Analysis of Billy And His Drum
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Ho! it's come, kids, come!
'With a bim! bam! bum!
Here's little Billy bangin' on his big bass drum!
He's a-marchin' round the room,
With his feather-duster plume
A-noddin' an' a-bobbin' with his bim! bom! boom!
Looky, little Jane an' Jim!
Will you only look at him,
A-humpin' an' a-thumpin' with his bam! bom! bim!
Has the Day o' Judgment come
Er the New Mi-len-nee-um?
Er is it only Billy with his bim! bam! bim!
I 'm a-comin'; yes, I am--
Jim an' Sis, an' Jane an' Sam!
We'll all march off with Billy an' his bom! bim! bam!
Come _hurrawin'_ as you come,
Er they'll think you're deef-an'-dumb
Ef you don't hear little Billy an' his big bass drum!
| Scheme | AAABBB CCAAAA DDDAAA |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 11111 10111 11010111111 101101 1110101 01101011111 110111 1110111 0110111111 1011101 0011111 011101011111 1101111 1111111 111111011111 11111 0111111 1111101011111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 638 |
| Words | 122 |
| Sentences | 23 |
| Stanzas | 3 |
| Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6 |
| Lines Amount | 18 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 152 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 10, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 86 Views
1 fan
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"Billy And His Drum" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20844/billy-and-his-drum>.
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