Analysis of The Little Big Man

Rabindranath Tagore 1861 (Kolkata) – 1941 (Kolkata)



I am small because I am a little child. I shall be big when I am
as old as my father is.
    My teacher will come and say, "It is late, bring your slate
and your books."
    I shall tell him, " Do you not know I am as big as father? And
I must not have lessons any more."
    My master will wonder and say, "He can leave his books if he
likes, for he is grown up."
    I shall dress myself and walk to the fair where the crowd is
thick.
    My uncle will come rushing up to me and say, "You will get
lost, my boy; let me carry you."
    I shall answer, "Can't you see, uncle, I am as big as father?
I must go to the fair alone."
    Uncle will say, "Yes, he can go wherever he likes, for he is
grown up."
    Mother will come from her bath when I am giving money to my
nurse, for I shall know how to open the box with my key.
    Mother will say, "What are you about, naughty child?"
    I shall tell her, "Mother, don't you know, I am as big as
father, and I must give silver to my nurse."
    Mother will say to herself, "He can give money to whom he
likes, for he is grown up."
    In the holiday time in October father will come home and,
thinking that I am still a baby, will bring for me from the town
little shoes and small silken frocks.
    I shall say, "Father, give them to my data, for I am as big
as you are."
    Father will think and say, "He can buy his own clothes if he
likes, for he is grown up."


Scheme abcdefgHbijklmbhngopqgHerstugH
Poetic Form
Metre 111011101011111111 1111101 1101101111111 011 1111111111111100 111110101 110110011111111 111111 1111011011011 1 110111011101111 11111101 1110111101111110 11110101 1011111101011111 11 1011101111101011 11111111001111 101111101101 11101011111111 10011110111 101110111110111 111111 001010010101110 1011110101111101 10101101 1111011111011111 111 10110111111111 111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,394
Words 303
Sentences 19
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 30
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 998
Words per stanza (avg) 290
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

1:27 min read
163

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore FRAS was an Indian polymath—poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. more…

All Rabindranath Tagore poems | Rabindranath Tagore Books

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