Analysis of Say Something To Me

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



Say something to me! I've waited so long--
Waited and wondered in vain;
Only a sentence would fall like a song
Over this listening pain--
Over a silence that glowers and frowns,--
Even my pencil to-night
Slips in the dews of my sorrow and wounds
Each tender word that I write.

Say something to me--if only to tell
Me you remember the past;
Let the sweet words, like the notes of a bell,
Ring out my vigil at last.
O it were better, far better than this
Doubt and distrust in the breast,--
For in the wine of a fanciful kiss
I could taste Heaven, and--rest.

Say something to me! I kneel and I plead,
In my wild need, for a word;
If my poor heart from this silence were freed,
I could soar up like a bird
In the glad morning, and twitter and sing,
Carol and warble and cry
Blithe as the lark as he cruises awing
Over the deeps of the sky.


Scheme ABABXCXC DEDEFGFG HIHIXJAJ
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111011 1001001 1001011101 1011001 100101101 1011011 1001111001 1101111 1101111011 1101001 1011101101 1111011 1101011011 1001001 1001101001 1111001 1101111011 0111101 1111111001 1111101 0011001001 1001001 110111101 1001101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 821
Words 169
Sentences 7
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 213
Words per stanza (avg) 55
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
97

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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