Analysis of Nothin' To Say
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Nothin' to say, my daughter! Nothin' at all to say!
Gyrls that's in love, I've noticed, ginerly has their way!
Yer mother did, afore you, when her folks objected to me--
Yit here I am, and here you air; and yer mother--where is she?
You look lots like yer mother: Purty much same in size;
And about the same complected; and favor about the eyes:
Like her, too, about _livin_' here,--because _she_ couldn't stay:
It'll 'most seem like you was dead--like her!--But I hain't got nothin' to say!
She left you her little Bible--writ yer name acrost the page--
And left her ear bobs fer you, ef ever you come of age.
I've allus kep' 'em and gyuarded 'em, but ef yer goin' away--
Nothin' to say, my daughter! Nothin' at all to say!
You don't rikollect her, I reckon? No; you wasn't a year old then!
And now yer--how old _air_ you? W'y, child, not '_twenty_!' When?
And yer nex' birthday's in Aprile? and you want to git married that day?
... I wisht yer mother was livin'!--But--I hain't got nothin' to say!
Twenty year! and as good a gyrl as parent ever found!
There's a straw ketched onto yer dress there--I'll bresh it off--turn round.
(Her mother was jes' twenty when us two run away!)
Nothin' to say, my daughter! Nothin' at all to say!
Scheme | Aabb ccaa ddaA eeaa ffaA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1011110101111 11011101111 11011110101011 111101110110111 111111011101 0010110100101 1010111011101 1011111110111111011 11101010111101 01011111101111 1110011111101 1011110101111 111011011100111 011111110011111 0111010011111011 11110110111111011 10101101110101 101110111111111 0101110111101 1011110101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,223 |
Words | 233 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 45 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 79 Views
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"Nothin' To Say" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20985/nothin%27-to-say>.
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