POEM: MR NOBODY Lines from the poem Stanza 1 I know a funny little man, As quiet as a mouse, Who does

the mischief that is done In everybodys house! There is no one ever sees his face, And yet we all agree That every plate we break was cracked By Mr Nobody Stanza 2 Tis he who always tears our books, Who leaves the door ajar, He pulls the buttons from our shirts, And scatters pins afar; That squeaking door will always squeak, For, prithee, dont you see, We leave the oiling to be done By Mr Nobody. Stanza 3 He puts damp wood upon the fire, That kettles cannot boil; His are the feet that bring in mud, And all the carpets are soil. The papers are always mislaid, Who had them but he? Theres no one tosses them about But Mr Nobody Stanza 4 The finger marks upon the door By none of us are made; We never leave the blinds unclosed, To let the curtains fade; The ink we never spill; the boots That lying around you see Are not our boots they all belong To Mr Nobody Paraphrase (Literal Meaning maksud tersurat) I know a strange man. He hardly makes a noise. He is blamed for all the trouble that happens in everyones home. No one has ever seen him But he is blamed when plates get broken. His name is Mr Nobody.

Nobody admits being responsible for the torn books. Nobody admits to having left the doors open. Nobody is responsible for tearing the buttons of the shirts; or throwing the pins about Nobody is responsible for oiling that squeaky door. The door will always squeak because nobody oils it.

If damp wood is put in the fire so the water in the kettle will not boil, nobody will admit doing it. When the carpets are dirtied nobody admits to coming in with muddy shoes. The newspaper often goes missing but nobody admits being last one to read them. And nobody admits to throwing them all over the place.

None of us will admit being the person who left the dirty finger prints on the door. Or having left the blinds unclosed. No one admits having spilled the ink. Or having left our boots lying around. So, for all the acts, the only one to blame is Mr Nobody

Language Notes 1. This poem uses some old-fashioned expressions: Tis which means it is Prithee which means Please
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Vocabulary Mischief an act that causes harm, trouble and makes people angry Cracked partly broken but not yet broken into pieces. Ajar partly open Scatter throw about Squeak a high-pitched sound Soil to make something dirty Mislaid temporarily lost Tosses about throws here and there Blinds window covering to keep the light out

2. This poem also uses some sentence structure which may be unfamiliar to you. For example:  Theres no one ever Meaning: No one ever  Who had them last but he Meaning: only he could be the person who had them last  His are the feet Meaning: it was his feet

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Themes (What is the poem about) 1. When something goes wrong, we always look around for the culprit (pesalah). W e always blame other people for the things that we have done wrong. We do not want to admit our fault. 2. Many of us refuse to accept responsibilities (tanggungjawab) for jobs that need to be done.

Moral values 1. Human makes mistakes. If we have done something wrong, we should admit our mistakes. We should not pretend to be innocent or blame other people for the mischief that we have caused. 2. We should be responsible about doing the little jobs that need to be done around the home or school dormitory such as wash dishes, sweep floor, make beds and so on.