Analysis of The Shoemaker
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Thou Poet, who, like any lark,
Dost whet thy beak and trill
From misty morn till murky dark,
Nor ever pipe thy fill:
Hast thou not, in thy cheery note,
One poor chirp to confer--
One verseful twitter to devote
Unto the Shoe-ma-ker?
At early dawn he doth peg in
His noble work and brave;
And eke from cark and wordly sin
He seeketh soles to save;
And all day long, with quip and song,
Thus stitcheth he the way
Our feet may know the right from wrong,
Nor ever go a stray.
Soak kip in mind the Shoe-ma-ker,
Nor slight his lasting fame:
Alway he waxeth tenderer
In warmth of our acclaim;--
Aye, more than any artisan
We glory in his art
Who ne'er, to help the under man,
Neglects the upper part.
But toe the mark for him, and heel
Respond to thee in kine--
Or kid--or calf, shouldst thou reveal
A taste so superfine:
Thus let him jest--join in his laugh--
Draw on his stock, and be
A shoer'd there's no rival half
Sole liberal as he.
Then, Poet, hail the Shoe-ma-ker
For all his goodly deeds,--
Yea, bless him free for booting thee--
The first of all thy needs!
And when at last his eyes grow dim,
And nerveless drops his clamp,
In golden shoon pray think of him
Upon his latest tramp.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH DIDIXJXJ KEKELMLM DNMNOPOP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11011101 111101 11011101 110111 11101101 111101 1110101 100111 11011110 110101 0111011 11111 01111101 11101 101110111 110101 11010111 111101 1111 0111001 11110100 110011 11110101 010101 11011101 011101 11111101 0111 11111011 111101 0111101 110011 11010111 111101 11111101 011111 01111111 01111 01011111 011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,151 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 179 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 56 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Shoemaker" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21116/the-shoemaker>.
Discuss this James Whitcomb Riley poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In