Analysis of Wet Weather Talk
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
It ain't no use to grumble and complain;
It's jest as cheap and easy to rejoice:
When God sorts out the weather and sends rain,
W'y, rain's my choice.
Men giner'ly, to all intents--
Although they're ap' to grumble some--
Puts most their trust in Providence,
And takes things as they come;--
That is, the commonality
Of men that's lived as long as me,
Has watched the world enough to learn
They're not the boss of the concern.
With _some_, of course, it's different--
I've seed _young_ men that knowed it all,
And didn't like the way things went
On this terrestial ball!
But, all the same, the rain some way
Rained jest as hard on picnic-day;
Er when they railly wanted it,
It maybe wouldn't rain a bit!
In this existence, dry and wet
Will overtake the best of men--
Some little skift o' clouds'll shet
The sun off now and then;
But maybe, while you're wondern' who
You've fool-like lent your umbrell' to,
And _want_ it--out'll pop the sun,
And you'll be glad you ain't got none!
It aggervates the farmers, too--
They's too much wet, er too much sun,
Er work, er waiting round to do
Before the plowin''s done;
And maybe, like as not, the wheat,
Jest as it's lookin' hard to beat,
Will ketch the storm--and jest about
The time the corn 's a-jintin' out!
These here cy-clones a-foolin' round--
And back'ard crops--and wind and rain,
And yit the corn that's wallered down
May elbow up again!
They ain't no sense, as I kin see,
In mortals, sich as you and me,
A-faultin' Nature's wise intents,
And lockin' horns with Providence!
It ain't no use to grumble and complain;
It's jest as cheap and easy to rejoice:
When God sorts out the weather and sends rain,
W'y, rain's my choice.
Scheme | ABAB cdedffgg xhxhiijj xkfkllmm lmlmnnoo xaxkffce ABAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110001 1111010101 1111010011 1001111 111101 1111101 11110100 011111 1100100 11111111 11010111 11011001 11111100 11111111 01010111 1111 11010111 1111111 0111101 11010101 01010101 1100111 1101111 011101 1101111 1111111 0111101 01111111 110101 11110111 01010111 01011 01011101 1111111 11010101 01011011 1111011 01110101 0101111 11101 11111111 01011101 0110101 0111100 1111110001 1111010101 1111010011 1001111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,635 |
Words | 308 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 179 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 44 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 18, 2023
- 1:41 min read
- 123 Views
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"Wet Weather Talk" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21172/wet-weather-talk>.
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