Analysis of Father William
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
A NEW VERSION BY LEE O. HARRIS AND JAMES
WHITCOMB RILEY
'You are old, Father William, and though one would think
All the veins in your body were dry,
Yet the end of your nose is red as a pink;
I beg your indulgence, but why?'
'You see,' Father William replied, 'in my youth--
'Tis a thing I must ever regret--
It worried me so to keep up with the truth
That my nose has a flush on it yet.'
'You are old,' said the youth, 'and I grieve to detect
A feverish gleam in your eye;
Yet I'm willing to give you full time to reflect.
Now, pray, can you answer me why?'
'Alas,' said the sage, 'I was tempted to choose
Me a wife in my earlier years,
And the grief, when I think that she didn't refuse,
Has reddened my eyelids with tears.'
'You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
'And you never touch wine, you declare,
Yet you sleep with your feet at the head of the bed;
Now answer me that if you dare.'
'In my youth,' said the sage, 'I was told it was true,
That the world turned around in the night;
I cherished the lesson, my boy, and I knew
That at morning my feet would be right.'
'You are old,' said the youth, 'and it grieved me to note,
As you recently fell through the door,
That 'full as a goose' had been chalked on your coat;
Now answer me that I implore.'
'My boy,' said the sage, 'I have answered you fair,
While you stuck to the point in dispute,
But this is a personal matter, and there
Is my answer--the toe of my boot.'
Scheme | XX ABAB CDCD EBEB FXFX GHGH IJIJ KLKL HMHM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01101111001 1010 111101001111 101011001 10111111101 11101011 11101001011 101111001 11011111101 111101111 111101011101 01001011 111011111101 11111011 01101111011 101011001 001111111001 111111 11110100111 011011101 111111101101 11011111 011101111111 101101001 11001011011 111011111 111101011111 111001101 11101111111 11011101 11101111011 111101001 11101001001 111001111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,413 |
Words | 304 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 118 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 23, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 176 Views
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"Father William" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20878/father-william>.
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