Missing
Has anybody seen my mouse?
I opened his box for half a minute,Just to make sure he was really in it,And while I was looking, he jumped outside!I tried to catch him, I tried, I tried. . . .I think he’s somewhere about the house.Has anyone seen my mouse?
Uncle John, have you seen my mouse?
Just a small sort of mouse, a dear little brown one,He came from the country, he wasn’t a town one,So he’ll feel all lonely in a London street;Why, what could he possibly find to eat?
He must be somewhere. I’ll ask Aunt Rose:Have you seen a mouse with a woffelly nose?Oh, somewhere about—He’s just got out. . . .
Hasn’t anybody seen my mouse?
Words in this poem
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- anyone n.
- One taken at random rather than by selection; anybody.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Missing 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, Missing, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/missing.html, id L27197.
Form and metre
Missing is 17 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 82% of the lines.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AABBCC minuteA · itA · outsideB · triedB · houseC · mouseC
- 4 AABB oneA · oneA · streetB · eatB
- 5 AABB roseA · noseA · aboutB · outB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Has anybody seen my mouse? | 8 | ·/˘˘˘··· |
| I opened his box for half a minute, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Just to make sure he was really in it, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| And while I was looking, he jumped outside! | 10 | ····/˘··// |
| I tried to catch him, I tried, I tried. . . . | 9 | ········· |
| I think he’s somewhere about the house. | 9 | ···/····· |
| Has anyone seen my mouse? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Uncle John, have you seen my mouse? | 8 | /˘······ |
| Just a small sort of mouse, a dear little brown one, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| He came from the country, he wasn’t a town one, | 12 | ····/˘·/˘··· |
| So he’ll feel all lonely in a London street; | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Why, what could he possibly find to eat? | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| He must be somewhere. I’ll ask Aunt Rose: | 9 | ···/····· |
| Have you seen a mouse with a woffelly nose? | 11 | ··········· |
| Oh, somewhere about— | 5 | ·/··· |
| He’s just got out. . . . | 4 | ···· |
| Hasn’t anybody seen my mouse? | 8 | /˘/˘˘··· |
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.