Analysis of Kissing The Rod

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



O heart of mine, we shouldn't
Worry so!
What we've missed of calm we couldn't
Have, you know!
What we've met of stormy pain,
And of sorrow's driving rain,
We can better meet again,
If it blow!

We have erred in that dark hour
We have known,
When our tears fell with the shower,
All alone!--
Were not shine and shadow blent
As the gracious Master meant?--
Let us temper our content
With His own.

For, we know, not every morrow
Can be sad;
So, forgetting all the sorrow
We have had,
Let us fold away our fears,
And put by our foolish tears,
And through all the coming years
Just be glad.


Scheme ABABCCXB DEDEAFFE BGBGHXHG
Poetic Form
Metre 1111110 101 11111110 111 1111101 011101 1110101 111 11101110 111 110111010 101 011011 1010101 11101010 111 111110010 111 10101010 111 11101101 01110101 0110101 111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 569
Words 117
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 18
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 147
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
89

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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