Analysis of When She Comes Home

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



When she comes home again! A thousand ways
I fashion, to myself, the tenderness
Of my glad welcome: I shall tremble--yes;
And touch her, as when first in the old days
I touched her girlish hand, nor dared upraise
Mine eyes, such was my faint heart's sweet distress.
Then silence: And the perfume of her dress:
The room will sway a little, and a haze
Cloy eyesight--soulsight, even--for a space:
And tears--yes; and the ache here in the throat,
To know that I so ill deserve the place
Her arms make for me; and the sobbing note
I stay with kisses, ere the tearful face
Again is hidden in the old embrace.


Scheme ABCAACCADEDEDD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010101 110110100 1111011101 0101110011 110101111 1111111101 1100001101 0111010001 11110101 0110011001 1111110101 0111100101 1111010101 0111000101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 598
Words 114
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 464
Words per stanza (avg) 112
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
117

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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