Analysis of Little Orphant Annie

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



To all the little children: -- The happy ones; and sad ones;
The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones;
The good ones -- Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely bad ones.

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,--
An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wuzn't there at all!
An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press,
An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an' roundabout:--
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,
An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;
An' wunst, when they was 'company,' an' ole folks wuz there,
She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!
An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,
An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about!
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,
An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!


Scheme aaa bbccddefFGHE iijjkkeFFGHE llmmnneFFGHE fxbbxmefFGHE
Poetic Form
Metre 11010100101011 010001010100011 011101110101011 10111110111 11011101110101 11010101110111 110101101110111 1111011010111 11010101011011 011011110101 10101111 11 1 1 1 111010110111 111111110111 1111101110111 1111101111111 11110010111111 111101111111 1111011111110 10101111 11 1 1 1 111010111111 1111101110111 1111110011111 111111111101 11111011111111 111111101101 11101011111101 10101111 11 1 1 1 110110110111 101110101111 111010110111 10110111101 110111111111 11111111011 111011101110101 00101111 11 1 1 1
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,031
Words 390
Sentences 10
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 3, 12, 12, 12, 12
Lines Amount 51
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 302
Words per stanza (avg) 77
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

2:02 min read
1,568

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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