Those Two Boys

Franklin P. Adams 1881 (Chicago, Illinois) – 1960 (New York City, New York)



WHEN Bill was a lad he was terribly bad.
    He worried his parents a lot;
He'd lie and he'd swear and pull little girls' hair;
    His boyhood was naught but a blot.
  
At play and in school he would fracture each rule—         5
    In mischief from autumn to spring;
And the villagers knew when to manhood he grew
    He would never amount to a thing.
  
When Jim was a child he was not very wild;
    He was known as a good little boy;  
He was honest and bright and the teacher's delight—
    To his mother and father a joy.
  
All the neighbors were sure that his virtue'd endure,
    That his life would be free of a spot;
They were certain that Jim had a great head on him  15
    And that Jim would amount to a lot.
  
And Jim grew to manhood and honor and fame
    And bears a good name;
While Bill is shut up in a dark prison cell—
    You never can tell.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

55 sec read
261

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA XBXB XCXC XAXA DDEE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 892
Words 180
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Franklin P. Adams

Franklin Pierce Adams was an American columnist known as Franklin P. Adams and by his initials F. P. A.. Famed for his wit, he is best known for his newspaper column, "The Conning Tower", and his appearances as a regular panelist on radio's Information Please. A prolific writer of light verse, he was a member of the Algonquin Round Table of the 1920s and 1930s. more…

All Franklin P. Adams poems | Franklin P. Adams Books

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