Analysis of The Squirtgun Uncle Maked Me
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Uncle Sidney, when he wuz here,
Maked me a squirtgun out o' some
Elder-bushes 'at growed out near
Where wuz the brickyard--'way out clear
To where the toll-gate come!
So when we walked back home again,
He maked it, out in our woodhouse where
Wuz the old workbench, an' the old jack-plane,
An' the old 'pokeshave, an' the tools all lay'n'
Ist like he wants 'em there.
He sawed it first with the old hand-saw;
An' nen he peeled off the bark, an' got
Some glass an' scraped it; an' told 'bout Pa,
When _he_ wuz a boy an' fooled his Ma,
An' the whippin' 'at he caught.
Nen Uncle Sidney, he took an' filed
A' old arn ramrod; an' one o' the ends
He screwed fast into the vise; an' smiled,
Thinkin', he said, o' when he wuz a child,
'Fore him an' Pa wuz mens.
He punched out the peth, an' nen he put
A plug in the end with a hole notched through;
Nen took the old drawey-knife an' cut
An' maked a handle 'at shoved clean shut
But ist where yer hand held to.
An' he wropt th'uther end with some string an' white
Piece o' the sleeve of a' old tored shirt;
An' nen he showed me to hold it tight,
An' suck in the water an' work it right
An' it 'ud ist squirt an' squirt!
Scheme | XABBA CDXCD XEFFE GXGGX XHIIH JKJJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) |
Metre | 10101111 1101111 10101111 1101111 110111 11111101 111101011 101110111 1011101111 111111 111110111 111110111 111111111 111011111 101111 110101111 011111101 111010111 1011111101 111111 111011111 0100110111 11011111 110101111 1111111 1111110111111 110110111 111111111 1100101111 1111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,138 |
Words | 234 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 142 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 09, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 37 Views
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"The Squirtgun Uncle Maked Me" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21124/the-squirtgun-uncle-maked-me>.
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