Famous Children Poem

This humorous poem by A.A. Milne shows parents taking care of a child with a cold, but they are worrying about the symptoms turning into something worse. Christopher Robin, mentioned in this poem, was A.A. Milne’s son. Milne was the creator of Winnie the Pooh.

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I am an 80-year-old woman who has just moved into a seniors' residence. Shortly after I arrived, COVID-19 did too! For over a month now, we have been kept in isolation from the rest of the...

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Famous Poem

Sneezles

A. A. Milne By more A. A. Milne

Christopher Robin
Had wheezles
And sneezles,
They bundled him
Into
His bed.
They gave him what goes
With a cold in the nose,
And some more for a cold
In the head.
They wondered
If wheezles
Could turn
Into measles,
If sneezles
Would turn
Into mumps;
They examined his chest
For a rash,
And the rest
Of his body for swellings and lumps.
They sent for some doctors
In sneezles
And wheezles
To tell them what ought
To be done.
All sorts and conditions
Of famous physicians
Came hurrying round
At a run.
They all made a note
Of the state of his throat,
They asked if he suffered from thirst;
They asked if the sneezles
Came after the wheezles,
Or if the first sneezle
Came first.
They said, "If you teazle
A sneezle
Or wheezle,
A measle
May easily grow.
But humour or pleazle
The wheezle
Or sneezle,
The measle
Will certainly go."
They expounded the reazles
For sneezles
And wheezles,
The manner of measles
When new.
They said "If he freezles
In draughts and in breezles,
Then PHTHEEZLES
May even ensue."

Christopher Robin
Got up in the morning,
The sneezles had vanished away.
And the look in his eye
Seemed to say to the sky,
"Now, how to amuse them to-day?"

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Has this poem touched you? Share your story!
  • Elizabeth Lemon by Elizabeth Lemon
  • 3 years ago

I am an 80-year-old woman who has just moved into a seniors' residence. Shortly after I arrived, COVID-19 did too! For over a month now, we have been kept in isolation from the rest of the world, and every day we find something fun to do. It ranges from jokes we play on the nursing staff (who take it all in stride and laugh with us) to residents deciding to go into the hair cutting business for the high cost of ten cents! This favourite poem of my childhood came back to me, and I shared it with my friends here. Our current theme has now become: "Now, how to amuse them today?" Laughing together is the order of the day that is keeping us sane.

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  • Amy Hawes by Amy Hawes
  • 3 years ago

Glad to see you are keeping up your sense of humour in these difficult times, Elizabeth! I am a trainee primary teacher and I was just educating myself on children's poets. I'd not read The Sneezles before, and I can see why it would have meant a lot to you as a child. It's lovely. Take care! Ax

  • Mary Glenn by Mary Glenn
  • 5 years ago

I wake up this morning, my 90-year-old body feeling well as it casually recites the Sneezles poem in the back of my mind. I have done so many other times! My four grown children are now reading it to their own offspring, my grandchildren. Any parent with a cranky child sick in bed can relate to the last lines of the poem, "Now how to amuse them today?" As for myself, I wake up daily, grateful for good health and energy, and wondering "How to amuse myself and others today?" Christopher Robin is still my buddy.

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  • Ruth by Ruth
  • 11 months ago

God bless you, Mary Glenn. Poetry is such a blessing, able to unlock a number of emotions, feelings, and ideas.

  • Curly Connor by Curly Connor
  • 7 years ago

When I was 5, I was quite sick for a long time. I loved this poem, especially the silly language. When I was 12, my 9 siblings and I crowded into my parents' bed with the measles and read this poem. And then when I was almost an old woman, I got a drug rash that looked just like the measles and read the poem again. Now I understand that one of the things I loved about it as a child was that it allowed me a bit of control and understanding over my world that was really quite out of control for most of my childhood.

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  • Les Izmore by Les Izmore
  • 7 years ago

Me too. It is one of my all-time favorite childhood memories, having this poem read to me.

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