There Was A Man



There Was A Man.


                There was a man, and he had nought,
                    And robbers came to rob him;



                He crept up to the chimney-pot,





                And then they could not find him;



                He ran fourteen miles in fifteen days,
                    And never looked behind him.

Leonard Brooke

Leonard Leslie Brooke was a British artist and writer, born on September 24, 1862. He is best known for his illustrations for children's books, including classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales such as 'Johnny Crow's Garden' and 'The Golden Goose Book.' His work brought a distinctive elegance and charm to the illustration of children's literature. In addition to his writing, his illustrations have been featured in works by other authors as well. He passed away on May 2, 1940.

Leonard Brooke

Cock-A-Doodle-Doo

Leonard Brooke, Simple Poetry

Wee Willie Winkie

Leonard Brooke, Simple Poetry

Good King Arthur

Leonard Brooke, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

There Was A Little Man



There was a little man,
And he had a little gun,
And his bullets were made of lead, lead, lead;
He went to the brook
And saw a little duck,
And he shot it right through the head, head, head.





He carried it home
To his old wife Joan,
And bid her a fire for to make, make, make;
To roast the little duck
He had shot in the brook,
And he'd go and fetch her the drake, drake, drake.

Leonard Brooke

The Man In The Moon

                The Man in the Moon
                    Came tumbling down,
                And asked his way to Norwich;



                    They told him south,
                    And he burnt his mouth
                With eating cold pease-porridge.

Leonard Brooke

Nursery Rhyme. LIII. Tales.

    There was a man, and he had naught,
        And robbers came to rob him;
    He crept up to the chimney pot,
        And then they thought they had him.

    But he got down on t'other side,
        And then they could not find him;
    He ran fourteen miles in fifteen days,
        And never look'd behind him.

Unknown

The Last Man.

I.

'Twas in the year two thousand and one,
A pleasant morning of May,
I sat on the gallows-tree, all alone,
A channting a merry lay, -
To think how the pest had spared my life,
To sing with the larks that day!


II.

When up the heath came a jolly knave,
Like a scarecrow, all in rags:
It made me crow to see his old duds
All abroad in the wind, like flags; -
So up he came to the timber's foot
And pitch'd down his greasy bags. -


III.

Good Lord! how blythe the old beggar was!
At pulling out his scraps, -
The very sight of his broken orts
Made a work in his wrinkled chaps:
"Come down," says he, "you Newgate-bird,
And have a taste of my snaps!" -


IV.

Then down the rope, like a ta...

Thomas Hood

Robin Hood's Flight

Robin Hood's mother, these twelve years now,
Has been gone from her earthly home;
And Robin has paid, he scarce knew how,
A sum for a noble tomb.

The church-yard lies on a woody hill,
But open to sun and air:
It seems as if the heaven still
Were looking and smiling there.

Often when Robin looked that way,
He looked through a sweet thin tear;
But he looked in a different manner, they say,
Towards the Abbey of Vere.

He cared not for its ill-got wealth,
He felt not for his pride;
He had youth, and strength, and health,
And enough for one beside.

But he thought of his gentle mother's cheek
How it sunk away,
And how she used to grow more weak
And weary every day;

And how, when trying a hymn, her voice
At evenin...

James Henry Leigh Hunt

My Prisoner

We was in a crump-'ole, 'im and me;
Fightin' wiv our bayonets was we;
Fightin' 'ard as 'ell we was,
Fightin' fierce as fire because
It was 'im or me as must be downed;
'E was twice as big as me;
I was 'arf the weight of 'e;
We was like a terryer and a 'ound.

'Struth! But 'e was sich a 'andsome bloke.
Me, I'm 'andsome as a chunk o' coke.
Did I give it 'im? Not 'arf!
Why, it fairly made me laugh,
'Cos 'is bloomin' bellows wasn't sound.
Couldn't fight for monkey nuts.
Soon I gets 'im in the guts,
There 'e lies a-floppin' on the ground.

In I goes to finish up the job.
Quick 'e throws 'is 'ands above 'is nob;
Speakin' English good as me:
"'Tain't no use to kill," says 'e;
"Can't yer tyke me prisoner instead?"
"Why, I'd like to, ...

Robert William Service