Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DAN AND DIMPLE AND HOW THEY QUARRELED, by ALICE CARY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DAN AND DIMPLE AND HOW THEY QUARRELED, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: To begin in things quite simple
Last Line: Often as the fit returned.
Subject(s): Children; Quarrels


TO begin, in things quite simple
Quarrels scarcely ever fail --
And they fell out, Dan and Dimple,
All about a horse's tail!

So that by and by the quarrel
Quite broke up and spoiled their play;
Danny said the tail was sorrel,
Dimple said that it was gray!

"Gray!" said Danny, "you are simple!"
"Just as gray as mother's shawl!"
"And that's red!" Said saucy Dimple,
"You're a fool, and that is all!"

Then the sister and the brother --
As indeed they scarce could fail,
In such anger, struck each other --
All about the horse's tail!

"Red!" cried Dimple, speaking loudly,
"How you play at fast and loose!"
"Yes," said Danny, still more proudly,
"When I'm playing with a goose!"

In between them came the mother:
"What is all this fuss about?"
Then the sister and the brother
Told the story, out and out.

And she answered, "I must label
Each of you a little dunce,
Since to look into the stable
Would have settled it at once!"

Forth ran Dan with Dimple after,
And full soon came hurrying back
Shouting, all aglee with laughter,
That the horse's tail was black!

So they both agreed to profit
By the lesson they had learned,
And to tell each other of it
Often as the fit returned.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net