A Life-Lesson
There! little girl; don't cry!They have broken your doll, I know;And your tea-set blue,And your play-house, too,Are things of the long ago;But childish troubles will soon pass by.--There! little girl; don't cry!
There! little girl; don't cry!They have broken your slate, I know;And the glad, wild waysOf your school-girl daysAre things of the long ago;But life and love will soon come by.--There! little girl; don't cry!
There! little girl; don't cry!They have broken your heart, I know;And the rainbow gleamsOf your youthful dreamsAre things of the long ago;But Heaven holds all for which you sigh.--There! little girl; don't cry!
About this text
A Life-Lesson is in the public domain. This text is taken from Riley Child-Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #9777; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Whitcomb Riley, A Life-Lesson, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/a-life-lesson.html, id L25068.
Form and metre
A Life-Lesson is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABCCBAA. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABCCBAA cryA · knowB · blueC · tooC · agoB · byA · cryA
- 2 ABCCBAA cryA · knowB · waysC · daysC · agoB · byA · cryA
- 3 ABCCBAA cryA · knowB · gleamsC · dreamsC · agoB · sighA · cryA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There! little girl; don't cry! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| They have broken your doll, I know; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And your tea-set blue, | 5 | ····· |
| And your play-house, too, | 5 | ····· |
| Are things of the long ago; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| But childish troubles will soon pass by.-- | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| There! little girl; don't cry! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There! little girl; don't cry! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| They have broken your slate, I know; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And the glad, wild ways | 5 | ····· |
| Of your school-girl days | 5 | ····· |
| Are things of the long ago; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| But life and love will soon come by.-- | 8 | ········ |
| There! little girl; don't cry! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There! little girl; don't cry! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| They have broken your heart, I know; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And the rainbow gleams | 5 | ··/·· |
| Of your youthful dreams | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Are things of the long ago; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| But Heaven holds all for which you sigh.-- | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| There! little girl; don't cry! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.