An Impetuous Resolve
When little Dickie Swope's a man,He's go' to be a Sailor;An' little Hamey Tincher, he'sA-go' to be a Tailor:Bud Mitchell, he's a-go' to beA stylish Carriage-Maker;An' when I grow a grea'-big man,I'm go' to be a Baker!
An' Dick'll buy his sailor-suitO' Hame; and Hame'll take itAn' buy as fine a double-riggAs ever Bud can make it:An' nen all three'll drive roun' fer meAn' we'll drive off togevver,A-slingin' pie-crust 'long the roadFerever an' ferever!
Words in this poem
- stylish a.
- Having style or artistic quality; given to, or fond of, the display of style; highly fashionable; modish; as, a stylish dress, house, manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Impetuous Resolve 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, An Impetuous Resolve, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/an-impetuous-resolve.html, id L25050.
Form and metre
An Impetuous Resolve is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AB-B-CAC manA · sailorB · he's · tailorB · be · makerC · manA · bakerC
- 2 -A-A-B-B suit · itA · rigg · itA · me · togevverB · road · fereverB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When little Dickie Swope's a man, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| He's go' to be a Sailor; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| An' little Hamey Tincher, he's | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A-go' to be a Tailor: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Bud Mitchell, he's a-go' to be | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A stylish Carriage-Maker; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| An' when I grow a grea'-big man, | 8 | ········ |
| I'm go' to be a Baker! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| An' Dick'll buy his sailor-suit | 7 | ····/˘· |
| O' Hame; and Hame'll take it | 7 | ······· |
| An' buy as fine a double-rigg | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As ever Bud can make it: | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| An' nen all three'll drive roun' fer me | 8 | ········ |
| An' we'll drive off togevver, | 7 | ······· |
| A-slingin' pie-crust 'long the road | 8 | ········ |
| Ferever an' ferever! | 7 | ······· |
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.