“You say that father writes a lot of books, but what he writes I don’t understand.”

The child expresses a lack of understanding regarding the content of the father’s books. This line sets the tone for the poem, highlighting the child’s confusion and inability to comprehend the father’s written work.

“He was reading to you all evening, but could you really make out what he meant?”

The child questions whether the mother truly understands the meaning of what the father reads aloud. This suggests a disconnect between the father’s intellectual pursuits and the family’s ability to grasp or appreciate his literary endeavors.

“What nice stories, mother, you can tell us! Why can’t father write like that, I wonder?”

The child contrasts the mother’s ability to tell engaging stories with the perceived shortcomings of the father’s writing. There’s a desire for the father to convey stories in a more accessible and enjoyable manner.

“Did he never hear from his own mother stories of giants and fairies and princesses?”

The child questions whether the father, in his own childhood, heard the kind of imaginative stories involving giants, fairies, and princesses that the mother is capable of telling.

“Has he forgotten them all?”

The child wonders if the father has forgotten the enchanting stories from his own past, reinforcing the theme of a potential loss of connection with the world of imagination.

“Often when he gets late for his bath you have to call him a hundred times.”

The child highlights the father’s neglect of personal needs, such as being late for a bath, suggesting a preoccupation with writing that leads to lapses in everyday responsibilities.

“You wait and keep his dishes warm for him, but he goes on writing and forgets.”

The child points out the mother’s efforts to accommodate the father’s writing habits, such as keeping his food warm, but emphasizes that the father remains engrossed in his work and forgets other aspects of family life.

“Father always plays at making books.”

The child characterizes the father’s writing as a form of play or recreation, possibly implying a lack of seriousness or practicality in the eyes of the child.

“If ever I go to play in father’s room, you come and call me, ‘What a naughty child!’”

The child notes the mother’s disapproval when the child attempts to engage with the father’s writing space, highlighting a perceived double standard in the mother’s reactions.

“If I make the slightest noise you say, ‘Don’t you see that father’s at his work?’”

The child points out the mother’s insistence on quietness when the father is working, reinforcing the idea that the father’s writing is treated with a level of reverence and seriousness.

“What’s the fun of always writing and writing?”

The child questions the father’s constant writing, expressing a sense of bewilderment or frustration with the seemingly repetitive and serious nature of the activity.

“When I take up father’s pen or pencil and write upon his book just as he does, -a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i,- why do you get cross with me then, mother?”

The child wonders why imitating the father’s writing with letters and symbols results in the mother’s disapproval, highlighting a perceived inconsistency in the mother’s reactions to creative activities.

“You never say a word when father writes.”

The child observes the mother’s silence when the father is engaged in writing, reinforcing the idea that the father’s literary pursuits are treated differently from the child’s attempts to emulate them.

“When my father wastes such heaps of paper, mother, you don’t seem to mind at all.”

The child questions the mother’s lack of objection to the father’s use of large amounts of paper, contrasting it with her disapproval of the child using even a single sheet for a different purpose.

“But if I take only one sheet to make a boat with, you say, ‘Child, how troublesome you are!’”

The child contrasts the mother’s reaction to the father’s use of paper with her disapproval when the child uses a single sheet for a creative endeavor, emphasizing the perceived inconsistency in parental responses.

“What do you think of father’s spoiling sheets and sheets of paper with black marks all over both sides?”

The child questions the purpose or value of the father’s writing, portraying it as “spoiling” sheets of paper with black marks, suggesting a critical perspective on the creative process.