Analysis of A Ballad With A Serious Conclusion
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Crowd about me, little children -
Come and cluster 'round my knee
While I tell a little story
That happened once with me.
My father he had gone away
A-sailing on the foam,
Leaving me - the merest infant -
And my mother dear at home;
For my father was a sailor,
And he sailed the ocean o'er
For full five years ere yet again
He reached his native shore.
And I had grown up rugged
And healthy day by day,
Though I was but a puny babe
When father went away.
Poor mother she would kiss me
And look at me and sigh
So strangely, oft I wondered
And would ask the reason why.
And she would answer sadly,
Between her sobs and tears, -
"You look so like your father,
Far away so many years!"
And then she would caress me
And brush my hair away,
And tell me not to question,
But to run about my play.
Thus I went playing thoughtfully -
For that my mother said, -
"YOU LOOK SO LIKE YOUR FATHER!"
Kept ringing in my head.
So, ranging once the golden sands
That looked out on the sea,
I called aloud, "My father dear,
Come back to ma and me!"
Then I saw a glancing shadow
On the sand, and heard the shriek
Of a sea-gull flying seaward,
And I heard a gruff voice speak: -
"Ay, ay, my little shipmate,
I thought I heard you hail;
Were you trumpeting that sea-gull,
Or do you see a sail?"
And as rough and gruff a sailor
As ever sailed the sea
Was standing near grotesquely
And leering dreadfully.
I replied, though I was frightened,
"It was my father dear
I was calling for across the sea -
I think he didn't hear."
And then the sailor leered again
In such a frightful way,
And made so many faces
I was little loath to stay:
But he started fiercely toward me -
Then made a sudden halt
And roared, "I think he heard you!"
And turned a somersault.
Then a wild fear overcame me,
And I flew off like the wind,
Shrieking "MOTHER!" - and the sailor
Just a little way behind!
And then my mother heard me,
And I saw her shade her eyes,
Looking toward me from the doorway,
Transfixed with pale surprise
For a moment - then her features
Glowed with all their wonted charms
As the sailor overtook me,
And I fainted in her arms.
When I awoke to reason
I shuddered with affright
Till I felt my mother's presence
With a thrill of wild delight -
Till, amid a shower of kisses
Falling glad as summer rain,
A muffled thunder rumbled, -
"Is he coming 'round again?"
Then I shrieked and clung unto her,
While her features flushed and burned
As she told me it was father
From a foreign land returned.
I said - when I was calm again,
And thoughtfully once more
Had dwelt upon my mother's words
Of just the day before, -
"I DON'T look like my father,
As you told me yesterday -
I know I don't - or father
Would have run the other way."
Scheme | abbb cded ffgh xcxc biji bxFx bcac bkFk xblb xmjm xnxn fbbb xlbx gcoc bpxp bqfq brcr xsbs aexx oxxg ftft ghxh fcfc |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (74%) |
Metre | 10111010 1010111 11101010 110111 11011101 010101 10101010 0110111 11101010 01101010 11111101 111101 0111110 010111 11110101 110101 1101111 011101 1101110 0110101 0111010 010101 1111110 1011101 0111011 011101 0111110 1110111 11110100 111101 1111110 110011 11010101 111101 11011101 111101 1110101 1010101 10111010 0110111 111101 111111 01100111 111101 01101010 110101 1101010 01100 10111110 111101 111010101 111101 01010101 010101 0111010 1110111 111010011 110101 0111111 01010 10111011 0111101 10100010 1010101 0111011 0110101 10011101 011101 10101010 111111 1010011 0110001 1101110 11011 11111010 1011101 101010110 1011101 0101010 1110101 11101100 1010101 11111110 1010101 11111101 010011 11011101 110101 1111110 111110 1111110 1110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,712 |
Words | 563 |
Sentences | 28 |
Stanzas | 23 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 92 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 90 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:48 min read
- 9 Views
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"A Ballad With A Serious Conclusion" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/55736/a-ballad-with-a-serious-conclusion>.
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