Analysis of Her Hair

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



The beauty of her hair bewilders me--
Pouring adown the brow, its cloven tide
Swirling about the ears on either side
And storming round the neck tumultuously:
Or like the lights of old antiquity
Through mullioned windows, in cathedrals wide
Spilled moltenly o'er figures deified
In chastest marble, nude of drapery.
And so I love it--. Either unconfined;
Or plaited in close braidings manifold;
Or smoothly drawn; or indolently twined
In careless knots whose coilings come unrolled
At any lightest kiss; or by the wind
Whipped out in flossy ravellings of gold.


Scheme ABBCABBADEDBDE
Poetic Form
Metre 0101010101 10101111 1001011101 0101011 1101110100 111000101 11101010 011011100 011111001 11001110 1101111 01011111 1101011101 1101111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 555
Words 94
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 453
Words per stanza (avg) 92
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 02, 2023

28 sec read
94

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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