Of What Is the Alphabet Composed?

By Mattie Bell [1]

Annotations by Maggie Kelly

“Children’s Alphabet.” 18th century woodcut. Image is courtesy of Minneapolis Institute of Art (CC0).

Of busy Bees,
  And sparkling Eyes,
Of billowy Seas
  Ruled by the Wise.
Of shady El-ms,
  And mourning Yews,
And noisy Ohs,
  Which you must Ex-cuse.
Of blooming Peas,
  A measuring Ell,[2]
And some so smart
  They the rest Ex-cel.

Of singing Jays, [3]
  And vexing Tease,
Questioning “Why” 
  And languid Ease
Of fragrant Tea,
  And hairy Cue,[4]
With debtors who drawl out
  “I—Owe—You.”
And En-vy, who makes
  You grumble and fret,
Together compose
  The Alphabet.

Bell, Mattie. “Of What Is the Alphabet Composed?” Robert Merry’s Museum, July 1858.

[1] Mattie Bell was a subscriber to the magazine Robert Merry’s Museum, where this poem was published in July 1858. From 1858-1863, 20 of her poems were published in this magazine (Pflieger).

[2] An Ell is an unit of measurement of 18 inches, originally known as a cubit.

[3] A Jay is a species of bird, with the most popular being the blue jay.

[4] In this context, Cue is referring to a long braid or pigtail.

Contexts

Robert Merry’s Museum was a popular children’s literary magazine in the 19th century. For more information about this magazine, visit Pat Pflieger’s website, particularly the page dedicated to Robert Merry’s Museum: https://www.merrycoz.org/bib/1850.xhtml#06.1841.08

Resources for Further Study

Visit Pat Pflieger’s extensive website on 19th century children’s literature. The page dedicated to this particular poem can be found here: https://www.merrycoz.org/museum/ALPHA.xhtml

Pedagogy

This poem lists a number of words that sound like letters of the alphabet (i.e. peas, bees, yews). What other words can you think of that sound like a letter in the alphabet? Next, try writing your own poem that uses the list of words you come up with.