Analysis of The Little Fat Doctor

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



He seemed so strange to me, every way--
In manner, and form, and size,
From the boy I knew but yesterday,--
I could hardly believe my eyes!

To hear his name called over there,
My memory thrilled with glee
And leaped to picture him young and fair
In youth, as he used to be.

But looking, only as glad eyes can,
For the boy I knew of yore,
I smiled on a portly little man
I had never seen before!--

Grave as a judge in courtliness--
Professor-like and bland--
A little fat doctor and nothing less,
With his hat in his kimboed hand.

But how we talked old times, and 'chaffed'
Each other with 'Minnie' and 'Jim'---
And how the little fat doctor laughed,
And how I laughed with him!

'And it's pleasant,' I thought, 'though I yearn to see
The face of the youth that was,
To know no boy could smile on me
As the little fat doctor does!'


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF BGXG GHXH DXDX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (83%)
Metre 1111111001 0100101 10111110 11100111 11111101 1100111 011101101 0111111 110101111 1011111 111010101 1110101 110101 010101 0101100101 1110111 11111101 11011001 010101101 011111 01101111111 0110111 11111111 10101101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 814
Words 167
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 104
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

50 sec read
86

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…

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