Analysis of Our Hired Girl
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
1 Our hired girl, she's 'Lizabuth Ann;
2 An' she can cook best things to eat!
3 She ist puts dough in our pie-pan,
4 An' pours in somepin' 'at's good an' sweet;
5 An' nen she salts it all on top
6 With cinnamon; an' nen she'll stop
7 An' stoop an' slide it, ist as slow,
8 In th' old cook-stove, so's 'twon't slop
9 An' git all spilled; nen bakes it, so
10 It's custard-pie, first thing you know!
11 An' nen she'll say,
12 "Clear out o' my way!
13 They's time fer work, an' time fer play!
14 Take yer dough, an' run, child, run!
15 Er I cain't git no cookin' done!"
16 When our hired girl 'tends like she's mad,
17 An' says folks got to walk the chalk
18 When she's around, er wisht they had!
19 I play out on our porch an' talk
20 To Th' Raggedy Man 'at mows our lawn;
21 An' he says, "Whew!" an' nen leans on
22 His old crook-scythe, and blinks his eyes,
23 An' sniffs all 'round an' says, "I swawn!
24 Ef my old nose don't tell me lies,
25 It 'pears like I smell custard-pies!"
26 An' nen he'll say,
27 "Clear out o' my way!
28 They's time fer work, an' time fer play!
29 Take yer dough, an' run, child, run!
30 Er she cain't git no cookin' done!"
31 Wunst our hired girl, when she
32 Got the supper, an' we all et,
33 An' it wuz night, an' Ma an' me
34 An' Pa went wher' the "Social" met, --
35 An' nen when we come home, an' see
36 A light in the kitchen door, an' we
37 Heerd a maccordeun, Pa says, "Lan'-
38 O'-Gracious! who can her beau be?"
39 An' I marched in, an' 'Lizabuth Ann
40 Wuz parchin' corn fer The Raggedy Man!
41 Better say,
42 "Clear out o' the way!
43 They's time fer work, an' time fer play!
44 Take the hint, an' run, child, run!
45 Er we cain't git no courtin' done!"
Scheme | ABABCCDCDDEEEFF GXGXXXHAHHEEEFF IJIJIIAIAAEEEFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (22%) |
Metre | 10101111 11111111 111101011 11011111 11111111 11001111 11111111 011111111 11111111 11011111 1111 11111 11111111 1111111 01111111 1101011111 11111101 11010111 111110111 111100111101 11111111 11110111 11111111 11111111 11111101 1111 11111 11111111 1111111 01111111 11010111 10101111 11111111 11110101 11111111 010010111 101111 11011011 1110111 111101001 101 11101 11111111 1011111 01111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,905 |
Words | 363 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 15, 15, 15 |
Lines Amount | 45 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 394 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 186 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 144 Views
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"Our Hired Girl" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20997/our-hired-girl>.
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