Down Around the River
Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river!Have to furse with 'Lizey Ann--but lawzy! I fergive her!Drives me off the place, an' says 'at all 'at she's a-wishin',Land o' gracious! time'll come I'll git enough o' fishin'!Little Dave, a-choppin' wood, never 'pears to notice;Don't know where she's hid his hat, er keerin' where his coat is,--Specalatin', more'n like, he haint a-goin' to mind me,An' guessin' where, say twelve o'clock, a feller'd likely find me!
Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river!Clean out o' sight o' home, an' skulkin' under kivverOf the sycamores, jack-oaks, an' swamp-ash an' ellum--Idies all so jumbled up, you kin hardly tell 'em!--Tired, you know, but lovin' it, an' smilin' jes' to think 'atAny sweeter tiredness you'd fairly want to drink it!Tired o' fishin'--tired o' fun--line out slack an' slacker--All you want in all the world's a little more tobacker!
Hungry, but a-hidin' it, er jes' a-not a-keerin':--Kingfisher gittin' up an' skootin' out o' hearin';Snipes on the t'other side, where the County Ditch is,Wadin' up an' down the aidge like they'd rolled their britches!Old turkle on the root kindo-sorto drappin'Intoo th' worter like he don't know how it happen!Worter, shade an' all so mixed, don't know which you'd orterSay; th' worter in the shadder--shadder in the worter!
Somebody hollerin'--'way around the bend inUpper Fork--where yer eye kin jes' ketch the endin'Of the shiney wedge o' wake some muss-rat's a-makin'With that pesky nose o' his! Then a sniff o' bacon,Corn-bred an' 'dock-greens--an' little Dave a-shinnin''Crost the rocks an' mussel-shells, a-limpin' an' a-grinnin',With yer dinner fer ye, an' a blessin' from the giver,Noon-time an' June-time down around the river!
Words in this poem
- tiredness n.
- The state of being tired, or weary.
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
- county n.
- An earldom; the domain of a count or earl. [F. comt, fr. LL. comitatus. See Count.]
- somebody n.
- A person unknown or uncertain; a person indeterminate; some person.
- ketch n.
- An almost obsolete form of vessel, with a mainmast and a mizzenmast, -- usually from one hundred to two hundred and fifty tons burden. Bomb ketch. See under Bomb. [Prob. corrupted fr. Turk. qaiq : cf. F. caiche. Cf. Caïque.]
- pesky a.
- Pestering; vexatious; troublesome. Used also as an intensive. [Etymol. uncertain.]
- giver n.
- One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Down Around the River 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, Down Around the River, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/down-around-the-river.html, id L25039.
Form and metre
Down Around the River is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The metre is trochaic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic heptameter.
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 --AA--BB river · her · wishinA · fishinA · notice · is · meB · meB
- 2 ------AA river · kivver · ellum · em · at · it · slackerA · tobackerA
- 3 AABBA-CC keerinA · hearinA · isB · britchesB · drappinA · happen · orterC · worterC
- 4 -A--AABB in · endinA · makin · bacon · shinninA · grinninA · giverB · riverB
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 trochaic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Have to furse with 'Lizey Ann--but lawzy! I fergive her! | 14 | ·············· |
| Drives me off the place, an' says 'at all 'at she's a-wishin', | 14 | ·············· |
| Land o' gracious! time'll come I'll git enough o' fishin'! | 14 | ··/˘·····˘/··· |
| Little Dave, a-choppin' wood, never 'pears to notice; | 13 | /˘·····/˘··/˘ |
| Don't know where she's hid his hat, er keerin' where his coat is,-- | 14 | ·············· |
| Specalatin', more'n like, he haint a-goin' to mind me, | 15 | ····/˘····/˘··· |
| An' guessin' where, say twelve o'clock, a feller'd likely find me! | 15 | ······˘/···/˘·· |
| Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Clean out o' sight o' home, an' skulkin' under kivver | 13 | ············· |
| Of the sycamores, jack-oaks, an' swamp-ash an' ellum-- | 13 | ··/˘········· |
| Idies all so jumbled up, you kin hardly tell 'em!-- | 12 | ···/˘···/˘·· |
| Tired, you know, but lovin' it, an' smilin' jes' to think 'at | 15 | /˘···/˘········ |
| Any sweeter tiredness you'd fairly want to drink it! | 14 | /˘/˘/˘˘·/˘···· |
| Tired o' fishin'--tired o' fun--line out slack an' slacker-- | 15 | /˘···/˘······/˘ |
| All you want in all the world's a little more tobacker! | 14 | ········/˘···· |
| Hungry, but a-hidin' it, er jes' a-not a-keerin':-- | 14 | /˘············ |
| Kingfisher gittin' up an' skootin' out o' hearin'; | 13 | /·˘········/˘ |
| Snipes on the t'other side, where the County Ditch is, | 13 | ···˘/˘···/˘·· |
| Wadin' up an' down the aidge like they'd rolled their britches! | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| Old turkle on the root kindo-sorto drappin' | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| Intoo th' worter like he don't know how it happen! | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Worter, shade an' all so mixed, don't know which you'd orter | 13 | ············· |
| Say; th' worter in the shadder--shadder in the worter! | 13 | ············· |
| Somebody hollerin'--'way around the bend in | 12 | /·˘········· |
| Upper Fork--where yer eye kin jes' ketch the endin' | 12 | /˘·········· |
| Of the shiney wedge o' wake some muss-rat's a-makin' | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| With that pesky nose o' his! Then a sniff o' bacon, | 13 | ··/˘·······/˘ |
| Corn-bred an' 'dock-greens--an' little Dave a-shinnin' | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| 'Crost the rocks an' mussel-shells, a-limpin' an' a-grinnin', | 14 | ····/˘··/˘···· |
| With yer dinner fer ye, an' a blessin' from the giver, | 14 | ··/˘········/˘ |
| Noon-time an' June-time down around the river! | 11 | ·········/˘ |
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