Analysis of The Twins

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



One 's the pictur' of his Pa,
And the _other_ of her Ma--
Jes the bossest pair o' babies 'at a mortal ever saw!
And we love 'em as the bees
Loves the blossoms of the trees,
A-ridin' and a-rompin' in the breeze!

One's got her Mammy's eyes--
Soft and blue as Apurl-skies--
With the same sort of a smile, like--Yes,
and mouth about her size,--
Dimples, too, in cheek and chin,
'At my lips jes _wallers_ in,
A-goin' to work, er gittin' home agin.

And the _other_--Well, they say
That he's got his Daddy's way
O' bein' ruther soberfied, er ruther extry gay,--
That he either cries his best,
Er he laughs his howlin'est--
Like all he lacked was buttons and a vest!

Look at _her_!--and look at _him_!--
Talk about yer 'Cheru-_bim_!'
Roll 'em up in dreams together, rosy arm and chubby limb!
O we love 'em as the bees
Loves the blossoms of the trees,
A-ridin' and a-rompin' in the breeze!


Scheme aaxbBB ccxcddx eeefff gggbBB
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111 001101 10111101010101 0111101 1010101 01001001 11011 101111 101110111 010101 1010101 111110 011101101 001111 1111101 1110101011 1110111 01111 1111110001 1110111 101111 111010101010101 1111101 1010101 01001001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 864
Words 171
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 7, 6, 6
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 161
Words per stanza (avg) 41
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 02, 2023

52 sec read
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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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