3. Section I - Lines 1 to 8

 

Most of us are born with siblings, big or little, boy or girl. Those born with brothers or sisters in the family know very well that just like sharing, having fun and loving each other's company, fights are also an essential part of sibling life. Any family where sibling rivalry doesn't happen cannot be a normal family because just like variety is the spice of life, fighting with brothers and sisters is the spice of childhood.

 

  

In line \(1\), she jumps straight into the story by plainly saying "I quarrelled with my brother" which tells us the situation in a single line, that she and her brother had not agreed on something and that had started a fight between them. Lines \(2\) to \(8\) go on to describe how the little quarrel had escalated quickly into a big fight. For example, in line \(2\), Eleanor says that although the fight had started between her brother and herself, she did not remember the reason behind it.

  

Lines \(3\), \(4\), \(5\) and \(6\) continue telling us how quickly a quarrel can grow in size as she says that one thing led to another and somehow they fell out. The words "One thing led to another" in line \(3\) tells us how quickly a fight can become big and not much attention is given to what had happened, but only on how fast things are going out of control. Here the words "fell out" in line \(4\) is very interesting because it is not both brother and sister falling out of the door or window hurting themselves, but they "fell out" because both of them thought that what they had thought was right and that the other person was wrong. Lines \(5\) and \(6\) continue to tell us how a strong fight can grow so quickly out of the simplest of reasons, and no real reason is needed for a quarrel to happen as the poet already tells us that she had forgotten the reason for the argument (line \(2\)).

 

  

  

Meanings of difficult words: