Analysis of A Song of the Road

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



O I will walk with you, my lad, whichever way you fare,
You'll have me, too, the side o' you, with heart as light as air;
No care for where the road you take's a-leadin' anywhere,--
It can but be a joyful ja'nt whilst you journey there.
The road you take's the path o' love, an' that's the bridth o' two--
An' I will walk with you, my lad -- O I will walk with you.

Ho! I will walk with you, my lad,
Be weather black or blue
Or roadsides frost or dew, my lad --
O I will walk with you.

Aye, glad, my lad, I'll walk with you, whatever winds may blow,
Or summer blossoms stay our steps, or blinding drifts of snow;
The way thay you set face an' foot 's the way that I will go,
An' brave I'll be, abreast o' ye, the Saints and Angels know!
With loyal hand in loyal hand, an' one heart made o' two,
Through summer's gold, or winter's cold, It's I will walk with you.

Sure, I will walk with you, my lad,
A love ordains me to,--
To Heaven's door, an' through, my lad.
O I will walk with you.


Scheme aaaabb cbcB ddddbb cbcB
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111010111 11110111111111 111101110110 1111010111101 01110111110111 11111111111111 11111111 110111 1111111 111111 1111111110111 110101101110111 011111111011111 11110111010101 11010101111111 11011101111111 11111111 01111 11011111 111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 990
Words 207
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 4, 6, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 177
Words per stanza (avg) 51
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

1:05 min read
65

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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