Poems
The Wood-Mouse
D’ ye know the little Wood-Mouse,
That pretty little thing,
That sits among the forest leaves,
Beside the forest spring?
Its fur is red as the red chestnut,
And it is small and slim;
It leads a life most innocent
Within the forest dim.
‘T is a timid, gentle creature,
And seldom comes in sight;
It has a long and wiry tail,
And eyes both black and bright.
It makes its nest of soft, dry moss,
In a hole so deep and strong ;
And there it sleeps secure and warm,
The dreary winter long.
And though it keeps no calendar,
It knows when flowers are springing;
And waketh to its summer life
When Nightingales are singing.
Upon the boughs the Squirrel sits,
The Wood-Mouse plays below;
And plenty of food it finds itself
Where the Beech and Chestnut grow.
In the Hedge-Sparrow’s nest he sits
When its Summer brood is fled,
And picks the berries from the bough
Of the Hawthorn over-head.
I saw a little Wood-Mouse once,
Like Oberon in his hall,
With the green, green moss beneath his feet,
Sit under a Mushroom tall.
I saw him sit and his dinner eat,
All under the forest tree;
His dinner of Chestnut ripe and red,
And he ate it heartily.
I wish you could have seen him there;
It did my spirit good,
To see the small thing God had made
Thus eating in the wood.
I saw that He regardeth them —
Those creatures weak and small;
Their table in the wild is spread,
By Him who cares for all!
Analysis (ai): The poem emphasizes divine providence, portraying the wood-mouse as evidence of God’s care for even the smallest creatures. This reflects a 19th-century moralizing tendency common in children’s literature, where nature serves as a lens for religious instruction. Unlike more dramatic works by the author that address social reform, this piece adopts a quieter tone focused on observation and gratitude.
Tone and Language: Archaic constructions like “D’ye know” and “’T is” lend a folkloric quality, distancing the speaker from modern speech and suggesting timelessness. These features position the poem as instructional yet intimate, as if passed down through oral tradition. The diction remains simple, suitable for young readers, but the elevated religious conclusion adds a layer of solemnity.
Form and Structure: Composed in quatrains with a regular ABAB rhyme scheme and iambic meter, the poem adheres to conventional Victorian ballad forms. Its predictable rhythm mirrors the orderly natural world it describes, reinforcing the idea of divine harmony. This formal conservatism contrasts with later Victorian poets experimenting with stanzaic disruption.
Place in the Author’s Work: Among her many moral and nature poems, this one stands out for its specific focus on a single animal rather than broad natural scenes or human ethics. While Howitt is better known for socially engaged poetry, this piece reveals her attentiveness to nonhuman life, a theme present but less emphasized in her broader canon.
Relation to Period Norms: The poem aligns with early Victorian trends that idealized rural nature and used animals to model virtue. It avoids the industrial critique seen in some contemporaneous works, instead promoting quiet reverence. Unlike Romantic portrayals of wild nature as sublime, this depiction is domesticated and accessible.
Less-Discussed Angle: Rather than merely celebrating innocence, the poem subtly asserts the spiritual significance of mundane acts—eating, sleeping, foraging—elevating them through divine oversight. The wood-mouse’s routine becomes sacred not through action but existence, suggesting a theology of presence over productivity.
Mary Howitt
(1799 – 1888)
Mary Howitt
(12 March 1799 – 30 January 1888) was an English writer, editor, translator and a pioneer of the women’s rights movement in the UK. She is most known as the author of the famous poem The Spider and the Fly. She translated several works by Hans Christian Andersen and Frederika Bremer. Some of her works were written in conjunction with her husband, William Howitt. Many, in verse and prose, were intended for young people.
