The Dream of a Boy Who Lived at Nine-Elms

William Brighty Rands 1823 (Chelsea, Middlesex) – 1882 (East Dulwich, London)



Nine grenadiers, with bayonets in their guns;
Nine bakers' baskets, with hot cross buns;
Nine brown elephants standing in a row;
Nine new velocipedes, good ones to go;
Nine knickerbocker suits, with buttons all complete;
Nine pairs of skates with straps for the feet;
Nine clever conjurors eating hot coals;
Nine sturdy mountaineers leaping on their poles;
Nine little drummer-boys beating on their drums;
Nine fat aldermen sitting on their thumbs;
Nine new knockers to our front door;
Nine new neighbours that I never saw before;
Nine times running I dreamt it all plain;
With bread and cheese for supper I could dream it all again!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
78

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 628
Words 108
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

William Brighty Rands

William Brighty Rands (24 December 1823, Chelsea, Middlesex — 23 April 1882, East Dulwich, London) was a British writer and one of the major authors of nursery rhymes of the Victorian era.  more…

All William Brighty Rands poems | William Brighty Rands Books

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