Lyric Poem · Life

Brother And Sister

by Lewis Carroll

Reading room

1"SISTER, sister, go to bed!

2Go and rest your weary head."

3Thus the prudent brother said.

4"Do you want a battered hide,

5Or scratches to your face applied?"

6Thus his sister calm replied.

7"Sister, do not raise my wrath.

8I'd make you into mutton broth

9As easily as kill a moth"

10The sister raised her beaming eye

11And looked on him indignantly

12And sternly answered, "Only try!"

13Off to the cook he quickly ran.

14"Dear Cook, please lend a frying-pan

15To me as quickly as you can."

16And wherefore should I lend it you?"

17"The reason, Cook, is plain to view.

18I wish to make an Irish stew."

19"What meat is in that stew to go?"

20"My sister'll be the contents!"

21"Oh"

22"You'll lend the pan to me, Cook?"

23"No!"

24Moral: Never stew your sister.

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“Brother And Sister” by Lewis Carroll — quilloak.com/poems/brother-and-sister

Quick facts

Poem: Brother And Sister
Poet: Lewis Carroll
Length: 24 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Life

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 24 lines · 8 stanzas of 1–5 lines
Line length: Lines run 7-8 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Author record: Lewis Carroll1832–1898
Source record: PoetryDBBrother And Sister by lewis-carroll, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 3cec1a260ae6b2b0…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Life

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