Brother Bruin by Christina Georgina Rossetti
A dancing bear earns money for his master, who beats him when age makes dancing difficult. The bear dies, and the master sells his skin; after his working days end, the penniless man enters a workhouse. The narrator hopes that memories of the bear might have prompted repentance.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Animal Poetry, Moral Poetry · 606 words
First lines
A dancing Bear grotesque and funny / Earned for his master heaps of money, / Gruff yet good-natured, fond of honey, / And cheerful if the day was sunny. / Past hedge and ditch, past pond and wood / He tramped, and on some common stood; / There, cottage children circling gaily, / He in their midmost footed daily. / Pandean pipes and drum and muzzle / Were quite enough his brain to puzzle: / But like a philosophic bear / He let alone extraneous care / And danced contented anywhere.
Still, year on year, and wear and tear, / Age even the gruffest, bluffest bear. / A day came when he scarce could prance, / And when his master looked askance / On dancing Bear who would not dance.
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Rhyming verse follows the bear's performing life, decline and death, then recounts his master's eventual poverty.
- Animal Poetry — The bear's labor, aging, suffering and death occupy the central narrative.
- Moral Poetry — The narrator condemns the master's cruelty and ends by hoping that remembering the bear led him to repent.
Tags
dancing bears · animal cruelty · aging · exploitation · workhouses · repentance
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Brother Bruin is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Narrative Poetry, Animal Poetry, Moral Poetry
- Length: 606 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Brother Bruin by Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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