Curly Locks
Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine?Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine,--But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam,And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream.
Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine?The throb of my heart is in every line,And the pulse of a passion as airy and gladIn its musical beat as the little Prince had!
Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine!--O I'll dapple thy hands with these kisses of mineTill the pink of the nail of each finger shall beAs a little pet blush in full blossom for me.
But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam,And thou shalt have fabric as fair as a dream,--The red of my veins, and the white of my love,And the gold of my joy for the braiding thereof.
And feast upon strawberries, sugar and creamFrom a service of silver, with jewels agleam,--At thy feet will I bide, at thy beck will I rise,And twinkle my soul in the night of thine eyes!
Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine?Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine.--But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam,And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- dapple n.
- One of the spots on a dappled animal. [Cf. Icel. depill a spot, a dot, a dog with spots over the eyes, dapi a pool, and E. dimple.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- braiding n.
- The act of making or using braids.
- agleam adv.
- Gleaming; as, faces agleam. Lowell. [Pref. a- + gleam.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Curly Locks 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, Curly Locks, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/curly-locks.html, id L25035.
Form and metre
Curly Locks is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABB mineA · swineA · seamB · creamB
- 2 AABB mineA · lineA · gladB · hadB
- 3 AABB swineA · mineA · beB · meB
- 4 AABB seamA · dreamA · loveB · thereofB
- 5 AABB creamA · agleamA · riseB · eyesB
- 6 AABB mineA · swineA · seamB · creamB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine,-- | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream. | 11 | ····/·˘/˘·· |
| Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| The throb of my heart is in every line, | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| And the pulse of a passion as airy and glad | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| In its musical beat as the little Prince had! | 12 | ··/˘˘···/˘·· |
| Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine!-- | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| O I'll dapple thy hands with these kisses of mine | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Till the pink of the nail of each finger shall be | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| As a little pet blush in full blossom for me. | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And thou shalt have fabric as fair as a dream,-- | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| The red of my veins, and the white of my love, | 11 | ··········· |
| And the gold of my joy for the braiding thereof. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream | 11 | ····/·˘/˘·· |
| From a service of silver, with jewels agleam,-- | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| At thy feet will I bide, at thy beck will I rise, | 12 | ············ |
| And twinkle my soul in the night of thine eyes! | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine.-- | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream. | 11 | ····/·˘/˘·· |
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.