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At the Zoo

Alan Alexander Milne 1882 – 1956



There are lions and roaring tigers,
and enormous camels and things,
There are biffalo-buffalo-bisons,
and a great big bear with wings.
There's a sort of a tiny potamus,
and a tiny nosserus too -
But I gave buns to the elephant
when I went down to the Zoo!

There are badgers and bidgers and bodgers,
and a Super-in-tendent's House,
There are masses of goats, and a Polar,
and different kinds of mouse,
And I think there's a sort of a something
which is called a wallaboo -
But I gave buns to the elephant
when I went down to the Zoo!

If you try to talk to the bison,
he never quite understands;
You can't shake hands with a mingo -
he doesn't like shaking hands.
And lions and roaring tigers
hate saying, "How do you do?" -
But I give buns to the elephant
when I go down to the Zoo!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

47 sec read
212

Quick analysis:

Scheme ababacDC aexexxDC xfxfacdc
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 767
Words 155
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

Alan Alexander Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. more…

All Alan Alexander Milne poems | Alan Alexander Milne Books

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    "At the Zoo" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 31 May 2023. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/233/at-the-zoo>.

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