Analysis of The Mulberry Tree

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



It's many's the scenes which is dear to my mind
As I think of my childhood so long left behind;
The home of my birth, with it's old puncheon-floor,
And the bright morning-glories that growed round the door;
The warped clab-board roof whare the rain it run off
Into streams of sweet dreams as I laid in the loft,
Countin' all of the joys that was dearest to me,
And a-thinkin' the most of the mulberry tree.

And to-day as I dream, with both eyes wide-awake,
I can see the old tree, and its limbs as they shake,
And the long purple berries that rained on the ground
Whare the pastur' was bald whare we trommpt it around.
And again, peekin' up through the thick leafy shade,
I can see the glad smiles of the friends when I strayed
With my little bare feet from my own mother's knee
To foller them off to the mulberry tree.

Leanin' up in the forks, I can see the old rail,
And the boy climbin' up it, claw, tooth, and toe-nail,
And in fancy can hear, as he spits on his hands,
The ring of his laugh and the rip of his pants.
But that rail led to glory, as certin and shore
As I'll never climb thare by that rout' any more--
What was all the green lauruls of Fame unto me,
With my brows in the boughs of the mulberry tree!

Then it's who can fergit the old mulberry tree
That he knowed in the days when his thoughts was as free
As the flutterin' wings of the birds that flew out
Of the tall wavin' tops as the boys come about?
O, a crowd of my memories, laughin' and gay,
Is a-climbin' the fence of that pastur' to-day,
And, a-pantin' with joy, as us boys ust to be,
They go racin' acrost fer the mulberry tree.


Scheme AABBXXCC DDEEFFCC GGXXBBCC CCHHIICC
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111111 11111111101 0111111111 001101011101 01111101111 011111111001 11101111011 00100110101 011111111101 111011011111 001101011101 10111111101 00111101101 111011101111 111011111101 111110101 11001111011 00111111011 001011111111 01111001111 11111101101 111011111101 11101111101 11100110101 1111101101 111001111111 1011101111 10111101101 10111100101 1010111111 00111111111 111110101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,582
Words 318
Sentences 8
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 306
Words per stanza (avg) 79
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:37 min read
87

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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