AboutTed Nesbitt Expertise I am a reference librarian and a former advanced placement English
teacher. I can help identify poems, and I can define literary
terms. In the area of literary criticism or analyses of specific
poems, my experience and interests are these: Shakespeare,
18th- and 19th-century English literature, and American literature.
I prefer short, specific questions on particular authors, poems,
terms, or literary movements. I will not edit lengthy submissions
or write students` assignments.
Experience Masters degree in English.
Highly rated volunteer at the grammar and writing section of Allexperts.com for more than two years.
Question Please help me. I am a 49 year old recently widowed woman. I am currently writing a book and there was a poem that I used to read to my Nana each night. I do not know the name of the poem but what I do remember is the poem is about winter and Orphan Annie "pulled the kivers up for a long winter's night."
That is the only part of the poem I remember because she used to laugh so hard that I would get yelled at by my mother. I would sneak down to my Nana's room and read poetry to her at night. Please help. This has been haunting me for many, many years.
Answer Dear Lorraine:
I have had this question -- well, a question similar to yours -- before, but the previous questioner did not remember it as you do.
If what I am pasting in below is what you are seeking, then we're OK. However, if it is NOT, please get back to me with more information -- some other "clues" of some kind.
Ted Nesbitt
LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE
INSCRIBED
WITH ALL FAITH AND AFFECTION
To all the little children: - The happy ones; and sad ones;
The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones;
The good ones - Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely
bad ones.
Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an'
sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an-
keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun,
A-listenin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers, -
An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wuzn't there at
all!
An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an'
press,
An seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an' roundabout: -
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,
An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;
An' wunst, when they was "company," an' ole folks wuz there,
She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!
An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an'
hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,
An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'for she knowed
what she's about!
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'bugs in dew is all squenched away, -
You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,
An' cherish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
The poem is quoted at the very bottom of this story by Thomas Earl Quitman Williams. I found the story of Annie to be interesting, but the poem is at the end:
