Hoppity
Christopher Robin goesHoppity, hoppity,
Hoppity, hoppity, hop.Whenever I tell himPolitely to stop it, heSays he can’t possibly stop.
If he stopped hopping, he couldn’t go anywhere,Poor little ChristopherCouldn’t go anywhere . . .That’s why he always goesHoppity, hoppity,Hoppity,Hoppity,Hop.
Words in this poem
- politely adv.
- In a polished manner; so as to be smooth or glossy.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hoppity 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, Hoppity, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/hoppity.html, id L27199.
Form and metre
Hoppity is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is dactylic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in dactylic 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.
- 2 A--A hopA · him · he · stopA
- 3 A-A-BBB- anywhereA · christopher · anywhereA · goes · hoppityB · hoppityB · hoppityB · hop
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 dactylic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Christopher Robin goes | 6 | /˘˘/˘· |
| Hoppity, hoppity, | 6 | ······ |
| Hoppity, hoppity, hop. | 7 | ······· |
| Whenever I tell him | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Politely to stop it, he | 7 | ˘/˘···· |
| Says he can’t possibly stop. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If he stopped hopping, he couldn’t go anywhere, | 12 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Poor little Christopher | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| Couldn’t go anywhere . . . | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| That’s why he always goes | 6 | ···/·· |
| Hoppity, hoppity, | 6 | ······ |
| Hoppity, | 3 | ··· |
| Hoppity, | 3 | ··· |
| Hop. | 1 | · |
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.