Independence
I never did, I never did, I never did like “Now take care, dear!”I never did, I never did, I never did want “Hold-my-hand”;I never did, I never did, I never did think much of “Not up there, dear!”It’s no good saying it. They don’t understand.
About this text
Independence 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, Independence, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/independence.html, id L27184.
Form and metre
Independence is 4 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABAB.
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 ABAB dearA · handB · dearA · understandB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I never did, I never did, I never did like “Now take care, dear!” | 14 | ·/··/··/······ |
| I never did, I never did, I never did want “Hold-my-hand”; | 13 | ·/··/··/····· |
| I never did, I never did, I never did think much of “Not up there, dear!” | 16 | ·/··/··/········ |
| It’s no good saying it. They don’t understand. | 11 | ···/˘····˘/ |
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.