Analysis of A Song

James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)



There is ever a song somewhere, my dear;
There is ever a something sings alway:
There's the song of the lark when the skies are clear,
And the song of the thrush when the skies are gray.
The sunshine showers across the grain,
And the bluebird trills in the orchard tree;
And in and out, when the eaves dip rain,
The swallows are twittering ceaselessly.

There is ever a song somewhere, my dear,
Be the skies above or dark or fair,
There is ever a song that our hearts may hear--
There is ever a song somewhere, my dear
There is ever a song somewhere!

There is ever a song somewhere, my dear,
In the midnight black, or the mid-day blue:
The robin pipes when the sun is here,
And the cricket chirrups the whole night through.
The buds may blow, and the fruit may grow,
And the autumn leaves drop crisp and sear;
But whether the sun, or the rain, or the snow,
There is ever a song somewhere, my dear.

There is ever a song somewhere, my dear,
Be the skies above or dark or fair,
There is ever a song that our hearts may hear--
There is ever a song somewhere, my dear--
There is ever a song somewhere!


Scheme Axaxbcbc ADEAD AfefgagA ADEAD
Poetic Form
Metre 111001111 111001011 10110110111 00110110111 01100101 001100101 000110111 01011100 111001111 101011111 111001110111 111001111 1110011 111001111 001110111 010110111 001010111 011100111 001011101 11001101101 111001111 111001111 101011111 111001110111 111001111 1110011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,078
Words 214
Sentences 7
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 5, 8, 5
Lines Amount 26
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 211
Words per stanza (avg) 53
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 31, 2023

1:04 min read
126

James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. more…

All James Whitcomb Riley poems | James Whitcomb Riley Books

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