Speak Roughly to Your Little Boy

Lewis Carroll 1832 (Daresbury) – 1898 (Guildford)



And with that she
began nursing her child again, singing a sort of
lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a vio­
lent shake at the end of every line: -- --
  "Speak roughly to your little boy,
  And beat him when he sneezes;
  He only does it to annoy,
  Because he knows it teases."CHORUS
(in which the cook and the baby joined): -- -- "Wow! wow! wow!"While the Duchess sang the second verse of
the song, she kept tossing the baby violently up
and down, and the poor little thing howled so,
that Alice could hardly hear the words: -- --
  "I speak severely to my boy,
  I beat him when he sneezes;
  For he can thoroughly enjoy
  The pepper when he pleases!" CHORUS"Wow! wow! wow!"

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

40 sec read
676

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBCDEDEBFGHDEDI
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 688
Words 136
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. more…

All Lewis Carroll poems | Lewis Carroll Books

2 fans

Discuss the poem Speak Roughly to Your Little Boy with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Speak Roughly to Your Little Boy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/25792/speak-roughly-to-your-little-boy>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    3
    days
    12
    hours
    29
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who wrote the poem ״Invictus״?
    A Oscar Wilde
    B Sylvia Plath
    C Thomas Hardy
    D William Ernest Henley