Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A FABLE FOR FIVE YEARS OLD, by JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A FABLE FOR FIVE YEARS OLD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: A little boy had bought a top
Last Line: A lumpish, wooden-headed dunce.
Variant Title(s): The Boy And His Top


THE BOY AND HIS TOP

A LITTLE boy had bought a top,
The best in all the toyman's shop:
He made a whip with good eel's skin,
He lashed the top and made it spin;
All the children within call,
And the servants, one and all,
Stood round to see it and admire.
At last the top began to tire;
He cried out, 'Pray, don't whip me, master,
You whip too hard; I can't spin faster;
I can spin quite as well without it.'
The little boy replied, 'I doubt it;
I only whip you for your good.
You were a foolish lump of wood;
By dint of whipping you were raised
To see yourself admired and praised,
And if I left you, you'd remain
A foolish lump of wood again.'

EXPLANATION

Whipping sounds a little odd,
It don't mean whipping with a rod.
It means to teach a boy incessantly,
Whether by lessons or more pleasantly,
Every hour and every day,
By every means, in every way,
By reading, writing, rhyming, talking,
By riding to see sights, and walking:
If you leave off he drops at once,
A lumpish, wooden-headed dunce.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


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