Dorothy's Opinion Lyrics
Dorothy's mother buys a calendar full of pictures of neat little girls and says they are true to life. Dorothy disagrees: no real child could play with dogs and boats and keep a frock so clean.
Dorothy's Opinion
Mamma has bought a calendar,
And every single page
Has pictures on of little girls
'Most just about my age.
And when she bought it yesterday,
Down at the big bazaar,
She said, "What lovely little girls,
How true to life they are."
But I don't think they're true to life,
And I'll just tell you why;
They never have a rumpled frock
Or ribbon bow awry.
And though they play with cats and dogs,
And rabbits and white mice,
And sail their boats and fly their kites,
They always look so nice.
And I am sure no little girl
That ever I have seen,
Could play with dogs or sail a boat
And keep her frock so clean.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/dorothys-opinion/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Carolyn Wells
- Tune
- Matter-of-fact and a little indignant, like someone setting the record straight
- Best for ages
- 5 to 9 years
What Does Dorothy's Opinion Mean?
The poem is Dorothy's complaint, and it is also light teasing of pictures of perfect children. A bazaar is a market or a shop with many stalls, and "the big bazaar" is where her mother found the calendar. A frock is a dress, and a bow that is awry is crooked. The mother says the girls on the calendar are "true to life", but Dorothy has noticed what is missing. The girls in the pictures play with cats, dogs, rabbits and white mice, sail boats and fly kites, and yet "they always look so nice". Real children, she says, come away with rumpled frocks.
The last verse brings the point home: no little girl Dorothy has seen "could play with dogs or sail a boat and keep her frock so clean".
History and Origin
The poem is in The Jingle Book by Carolyn Wells, an American author of light verse, copyrighted in 1899.
Learning Activities
- Messy and true: let the child draw themselves playing outside, with the rumpled frock or muddy knees that make it true to life.
- Spot the difference: look at a calendar or magazine picture of children and talk about whether it looks like real life.
- Dorothy's side: ask what Dorothy would say next if her mother answered her.
- Rhyme pairs: listen for page and age, why and awry, and mice and nice.