Hi,
This was a poem in my text-book. I don’t know why suddenly since I started my blog and started this standard feature of “My favorite poems” that I am remembering all my school poetry.
Now, this poem was remembered as a result of a prompt. Here is the prompt first.
Now, I am surely not going to answer that question 🙂 and you may think what you like! 🙂
Well, coming back to this poem. I thought I just had to search for the poem but, first I did not remember the exact beginning and it took me hours (yes, you heard that hours!) to finally search the name of the poem and the poet. Secondly, The poem was not available on google. This was a shock for me because I thought the entire world was right at our fingertips. Also there is no comprehensive information on the poetess. The only information I found was basic:
Mildred Howells Born in Boston, Suffolk Co., MA Daughter of William D. Howells and Elinor G. Mead Sister of Winifred Howells and John M. Howells [spouse(s) unknown] [children unknown] Died in Watertown, Middlesex Co., MA I was sad that there was no more information but, call this remarkable, there was one thing in common between Mildred and me.This poem was available only partially. That too, I pieced (yes, again you heard that right), the paragraphs to form the poem from a site which did not open. Now, if any one of you finds this poem in it’s entirety, I am going to be thrilled though I might also end up feeling stupid 🙂
All for the love of this poem & for Mildred. I found another beautiful poem by her. I will post it some other time.
Here is Kirkus review about this poem:
“It’s the old rhyme once known as “”Going Too Far”” about the woman whose passion for cleaning compels her to “”wash the pig after all his meals,”” scrub her doorstep “”into the ground”” and the weathervane off the steeple, and wash the village children “”so hard that in several cases/ She polished their features off their faces”” — until at last she is whisked off into the sky to polish the stars. Mildred Howells first published this playful elaboration on the then almost official stereotype in 1898, and without forcing the humor or caricaturing the setting Holdsworth’s soft gray illustrations are faithful to the styles and symbols (windmills, caps, wooden shoes) that defined Holland for children of her time.”
Wow! 1898? And found one image as below:
The partial poem is as follows but, I am pretty sure there were some more lines to it.
***************************************************
Going too far by Mildred Howells
A Woman who lived in Holland of old,
Polished her brass till it shone like gold,
She washed her pig after all it’s meals,
In spite of his energetic squeals.
She scrubbed her doorstep, into the ground,
And the children’s faces pink and round,
She washed so hard that in several cases,
She polished the features off their faces.
Until, to the rage of all the people,
she cleaned the weather-vane off the steeple.
As she looked at the sky one one summer’s night,
she thought that the stars shone out less bright.
That night a storm began to brew,
and a wind from the ocean blew and brew
till when she came to her door next day,
it whisked her up
Up and up in the air so high,
that she vanished, at last, in the stormy sky.
Since then it’s said that each twinkling star
and the big white moon, shine brighter by far.
But the neighbours shake their heads in fear,
she may rub so hard they will disappear.
*********************************************
Now, Wasn’t that a cute and funny poem?
I have finished searching but, would you like to try?
There might just be a surprise for you, if you do but, even if there isn’t, do it as a challenge and for the love of literature?
This post is written as a response to open-to-all prompt for the Project 365 program at We Post Daily.:) Keep looking,
Poornima
(Image Credit-Abebooks)
This post based on the prompt in such a manner, was unexpected, Poornima!
The way you’ve weaved the prompt reflects sheer brilliance! 🙂
Such a tall compliment from someone who is always topping the indistar chart? Thank you so much for reading in Poonam.
Delightful!
No other word comes to mind when I see this poem and the prompt combined.
While I am the sort who rubs the crystal too hard, good to have met one who prefers making crafts. 😀
You may say we can think about you as we like,
But this poem would not have been here, had it been otherwise. 😉
🙂 Thanks so much Sakshi.
I really loved this poem too.
Project 365 is giving us difficult prompts and making us tougher 🙂
That was a wonderful effort combining the prompt and that beautiful poem. You’re marvelous just like the poem. 🙂
Awww Thanks for reading in and also for the compliment 🙂 You made my day.
I remember this poem from grade school and have been trying to find it for some time. I seem to recall it was in a book with other poems, such as “Old Quin Queeribus” and “At The Garden Gate”, and “Jonathan Bing”. Sure wish I could remember the name of the book and find a copy.
Thanks Gregg. I spent a lot of time to search for this poem but, did not find the complete one anywhere. 🙁 It’s disappeared just like any mention of Mildred Howells has too. I didn’t find much info on her too or her other poems.
Hi,
my grandma recited this many times over the years to me when I was little and I learned it through her reciting it to me at bedtimes. She was school teacher for a while.
this is how I remember it going. I added and changed a few lines. Let me know what you think.
This is the entire poem.
A Woman who lived in Holland of old,
Polished her brass till it shone like gold,
She washed her pig after all it’s meals,
In spite of his energetic squeals.
She scrubbed her doorstep, into the ground,
And the children’s faces pink and round,
She washed so hard that in several cases
She polished the features off their faces.
Then soon her passion for cleaning grew,
Then soon she’d polished and scrubbed the village through,
Until, to the rage of all the people,
she polished the weather-vane right off the steeple.
As she looked at the sky one one summer’s night,
she thought that the stars shone out less bright.
She said with a sigh,
If I were up there ,
I’d scrub them all up
till the world would stare
That night a storm began to brew,
and a winds from the ocean blew and brew
till when she came to her door next day,
it whisked her up, and blew her away.
Up and up so in the air so high,
that she vanished, at last, in the stormy sky.
Since then it’s said that each little star
and the big round moon, shine brighter by far.
But all the neighbours shake their heads in fear,
she may rub so hard they will disappear.
Dear Karen,
This is amazing.
This is how I remember it too.
Thanks so much for sending it to me.
I really appreciate it.
I will update it on my blog soon and mention your name under credits.
Thanks again.
Best regards,
Poornima
Hi Poornima,
I was so delighted to see this poem here!. Thank you for publishing it here. It was also a poem I had in my english text book growing up. My kids are 8 and 10 and were learning about poetry in school and for some reason the first line of the poem was stuck in my head and I kept trying to remember it to recite to them . Now I have and they loved hearing it!
Thanks again.
Hi Shilpa,
Same here. I had it in my textbook too.
Probably we are the same age.
My daughter is also 10 years old. 🙂
Thanks for your comment.
I am so happy I did this because it helps me connect with people like you.
Keep reading.
Regards,
Poornima