Literary assistance needed !

[Hubblbubbl]

Hi ! This is my first message ! I am looking for the authors of several poems my grandma used to recite to us Tip Tap Toe the lonely little elf , jam is delicious said Barbara Bear and Adam and eve were rabbits once .... Strange for a first message .... Hope someone might be able to help!

[Littlepink]

Hi ! This is my first message ! I am looking for the authors of several poems my grandma used to recite to us Tip Tap Toe the lonely little elf , jam is delicious said Barbara Bear and Adam and eve were rabbits once .... Strange for a first message .... Hope someone might be able to help!

 

Have you tried googling them?

[Hubblbubbl]

Yes, I have googled long and large... Sheffield forum's Mary Poppins brought up a few lines of Tip Tap Toe so I hope she may know more.... Thanks for the suggestion anyway.. It's becoming an obsession

[andikay]

Hi ! This is my first message ! I am looking for the authors of several poems my grandma used to recite to us Tip Tap Toe the lonely little elf , jam is delicious said Barbara Bear and Adam and eve were rabbits once .... Strange for a first message .... Hope someone might be able to help!

 

I've never heard of them and can find no reference to them on the net, is it possible your Granma was the author.

[denlin]

Hi ! This is my first message ! I am looking for the authors of several poems my grandma used to recite to us Tip Tap Toe the lonely little elf , jam is delicious said Barbara Bear and Adam and eve were rabbits once .... Strange for a first message .... Hope someone might be able to help!

 

Think that would have been Tic Tac Toe which is noughts and crosses, your Grandma probably was the author

[Hubblbubbl]

Thank you for your suggestions.... I am pretty sure my Grandma didn't write these but it is a lovely thought ! As I recall they go like this :

Tip Tap Toe was a lonely little elf

And he lived in a wee house all by himself

No one came to visit him and no one came to play

And Tip Tap Toe was alone all day

He cried a little cry and he wept a little tear

But nobody could comfort him cos nobody was near

... then a couple of lines a bit vague, he hears laughter in the street and it's a little fairy

Tip Tap Toe went running to the gate

Wait darling little fairy kins,

Won't you come to tea

Come inside my wee house and play with me

Thank you said the fairy, for I've nowhere else to go

And now she's fairy housekeeper to Tip Tap Toe

 

... OK today the end bit might well get it banned, but those were sweet and innocent times. I reckon it might date to late 1800's.

 

Jam is delicous said Barbara Bear

I'll go to the pantry to look for some there

I's very disobedient cos Mother says no

But jam is delicious I do love it so

... forgotten line or two perhaps ?

Soon from the shelf, that bad little creature was helping herself

... another forgotten bit

And then what a funny sensation she felt

She sat herself down and took off her belt

And there Mother found her wrapped up in a ball

Not looking happy or cheerful at all

You're not a nice bear, you're a piggy she said

And she gave her some physic and put her to bed !

 

I did find a poem called 'The little weeping Fairy' to be written by Marion St. John Webb and have been able to purchase an old book through abebooks via internet.

Thanks for your help.

Diana

[Fishcake]

I had a wee look but to no avail - I found this though.

http://poetry.about.com/cs/textarchives/ht/howfindpoems.htm

 

Can’t get that line out of your head, but can’t remember the whole poem? Seeking words for your grandfather’s memorial service or your sister’s wedding? You can find favorite poems easily on the Net if you know how to look for them.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 20 minutes

Here's How:

First, gather in your mind everything specific you know about the poem you’re seeking: poet’s name, exact title (or words you are sure are in the title), phrases or entire lines from the poem, unique or unusual words contained in the poem.

 

 

If you are sure of the poet's name, consult our alphabetized lists of poet links (listed on the left) to find the best sources of poems written by that poet.

 

 

If the site containing the poet’s works has a search function, use it to find the title, title words, phrase or line you remember.

 

 

Otherwise, go to the site’s page which is most likely to contain what you remember about the poem (table of contents if you remember the title or title words, poem texts themselves if you remember phrases or lines from the body of the poem).

 

 

On the likely page, use “Control-F” to activate your browser’s search function and type in the exact word or phrase you remember to see if it is contained on that page. Repeat this on other likely pages.

 

 

If you don’t know the poet's name, but are pretty sure the poem is a “classic,” go to the major poetry text archives with internal search capabilities. (Links are in “Classic Poetry Text Archives” below.)

 

 

Follow each archive’s search instructions to find if your poem is in the archive.

 

 

If you have no idea who the poet is, but are sure of the title or a specific phrase or even just a few unique words from the poem, go to the search engines.

 

 

Choose a search engine that will allow you to search for Web pages containing an entire phrase in order: try AlltheWeb, Google or Alta Vista. (About’s Websearch site can help you choose one.)

 

 

In the search box, type the specifics you remember, enclosing whole phrases in quotation marks — for instance, “fog comes” “cat feet” will locate Carl Sandburg’s poem containing the line, “The fog comes / on little cat feet.”

 

 

Modify your search depending on the results: add specific words or phrases if your search generated too many pages; eliminate the words or phrases of which you are not 100% sure if your search resulted in too few pages.

 

 

Don’t forget to ask the well-read poets and poetry fans in the About Poetry Forum!

 

 

Post a description of the poem you’re seeking in the Forum’s “Queries & Answers” folder and even if you can’t remember specific lines, we may be able to help you find it.

 

 

If you find the poem elsewhere & it’s in the public domain, bring it back and post it in the Forum’s “Library of Favorite Poems Quoted” to share it with the rest of us.

Tips:

If your search engine results include lots of topical pages about your keywords (for instance, cats or weather in the case of the Sandburg poem above) — but no poems, try adding “poem” or “poetry” to your search words.

If you’ve searched for a whole line in quotes and get nothing, you may have misremembered the line — for instance, “fog comes in on little cat’s feet” locates two pages in which Sandburg’s poem is misquoted, but not the poem itself.

If you’re not totally sure, try different forms of the words you remember — for instance, “cat feet” “cat’s feet” “cats’ feet” in successive searches.

[Hubblbubbl]

Thanks Fishcake, tried it, to no avail for the moment.... Shall not give in !!!

[lyndalulu]

Hello,

 

I just wondered if you had any luck finding out about tip tap toe? My Nana always used to say the same little poem and like you I've forgotten how it goes, and as my Nana passed away earlier this year it would be lovely to find out more about it.

 

LyndaLu

[Hubblbubbl]

Hi there, no I still haven't found it really, I wrote as I remember it above. Does it sound right to you ? Do let me know.