Analysis of My Father's Halls

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



My father's halls, so rich and rare,
Are desolate and bleak and bare;
My father's heart and halls are one,
Since I, their life and light, am gone.

O, valiant knight, with hand of steel
And heart of gold, hear my appeal:
Release me from the spoiler's charms,
And bear me to my father's arms.


Scheme AAXX BBCC
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 11011101 11000101 11010111 11110111 11011111 01111101 0111011 01111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 291
Words 57
Sentences 3
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 4
Lines Amount 8
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 110
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

18 sec read
99

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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