POEM: MR NOBODY

Lines from the poem Stanza 1

Paraphrase (Literal Meaning maksud tersurat)

I know a funny little man, As quiet as a mouse, Who does the mischief that is done In everybodys house! There is no one ever sees his face, And yet we all agree That every plate we break was cracked By Mr Nobody
Stanza 2

I know a __________________ man. He ___________________________ He is blamed for all the trouble that happens in everyones home. ________________ has ever seen him But he is blamed when ____________ get broken. His name is _________________________. _______________ admits being responsible for the torn books. Nobody admits to having left the _________________ open. Nobody is responsible for tearing the ____________________ of the shirts; or throwing the _______________ about Nobody is responsible for oiling that _______________________ door. The door will always squeak because _______________________ oils it.

Tis he who always tears our books, Who leaves the door ajar, He pulls the buttons from our shirts, And scatters pins afar; That squeaking door will always squeak, For, prithee, dont you see, We leave the oiling to be done By Mr Nobody.

Stanza 3

He puts damp wood upon the fire, That kettles cannot boil; His are the feet that bring in mud, And all the carpets are soil. The papers are always mislaid, Who had them but he? Theres no one tosses them about But Mr Nobody
Stanza 4

If __________________________ is put in the fire so the water in the kettle will not ____________, nobody will admit doing it. When the _________________ are dirtied, nobody admits to coming in with muddy shoes. The ________________ often goes missing but nobody admits being last one to read them. And nobody admits to ________________ them all over the place. None of us will admit being the person who left the ______________ finger prints on the door. Or having left the __________________ unclosed. No one admits having spilled the _______. Or having left our ____________ lying around. So, for all the acts, the only one to blame is ________________________

The finger marks upon the door By none of us are made; We never leave the blinds unclosed, To let the curtains fade; The ink we never spill; the boots That lying around you see Are not our boots they all belong To Mr Nobody

Language Notes 1. This poem uses some old-fashioned expressions: Tis which means it is Prithee which means Please 2. This poem also uses some sentence structure which may be unfamiliar to you. For example: Theres no one ever

Vocabulary Mischief an act that causes harm, trouble and makes people angry Cracked partly broken but not yet broken into pieces. Ajar partly open Scatter throw about Squeak a high-pitched sound Soil to make something dirty Mislaid temporarily lost Tosses about throws here and there Blinds window covering to keep the light out

Meaning: No one ever

Who had them last but he

Meaning: only he could be the person who had them last

His are the feet

Meaning: it was his feet

Themes (What is the poem about) 1. When something goes wrong, we always look around for the culprit (pesalah). We always blame other people for the things that we have done wrong. We do not want to admit our fault. 2. Many of us refuse to accept responsibilities (tanggungjawab) for jobs that need to be done.

Moral values 1. Human makes mistakes. If we have done something wrong, we should admit our mistakes. We should not pretend to be innocent or blame other people for the mischief that we have caused. 2. We should be responsible about doing the little jobs that need to be done around the home or school dormitory such as wash dishes, sweep floor, make beds and so on.