Naughty Claude
When Little Claude was naughty wunstAt dinner-time, an' saidHe won't say "Thank you" to his Ma,She maked him go to bedAn' stay two hours an' not git up,--So when the clock struck Two,Nen Claude says,--"Thank you, Mr. Clock,I'm much obleeged to you!"
Words in this poem
- naughty a.
- Having little or nothing.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Naughty Claude 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, Naughty Claude, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/naughty-claude.html, id L25057.
Form and metre
Naughty Claude is 8 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 -A-A-B-B wunst · saidA · ma · bedA · up · twoB · clock · youB
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 Claude was naughty wunst | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| At dinner-time, an' said | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He won't say "Thank you" to his Ma, | 8 | ········ |
| She maked him go to bed | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| An' stay two hours an' not git up,-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| So when the clock struck Two, | 6 | ······ |
| Nen Claude says,--"Thank you, Mr. Clock, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I'm much obleeged to you!" | 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.