It’s funny thinking how some nursery rhymes become children’s songs. And this one, about three mice who cannot see who get their tails chopped off with a carving knife, is at the top of the list.

For Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher, poetry was simply writing that “fails” to reach the end of the line. For W.H. Auden, a poet, poetry was that which “makes nothing happen”. Arnold Bennett, a writer, ...