The Circus-Day Parade
Oh, the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played!And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes, and neighed,As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's timeFilled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime!
How the grand band-wagon shone with a splendor all its own,And glittered with a glory that our dreams had never known!And how the boys behind, high and low of every kind,Marched in unconscious capture, with a rapture undefined!
How the horsemen, two and two, with their plumes of white and blue,And crimson, gold and purple, nodding by at me and you.Waved the banners that they bore, as the Knights in days of yore,Till our glad eyes gleamed and glistened like the spangles that they wore!
How the graceless-graceful stride of the elephant was eyed,And the capers of the little horse that cantered at his side!How the shambling camels, tame to the plaudits of their fame,With listless eyes came silent, masticating as they came.
How the cages jolted past, with each wagon battened fast,And the mystery within it only hinted of at lastFrom the little grated square in the rear, and nosing thereThe snout of some strange animal that sniffed the outer air!
And, last of all, The Clown, making mirth for all the town,With his lips curved ever upward and his eyebrows ever down,And his chief attention paid to the little mule that playedA tattoo on the dashboard with his heels, in the parade.
Oh! the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played!And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes and neighed.As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's timeFilled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime!
Words in this poem
- flossy a.
- Pertaining to, made of, or resembling, floss; hence, light; downy.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- stride v. t.
- To walk with long steps, especially in a measured or pompous manner. [AS. stridan to stride, to strive; akin to LG. striden, OFries. strida to strive, D. strijden to strive, to contend, G. streiten, OHG. stritan; of uncertain orig]
- shambling a.
- Characterized by an awkward, irregular pace; as, a shambling trot; shambling legs.
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- grated a.
- Furnished with a grate or grating; as, grated windows. [From 2d Grate.]
- nosing n.
- That part of the treadboard of a stair which projects over the riser; hence, any like projection, as the projecting edge of a molding.
- dashboard n.
- A board placed on the fore part of a carriage, sleigh, or other vechicle, to intercept water, mud, or snow, thrown up by the heels of the horses; -- in England commonly called splashboard.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Circus-Day Parade 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, The Circus-Day Parade, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/the-circus-day-parade.html, id L25054.
Form and metre
The Circus-Day Parade is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in iambic 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 AABB playedA · neighedA · timeB · sublimeB
- 2 AABB ownA · knownA · kindB · undefinedB
- 3 AABB blueA · youA · yoreB · woreB
- 4 AABB eyedA · sideA · fameB · cameB
- 5 AABB fastA · lastA · thereB · airB
- 6 AABB townA · downA · playedB · paradeB
- 7 AABB playedA · neighedA · timeB · sublimeB
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played! | 14 | ··/˘·˘/··/˘··· |
| And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes, and neighed, | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time | 14 | ··/˘·····/˘/˘· |
| Filled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime! | 14 | ···/˘····/˘˘˘/ |
| How the grand band-wagon shone with a splendor all its own, | 14 | ····/˘···/˘··· |
| And glittered with a glory that our dreams had never known! | 14 | ·/˘··/˘·/··/˘· |
| And how the boys behind, high and low of every kind, | 14 | ··········/˘˘· |
| Marched in unconscious capture, with a rapture undefined! | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| How the horsemen, two and two, with their plumes of white and blue, | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| And crimson, gold and purple, nodding by at me and you. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘/˘····· |
| Waved the banners that they bore, as the Knights in days of yore, | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| Till our glad eyes gleamed and glistened like the spangles that they wore! | 15 | ·/····/˘··/˘··· |
| How the graceless-graceful stride of the elephant was eyed, | 14 | ··/˘/˘···/˘˘·· |
| And the capers of the little horse that cantered at his side! | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| How the shambling camels, tame to the plaudits of their fame, | 14 | ··/˘/˘···/˘··· |
| With listless eyes came silent, masticating as they came. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘······· |
| How the cages jolted past, with each wagon battened fast, | 14 | ··/˘/˘···/˘/˘· |
| And the mystery within it only hinted of at last | 14 | ··/˘···/˘/˘··· |
| From the little grated square in the rear, and nosing there | 14 | ··/˘/˘·····/˘· |
| The snout of some strange animal that sniffed the outer air! | 14 | ·····/˘˘···/˘· |
| And, last of all, The Clown, making mirth for all the town, | 13 | ······/˘····· |
| With his lips curved ever upward and his eyebrows ever down, | 14 | ····//˘··/·/˘· |
| And his chief attention paid to the little mule that played | 14 | ···˘/˘···/˘··· |
| A tattoo on the dashboard with his heels, in the parade. | 14 | ·˘/··/······˘/ |
| Oh! the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played! | 14 | ··/˘·˘/··/˘··· |
| And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes and neighed. | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time | 14 | ··/˘·····/˘/˘· |
| Filled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime! | 14 | ···/˘····/˘˘˘/ |
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.