The Wrong House
I went into a house, and it wasn’t a house,It has big steps and a great big hall;But it hasn’t got a garden,A garden,A garden,It isn’t like a house at all.
I went into a house, and it wasn’t a house,It has a big garden and great high wall;But it hasn’t got a may-tree,A may-tree,A may-tree,It isn’t like a house at all.
I went into a house and it wasn’t a house—Slow white petals from the may-tree fall;But it hasn’t got a blackbird,A blackbird,A blackbird,It isn’t like a house at all.
I went into a house, and I thought it was a house,I could hear from the may-tree the blackbird call. . . .But nobody listened to it,NobodyLiked it,Nobody wanted it at all.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wrong House 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, The Wrong House, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/the-wrong-house.html, id L27201.
Form and metre
The Wrong House is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each.
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 house · hallA · gardenB · gardenB · gardenB · allA
- 2 -ABBBA house · wallA · treeB · treeB · treeB · allA
- 3 -ABBBA house · fallA · blackbirdB · blackbirdB · blackbirdB · allA
- 4 -AB-BA house · callA · itB · nobody · itB · allA
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 went into a house, and it wasn’t a house, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| It has big steps and a great big hall; | 9 | ········· |
| But it hasn’t got a garden, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| A garden, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| A garden, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| It isn’t like a house at all. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I went into a house, and it wasn’t a house, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| It has a big garden and great high wall; | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| But it hasn’t got a may-tree, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| A may-tree, | 3 | ··· |
| A may-tree, | 3 | ··· |
| It isn’t like a house at all. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I went into a house and it wasn’t a house— | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Slow white petals from the may-tree fall; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| But it hasn’t got a blackbird, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| A blackbird, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| A blackbird, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| It isn’t like a house at all. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I went into a house, and I thought it was a house, | 13 | ············· |
| I could hear from the may-tree the blackbird call. . . . | 11 | ········/˘· |
| But nobody listened to it, | 8 | ·/··/˘·· |
| Nobody | 3 | /·· |
| Liked it, | 2 | ·· |
| Nobody wanted it at all. | 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.