The Good Little Girl
It's funny how often they say to me, "Jane?"Have you been a good girl?""Have you been a good girl?"And when they have said it, they say it again,"Have you been a good girl?""Have you been a good girl?"
I go to a party, I go out to tea,I go to an aunt for a week at the sea,I come back from school or from playing a game;Wherever I come from, it's always the same:"Well?Have you been a good girl, Jane?"
It's always the end of the loveliest day:"Have you been a good girl?""Have you been a good girl?"I went to the Zoo, and they waited to say:"Have you been a good girl?""Have you been a good girl?"
Well, what did they think that I went there to do?And why should I want to be bad at the Zoo?And should I be likely to say if I had?So that's why it's funny of Mummy and Dad,This asking and asking, in case I was bad,"Well?Have you been a good girl, Jane?"
Words in this poem
- funny a.
- Droll; comical; amusing; laughable. Funny bone. See crazy bone, under Crazy. [From Fun.]
- jane n.
- A coin of Genoa; any small coin. [LL. Janua Genoa; L. Genua, also OE. Jean.]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Good Little Girl 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, The Good Little Girl, in Now We Are Six (1927), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70516, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-now-we-are-six/the-good-little-girl.html, id L27240.
Form and metre
The Good Little Girl is 25 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBABB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 ABBABB janeA · girlB · girlB · againA · girlB · girlB
- 2 AABB-- teaA · seaA · gameB · sameB · well · jane
- 3 ABBABB dayA · girlB · girlB · sayA · girlB · girlB
- 4 AABBB-- doA · zooA · hadB · dadB · badB · well · jane
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| It's funny how often they say to me, "Jane? | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| "Have you been a good girl?" | 6 | ······ |
| "Have you been a good girl?" | 6 | ······ |
| And when they have said it, they say it again, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| "Have you been a good girl?" | 6 | ······ |
| "Have you been a good girl?" | 6 | ······ |
| I go to a party, I go out to tea, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| I go to an aunt for a week at the sea, | 11 | ··········· |
| I come back from school or from playing a game; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Wherever I come from, it's always the same: | 11 | ˘/˘····/··· |
| "Well? | 1 | · |
| Have you been a good girl, Jane?" | 7 | ······· |
| It's always the end of the loveliest day: | 11 | ·/········· |
| "Have you been a good girl?" | 6 | ······ |
| "Have you been a good girl?" | 6 | ······ |
| I went to the Zoo, and they waited to say: | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| "Have you been a good girl?" | 6 | ······ |
| "Have you been a good girl?" | 6 | ······ |
| Well, what did they think that I went there to do? | 11 | ··········· |
| And why should I want to be bad at the Zoo? | 11 | ··········· |
| And should I be likely to say if I had? | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| So that's why it's funny of Mummy and Dad, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| This asking and asking, in case I was bad, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| "Well? | 1 | · |
| Have you been a good girl, Jane?" | 7 | ······· |
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.