Forgiven
I found a little beetle, so that Beetle was his name,And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same.I put him in a match-box, and I kept him all the day....And Nanny let my beetle out—Yes, Nanny let my beetle out—She went and let my beetle out—And Beetle ran away.
She said she didn't mean it, and I never said she did,She said she wanted matches and she just took off the lid,She said that she was sorry, but it's difficult to catchAn excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for a match.
She said that she was sorry, and I really mustn't mind,As there's lots and lots of beetles which she's certain we could find,If we looked about the garden for the holes where beetles hid—And we'd get another match-box and write BEETLE on the lid.
We went to all the places which a beetle might be near,And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear,And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort of shout:"A beetle-house and Alexander Beetle coming out!"
It was Alexander Beetle I'm as certain as can beAnd he had a sort of look as if he thought it must be ME,And he had a sort of look as if he thought he ought to say:"I'm very very sorry that I tried to run away."
And Nanny's very sorry too for you-know-what-she-did,And she's writing ALEXANDER very blackly on the lid.So Nan and Me are friends, because it's difficult to catchAn excited Alexander you've mistaken for a match.
Words in this poem
- nanny n.
- A diminutive of Ann or Anne, the proper name. Nanny goat, a female goat.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- blackly adv.
- In a black manner; darkly, in color; gloomily; threateningly; atrociously.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Forgiven 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, Forgiven, in Now We Are Six (1927), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70516, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-now-we-are-six/forgiven.html, id L27233.
Form and metre
Forgiven is 27 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABCCCB nameA · sameA · dayB · outC · outC · outC · awayB
- 2 AABB didA · lidA · catchB · matchB
- 3 AABB mindA · findA · hidB · lidB
- 4 AABB nearA · hearA · shoutB · outB
- 5 AABB beA · meA · sayB · awayB
- 6 AABB didA · lidA · catchB · matchB
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 iambic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I found a little beetle, so that Beetle was his name, | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same. | 15 | ·····˘/˘··/˘··· |
| I put him in a match-box, and I kept him all the day.... | 14 | ·············· |
| And Nanny let my beetle out— | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Yes, Nanny let my beetle out— | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| She went and let my beetle out— | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And Beetle ran away. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| She said she didn't mean it, and I never said she did, | 14 | ···/˘····/˘··· |
| She said she wanted matches and she just took off the lid, | 14 | ···/˘/˘······· |
| She said that she was sorry, but it's difficult to catch | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘˘·· |
| An excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for a match. | 15 | ·˘/˘··/˘·˘/˘··· |
| She said that she was sorry, and I really mustn't mind, | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘/˘· |
| As there's lots and lots of beetles which she's certain we could find, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| If we looked about the garden for the holes where beetles hid— | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| And we'd get another match-box and write BEETLE on the lid. | 15 | ···˘/˘····/˘··· |
| We went to all the places which a beetle might be near, | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort of shout: | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| "A beetle-house and Alexander Beetle coming out!" | 14 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| It was Alexander Beetle I'm as certain as can be | 15 | ···˘/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| And he had a sort of look as if he thought it must be ME, | 15 | ··············· |
| And he had a sort of look as if he thought he ought to say: | 15 | ··············· |
| "I'm very very sorry that I tried to run away." | 14 | ·/˘/˘/˘·····˘/ |
| And Nanny's very sorry too for you-know-what-she-did, | 14 | ·/˘/˘/˘······· |
| And she's writing ALEXANDER very blackly on the lid. | 15 | ··/˘·˘/˘/˘/˘··· |
| So Nan and Me are friends, because it's difficult to catch | 14 | ·········/˘˘·· |
| An excited Alexander you've mistaken for a match. | 15 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
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.