The Quarrel
by Eleanor Farjeon (Mulberry)
The Poem :
"I quarrelled with my brother,
I don't know what about,
One thing led to another
And somehow we fell out.
The start of it was slight,
The end of it was strong,
He said he was right,
I knew he was wrong!
We hated one another.
The afternoon turned black.
Then suddenly my brother
Thumped me on the back,
And said, 'Oh, come on!
We can't go on all night-
I was in the wrong.
So he was in the right."
Summary of the Poem :
The poet quarrelled with her brother without any fixed reason. They argued over topics one after the other. They started lightly but gradually the argument grew strong. The sister demanded that she is right but her brother is wrong. They hated one another. They quarrelled all through the afternoon and it is getting dark. Then suddenly the brother patted the sister and said that they couldn't fight all night. The sister realised that her brother was right in this point. They decided to stop quarrelling.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
1. Given below are pictures of what happened as told in the poem. Number them in the order they took place.
2. Read these lines and answer the questions that follow.
"The start of it was slight,
The end of it was strong,
He said he was right,
I knew he was wrong!"
a. What was slight?
= The quarrel between the brother and the sister was slight.
b. Why was the end strong?
= The end was strong as they argued many topics one after another. They fought a lot.
c. What did the girl feel about her brother?
= The girl felt that her brother was all wrong.
3. How did the brother end the quarrel?
= The brother patted the sister and said that they couldn't fight all night. He wanted to end the quarrel.
4. Why does the girl finally agree that her brother was right?
= The sister realises that her brother was right in this point. They can not fight all night long. They decided to stop quarrelling.
5. Do you think this poem is funny or serious? Say why.
= I think this poem is very funny. It is funny in the way it served the most common thing among the children. They fight a lot in a trivial matter. They also make up after long fight.
The poem is very funny. The girl says that she does not know the reason for the fight. Yet she quarrels with her brother. She says her brother is wrong. At the end she says that she is wrong and her brother is right.
6. Write about the time you quarrelled with your sibling, cousin or friend and then made up.
= I quarrelled with my little brother few days ago. I could not find my colour box. I thought that he took it. I asked him and he refed and we started quarrelling. It grew stronger. I were fighting a lot.
Then my mother came. She said that she had put it at another place to clean my room. Then she brought it to me. I was sorry for the fight. I apologized to my brother. The quarrel ended this way.
About the Poet :
Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) was born in England. She wrote poems, stories and plays for children. She has written about her family and her childhood with her brother Harry in A Nursery in the Nineties. She also wrote the well-known children's hymn, Morning has Broken.