Analysis of The Lyttel Boy

Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)



Sometime there ben a lyttel boy
 That wolde not renne and play,
And helpless like that little tyke
 Ben allwais in the way.
"Goe, make you merrie with the rest,"
 His weary moder cried;
But with a frown he catcht her gown
 And hong untill her side.

That boy did love his moder well,
 Which spake him faire, I ween;
He loved to stand and hold her hand
 And ken her with his een;
His cosset bleated in the croft,
 His toys unheeded lay,--
He wolde not goe, but, tarrying soe,
 Ben allwais in the way.

Godde loveth children and doth gird
 His throne with soche as these,
And He doth smile in plaisaunce while
 They cluster at His knees;
And sometime, when He looked on earth
 And watched the bairns at play,
He kenned with joy a lyttel boy
 Ben allwais in the way.

And then a moder felt her heart
 How that it ben to-torne,--
She kissed eche day till she ben gray
 The shoon he used to worn;
No bairn let hold untill her gown,
 Nor played upon the floore,--
Godde's was the joy; a lyttel boy
 Ben in the way no more!


Scheme abxBxcdc xdxdxbeB xexexbaB xdbxdfaf
Poetic Form
Metre 111011 111101 01011101 11001 11110101 110101 11011101 01101 11111101 111111 11110101 010111 1101001 110101 1111111 11001 1110011 111111 0111011 110111 0111111 010111 1111011 11001 01010101 111111 11111111 011111 1111101 110101 1101011 100111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 990
Words 202
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 191
Words per stanza (avg) 49
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:00 min read
122

Eugene Field

Eugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. more…

All Eugene Field poems | Eugene Field Books

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