Analysis of Tugg Martin
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Tugg Martin's tough.--No doubt o' that!
And down there at
The town he come from word's bin sent
Advisin' this-here Settle-ment
To kindo' _humor_ Tugg, and not
To git him hot--
Jest pass his imperfections by,
And he's as good as pie!
They claim he's _wanted_ back there.--Yit
The officers they mostly quit
_Insistin'_ when
They notice Tugg's so _back'ard_, and
Sorto' gives 'em to understand
He druther not!--A Deputy
(The slickest one you ever see!)
Tackled him _last_--'disguisin' then,'
As Tugg says, 'as a gentlemen!'--
You 'd ort o' hear _Tugg_ tell it!--_My_!
I thought I'd _die_!
The way it wuz;--Tugg and the rest
The boys wuz jest
A-kindo' gittin' thawed out, down
At 'Guss's Place,' fur-end o' town,
One night, when, first we knowed,
Some feller rode
Up in a buggy at the door,
And hollered fer some one to come
And fetch him some
Red-licker out--And whirped and swore
That colt he drove wuz '_Thompson's_' shore!
Guss went out, and come in agin
And filled a pint and tuck it out--
Stayed quite a spell--then peeked back in,
Half-hid-like where the light wuz dim,
And jieuked his head
At Tugg and said,--
'Come out a minute--here's a gent
Wants you to take a drink with him.'
Well--Tugg laid down his cards and went--
In fact, _we all_
Got up, you know,
_Startin'_ to go--
When in reels Guss aginst the wall,
As white as snow,
Gaspin',--'_He's tuck Tugg!--wher's my gun_?'
And-sir, outside we heerd
The hoss snort and kick up his heels
Like he wuz skeerd,
And then the buggy-wheels
Scrape--and then Tugg's voice hollerun',--
'I'm bested!--Good-bye, fellers!' . . . 'Peared
S' all-fired suddent,
Nobody couldn't
Jest git it fixed,--tel hoss and man,
Buggy and Tugg, off through the dark
Went like the devil beatin' tan-
Bark!
What _could_ we do? . . . We filed back to
The bar: And Guss jest _looked_ at us,
And we looked back 'The same as you,'
Still sayin' nothin'--And the sap
It stood in every eye,
And every hat and cap
Went off, as we teched glasses solemnly,
And Guss says-he:
'Ef it's 'good-bye' with Tugg, fer _shore_,--I say
God bless him!--Er ef they
Aint railly no _need_ to pray,
I'm not reniggin!--board's the play,
And here's God bless him, anyway!'
It must a-bin an hour er so
We all set there,
Talkin o' pore
Old Tugg, you know,
'At never, wuz ketched up before--
When--all slow-like--the door-
Knob turned--and Tugg come shamblin' in,
Hand-cuffed'--'at's what he wuz, I swear!--
Yit smilin,' like he hadn't bin
Away at all! And when we ast him where
The _Deputy_ wuz at,--'I don't know where,' Tugg said,--
'All _I_ know is--he's dead.'
Scheme | AABACCDD AXEXXFFEGHA IIJJKKLHHLL XXGHMMBH BNOONOEAPAPEAAXQRQR SXSTDTFFUUUNU OVLOLLGVGVMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 0111 01111111 111101 111101 1111 1110101 011111 1111111 01001101 11 1101110 111101 1110100 01011101 101111 11110100 111111111 1111 01111001 0111 011111 1111111 111111 1101 10010101 01011111 0111 11010101 1111111 11101001 01010111 11011110 11110111 0111 1101 11010101 11110111 11111101 0111 1111 111 1011101 1111 1111111 011111 01101111 1111 010101 101111 11011101 11101 110 11111101 10011101 1101011 1 11111111 01011111 01110111 1110001 1101001 0100101 1111110100 0111 1111111111 111011 111111 111101 0111110 110111001 1111 1011 1111 11011101 111101 11011100 11111111 1111101 0111011111 0111111111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,510 |
Words | 483 |
Sentences | 38 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 11, 11, 8, 19, 13, 12 |
Lines Amount | 82 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 267 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:31 min read
- 124 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Tugg Martin" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21160/tugg-martin>.
Discuss this James Whitcomb Riley poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In