Analysis of The Old Times Were the Best

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



Friends, my heart is half aweary
Of its happiness to-night:
Though your songs are gay and cheery,
And your spirits feather-light,
There's a ghostly music haunting
Still the heart of every guest
And a voiceless chorus chanting
That the Old Times were the best.

All about is bright and pleasant
With the sound of song and jest,
Yet a feeling's ever present
That the Old Times were the best.


Scheme ababcdcD edeD
Poetic Form
Metre 111111 1110011 11111010 0110101 10101010 10111001 00101010 1011001 10111010 1011101 1011010 1011001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 391
Words 72
Sentences 3
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 155
Words per stanza (avg) 35
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 16, 2023

22 sec read
410

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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