My Brother Lyrics
Each of three verses asks a question: who played with me, who made me a sled, who taught me my A, B, C. The answer in every verse is the same, my brother, and the last verse says thank you.
My Brother
Who often with me kindly played,
And all my little playthings made,
Through lonely hours who with me stayed?
My brother.
Who made a sled when winter came,
With little ropes to draw the same,
And on its sides carved out my name?
My brother.
And who was it that taught to me
The way to read my A, B, C,
And marked them on the slate for me?
My brother.
Then may I ever grateful be
For all thy kindness shown to me,
And ne'er withdraw my love from thee,
My brother.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/my-brother/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Tune
- Question rising, answer firm and warm, the same shape in every verse
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| And on its sides carved out my name? | Trace letters in the air with a finger as if carving a name. |
| My brother. | Point to a sibling or a friend, or give your own shoulder a hug. |
What Does My Brother Mean?
The poem is built on a question and an answer. The question is long and spread over three lines, and the answer is the same two words, my brother, which come at the end of all four verses. The first three show what a brother did: he played and made playthings, stayed through lonely hours, made a sled with little ropes to pull it, carved the speaker's name on the sled's sides, and taught my A, B, C by marking the letters on a slate.
The last verse is the thank-you. To be grateful is to feel thankful, and to withdraw love is to take it back, so the speaker promises never to stop caring. Three jobs, three questions, one answer: a child can learn the pattern in a single reading. The speaker is never named as a boy or a girl.
History and Origin
The poem is in Songs for the Little Ones at Home, an American collection of verses for small children, copyrighted in 1884 and revised in 1911. Three lines of each verse rhyme with one another, which lets a child guess the next word.
Learning Activities
- Thank-you card: help the child make a card for a sibling, cousin or friend that says what that person taught or made.
- Who taught you? ask what the child learned from a big brother, sister or friend, and add a new verse.
- Name carving: write the child's name in big letters and trace over them with a finger, as the brother did with the sled.
- Slate letters: use chalk or a whiteboard to write A, B and C together.