Rice Pudding
What is the matter with Mary Jane?She’s crying with all her might and main,And she won’t eat her dinner—rice pudding again—What is the matter with Mary Jane?
What is the matter with Mary Jane?I’ve promised her dolls and a daisy-chain,And a book about animals—all in vain—What is the matter with Mary Jane?
What is the matter with Mary Jane?She’s perfectly well, and she hasn’t a pain;But, look at her, now she’s beginning again!—What is the matter with Mary Jane?
What is the matter with Mary Jane?I’ve promised her sweets and a ride in the train,And I’ve begged her to stop for a bit and explain—What is the matter with Mary Jane?
What is the matter with Mary Jane?She’s perfectly well and she hasn’t a pain,And it’s lovely rice pudding for dinner again!—What is the matter with Mary Jane?
Words in this poem
- jane n.
- A coin of Genoa; any small coin. [LL. Janua Genoa; L. Genua, also OE. Jean.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rice Pudding 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, Rice Pudding, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/rice-pudding.html, id L27196.
Form and metre
Rice Pudding is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets.
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.
- 1 AAAA janeA · mainA · againA · janeA
- 2 AAAA janeA · chainA · vainA · janeA
- 3 AAAA janeA · painA · againA · janeA
- 4 AAAA janeA · trainA · explainA · janeA
- 5 AAAA janeA · painA · againA · janeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| She’s crying with all her might and main, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And she won’t eat her dinner—rice pudding again— | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| I’ve promised her dolls and a daisy-chain, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And a book about animals—all in vain— | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| She’s perfectly well, and she hasn’t a pain; | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| But, look at her, now she’s beginning again!— | 11 | ······˘/˘˘/ |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| I’ve promised her sweets and a ride in the train, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And I’ve begged her to stop for a bit and explain— | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| She’s perfectly well and she hasn’t a pain, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| And it’s lovely rice pudding for dinner again!— | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| What is the matter with Mary Jane? | 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.