·˘/˘·· |
| They go with him. | 4 | ···· |
| O Timothy Tim | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Has two blue eyes, | 4 | ···· |
| And two blue eyes | 4 | ···· |
| Has Timothy Tim. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| They cry with him | 4 | ···· |
| Whenever he cries, | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| And whenever he cries, | 6 | ·˘/˘·· |
| They cry with him. | 4 | ···· |
| O Timothy Tim | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Has one red head, | 4 | ···· |
| And one red head | 4 | ···· |
| Has Timothy Tim. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| It sleeps with him | 4 | ···· |
| In Timothy's bed. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sleep well, red head | 4 | ···· |
| Of Timothy Tim. | 4 | ·/˘· |
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.