Poem #4: Mary Had a Little Mouse

THE POEM: Mary Had a Little Mouse

Mary had a little mouse.
Its fur was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went
The mouse was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day,
Which wasn’t Mary’s plan,
For when the mouse jumped on her desk,
The teacher screamed and ran!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joyce Armor is an awesome poet who wrote many other poems like Sweet Dreams and Excuses, Excuses. She was not an famous poet, but I personally love all of her poems because they are all very funny. Most people may say that her poems are childish, but I do not think so. I think that she is an wonderful poet.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

     Personally, I love how the poet made all of her poems so funny. She wrote the poem for children, and I feel lucky to have found her poem. During her poem, there are a lot of silly things. For instance, it does not make sense that Mary, the main character, is going to have a mouse as her pet. Another example is the mouse following Mary to the school without letting Mary know that she is being followed by her own pet. However, all of these silly nonsense are the factors that make her poetry so fun.

     My text to text connection would be the fact that Joyce Armor wrote many other poems like Sweet Dreams and Excuses, Excuses. My text to world connection would be the fact that the world loves her poem for being funny. My text to self connection would be the fact that I once had a pet, and I tried taking it to the school. When I took my puppy to the school, my teacher actually loved him. My teacher hugged and petted him as if my puppy was her own.

     I hope that I could find more of Joyce Armor’s poem so that I could continue to read and enjoy her style of poetry. Also, I hope that I could find more poets that are more like Joyce Armor so that I could have more various types of funny poems that I could read.

TPCASTT

TITLE
When I look at the title, it reminds me of the song, "Mary Had a Little Lamb". The unique title is the reason why I tried reading the poem. I like all of Joyce Armor's title of her poems because they are all unique. I especially love it because her title is simple, but very explanatory.

PARAPHRASE
Mary had a little mouse,
That had a very white fur.
Where ever Mary went,
The mouse always followed.

One day, the mouse followed Mary
When she did not want him to.
The mouse went to the school 
And made the teacher scream and run.

CONNOTATION
1. Speaker: the person who is noticing the situation.
2. Imagery: Sight(white as snow), Touch(none), Smell(none), Hear(the teacher screams), Taste(none)
3.Repetition: none
4. Rhyme Scheme: ABCB ABCB
5. Figurative Snow: White as snow

ATTITUDE
The speaker seems to think that the situation is very funny. The whole mood of this poem is as if the speaker is amused and curious what would happen next. The exclamation point at the very end makes it seem as if the speaker is laughing out loud.

SHIFT
First quatrain (lines 1-4) : The whole stanza explains about how the mouse follows Mary.
Second quatrain (lines 5-8) : It actually talks about what happened when the moue followed Mary to the school.

TITLE
Now that I read the title after reading the poem, I see that the title itself is amusing as well. I thought it was funny before, too, but now that I got the concept of this poem, the sole title makes me laugh, making me imagine the mouse in Mary's arms.

THEME
*Always be careful around your pets.
*Pets cannot always be controlled.
*Think twice before getting a pet to young children.
*Pets can make people laugh.
*Be aware of your surroundings.(see if you pet is following you)

APA-6 REFERENCE

Armor, J. (1998). Mary Had a Little Lamb. Website. Retrieved from
     http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=536&CategoryID=9