Analysis of The Pet Coon

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



Noey Bixler ketched him, and fetched him in to me
When he's ist a little teenty-weenty baby-coon
'Bout as big as little pups, an' tied him to a tree;
An' Pa gived Noey fifty cents, when he come home at noon.
Nen he buyed a chain fer him, an' little collar, too,
An' sawed a hole in a' old tub an' turnt it upside-down;
An' little feller'd stay in there and won't come out fer you--
'Tendin' like he's kindo' skeered o' boys 'at lives in town.

_Now_ he aint afeard a bit! he's ist so fat an' tame,
We on'y chain him up at night, to save the little chicks.
Holler 'Greedy! Greedy!' to him, an' he knows his name,
An' here he'll come a-waddle-un, up fer any tricks!
He'll climb up my leg, he will, an' waller in my lap,
An' poke his little black paws 'way in my pockets where
They's beechnuts, er chinkypins, er any little scrap
Of anything, 'at's good to eat--an' _he_ don't care!

An' he's as spunky as you please, an' don't like dogs at all.--
Billy Miller's black-an'-tan tackled him one day,
An' 'Greedy' he ist kindo' doubled all up like a ball,
An' Billy's dog he gived a yelp er two an' runned away!
An' nen when Billy fighted me, an' hit me with a bone,
An' Ma she purt'nigh ketched him as he dodged an' skooted thro'
The fence, she says, 'You better let my little boy alone,
Er 'Greedy,' next he whips yer dog, shall whip you, too!'


Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJKHKC
Poetic Form
Metre 11011011011 11101011101 1111101111101 1111101111111 1110111110101 11010011111111 1101101011111 11111111101 111101111111 11111111110101 1010101111111 1111010111101 1111111110011 1111011101101 1101010101 11011111111 11110111111111 101011110111 111111011101 11011101011101 1111011111101 1111111111111 01111101110101 010111111111
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,323
Words 265
Sentences 12
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 40
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 323
Words per stanza (avg) 86
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:23 min read
61

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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