Before Tea
EmmelineHas not been seenFor more than a week. She slipped betweenThe two tall trees at the end of the green . . .We all went after her. “Emmeline!”
“Emmeline,I didn’t mean—I only said that your hands weren’t clean.”We went to the trees at the end of the green . . .But EmmelineWas not to be seen.
EmmelineCame slipping betweenThe two tall trees at the end of the green.We all ran up to her. “Emmeline!Where have you been?Where have you been?Why, it’s more than a week!” And EmmelineSaid, “Sillies, I went and saw the Queen.She says my hands are purfickly clean!”
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Before Tea is in the public domain. This text is taken from When We Were Very Young, Project Gutenberg ebook #70271; 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, Before Tea, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/before-tea.html, id L27211.
Form and metre
Before Tea is 20 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBBA emmelineA · seenB · betweenB · greenB · emmelineA
- 2 ABBBAB emmelineA · meanB · cleanB · greenB · emmelineA · seenB
- 3 ABBACCABB emmelineA · betweenB · greenB · emmelineA · beenC · beenC · emmelineA · queenB · cleanB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Emmeline | 3 | /˘· |
| Has not been seen | 4 | ···· |
| For more than a week. She slipped between | 9 | ········· |
| The two tall trees at the end of the green . . . | 10 | ·········· |
| We all went after her. “Emmeline!” | 9 | ······/˘· |
| “Emmeline, | 3 | /˘· |
| I didn’t mean— | 4 | ·/˘· |
| I only said that your hands weren’t clean.” | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| We went to the trees at the end of the green . . . | 11 | ··········· |
| But Emmeline | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Was not to be seen. | 5 | ····· |
| Emmeline | 3 | /˘· |
| Came slipping between | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| The two tall trees at the end of the green. | 10 | ·········· |
| We all ran up to her. “Emmeline! | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Where have you been? | 4 | ···· |
| Where have you been? | 4 | ···· |
| Why, it’s more than a week!” And Emmeline | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Said, “Sillies, I went and saw the Queen. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| She says my hands are purfickly clean!” | 9 | ········· |
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.