Can anyone identify this poem?

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Fiona1986
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Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Fiona1986 »

I've had a few emails from a lady called Carol who remembers a poem she is sure is by Blyton. It's not familiar to me and she doesn't know the title. She does seem to have a good recollection of the words, though:

I peeped one night in the play room
and I was surprised to see,
The gollywog and the teddy bear having
their friends to tea.
There was clockwork mouse and old
Jumbo, the sailor doll and the clown.
And all the dolls from the dolls house at
the table were sitting down.
There were jellies a-shake in the dishes,
and crackers for each one to take.
And golly was giving out paper hats
while Teddy was cutting the cake!
But you think I was dreaming ... I wasn't!
Today I found crumbs on the mat, and
jelly in one of the dishes, and the
gollywog's blue paper hat!

If anyone recognises it I'd be very glad.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Courtenay »

I have seen that one somewhere before, Fiona, and it's definitely Blyton. I just can't for the life of me remember where, though! Someone else will be able to pinpoint it, though, I'm sure. Perhaps our Encyclopaedia Anita? :wink: :D
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Fiona1986 »

Thanks for the confirmation! Blyton's poetry is not my strongest suit.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Rob Houghton »

It happens to have been one of my favourite poems when I was a child! :D

It's in a number of books. It first appeared in 'The Good Morning Book' - but I knew it from this book -

Image

The words are almost right -

Midnight Tea Party

I peeped one night in the playroom,
And I was surprised to see
The golliwog and the teddy
Having their friends to tea!

The clockwork mouse and old jumbo,
The sailor doll and the clown,
And all the dolls from the doll's-house
At the table were sitting down.

Golly had borrowed my tea-set,
And Teddy was cutting a cake,
There were jellies a-shake in the dishes,
And crackers for each one to take.

You think I was dreaming? I wasn't!
Today I found crumbs on the mat,
And jelly in one of the dishes,
And the golliwog's blue paper hat!

8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Courtenay »

Aha — and now I can see I must have remembered it from this book, which I know I had years ago:

Image

Well done, Robert! That one was beginning to puzzle me too. :D
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by pete9012S »

Image

Good detective work Rob!
I have it in Enid Blyton's Secret Toybox Tales:

Image
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Courtenay »

Oh dear, a censored politically correct version — because we can't have a golliwog in there, even if he is behaving as one of the most good-natured and gentlemanly of the toys (as he nearly always is in Enid Blyton's stories). So let's fix up that disgusting and unacceptable situation by replacing a black-skinned toy with a white-skinned one. Wouldn't want children to pick up any wrong ideas, after all. :roll: :evil:
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Rob Houghton »

Definitely not allowed to have generous-hearted black skinned toys! The censors were obviously desperate to prove that only white skinned individuals can be friendly or throw parties for their friends. Good one! :roll: :roll: :evil:

Also, whoever had a sailor doll as a favourite toy? I never even saw one! I had several golliwogs though - in the dark ages of the 1970s.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Courtenay »

I don't think I ever saw a sailor doll when I was little in the 1980s either, although golliwogs were still common! :wink:

That said, sailor dolls do feature in a number of Enid's stories — Tales of Toyland, of course, actually features a romance between a sailor doll and a fairy doll. I'm also remembering a Blyton short story I always loved as a child, The Strange Sailor Doll, in which the doll of the title is ridiculed by the other toys for never joining in their games because of his strange refusal to ever take off his coat and gloves. His "back story", when they learn it at last, turns out to be very moving and even an argument for disability rights!! 8) And they say Enid is a bad influence on children...
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Rob Houghton »

I agree Enid had lots of sailor dolls in her stories...but I was just thinking it was a strange choice to turn a golliwog into a sailor doll in the 1980s/90s when not many children would have even seen one! An Action Man would have been more likely! :wink: Or maybe a furby? ;-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Fiona1986
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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Fiona1986 »

I knew you guys wouldn't let me down! Thanks for answering my question. I'll send Carol an email so that she can see this too.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by pete9012S »

That's very generous.
I thought you might have been tempted to take all the encyclopaedic credit! :D :D :wink:
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by IceMaiden »

As soon as I read this poem I recognised it and went looking through my books. I found it in 'the witch's cat and other stories about cats', where the golliwog has been changed to a pussycat, presumably to make sense for it being in a book of cat stories :lol: .

I can recall sailor dolls in several of Enid's stories, Jackie-Tar being the one that mostly springs to mind, but I remember reading of others in various stories. I can honestly say though that I have never seen a sailor doll anywhere ever! Perhaps they went out of fashion?
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Fiona1986
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Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Fiona1986 »

I've got another one for you all:

One day a pixie small,
Sat on a toadstool under a wall,
Doing his work with a cross nibbed pen,
When a ladybird walked by, and then,
Suddenly his pen gave a splutter and scratch, and sent all over his book a patch,
Of inky blots and some of them fell,
Splash on the ladybirds back aswell.
Goodness me it’s beginning to rain she cried,
And scurried off down the lane.
But she never guessed that her pretty spots, came from the pixies inky blots.

My guess is it one of these:
Why Ladybirds Have Spots on Their Wings
from Modern Teaching in the Infant School (Vols. 1-4) (The Home Library Book Company 1932)
The Ladybird’s Spots
from The Piper Poems – First Series – Book 1 (The Gregg Publishing Company 1933)
The Ladybird’s Spots
from News Chronicle Boys’ and Girls’ Story Book No. 2 (News Chronicle 1934)
The Ladybird’s Spots
from The Red Pixie Book (George Newnes 1934)

But I don't have any of these books. Can anyone help me help a complete stranger?
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Rob Houghton
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Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham

Re: Can anyone identify this poem?

Post by Rob Houghton »

I have two of those books - Boys and Girls News Chronicle No 2 and Piper Poems Book 1 - and can confirm that 'The Ladybird's Spots is indeed the poem you're looking for. :-D It's in both the books I've got. 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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