The Jolly Miller
It was a Jolly Miller lived on the River Dee;He looked upon his piller, and there he found a flea:"O Mr. Flea! you have bit' me,And you shall shorely die!"So he scrunched his bones against the stones--And there he let him lie!
Twas then the Jolly Miller he laughed and told his wife,And she laughed fit to kill her, and dropped her carvin'-knife!--"O Mr. Flea!" "Ho-ho!" "Tee-hee!"They both laughed fit to kill,Until the sound did almost drowndThe rumble of the mill!
"Laugh on, my Jolly Miller! and Missus Miller, too!--But there's a weeping-willer will soon wave over you!"The voice was all so awful small--So very small and slim!--He durst' infer that it was her,Ner her infer 'twas him!
That night the Jolly Miller, says he, "It's Wifey dear,That cat o' yourn, I'd kill her!--her actions is so queer,--She rubbin' 'ginst the grindstone-legs,And yowlin' at the sky--And I 'low the moon haint greenerThan the yaller of her eye!"
And as the Jolly Miller went chuckle-un to bed,Was Somepin jerked his piller from underneath his head!"O Wife," says he, on-easi-lee,"Fetch here that lantern there!"But Somepin moans in thunder tones,"You tetch it ef you dare!"
'Twas then the Jolly Miller he trimbled and he quailed--And his wife choked until her breath come back, 'n' she wailed!And "O!" cried she, "it is the Flea,All white and pale and wann--He's got you in his clutches, andHe's bigger than a man!"
"Ho! ho! my Jolly Miller," (fer 'twas the Flea, fer shore!)"I reckon you'll not rack my bones ner scrunch 'em any more!"And then the Ghost he grabbed him clos't,With many a ghastly smile,And from the doorstep stooped and hoppedAbout four hundred mile!
Words in this poem
- piller n.
- One who pills or plunders.
- 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,]
- infer v. t.
- To bring on; to induce; to occasion. Harvey. [L. inferre to bring into, bring forward, occasion, infer; pref. in- in + ferre to carry, bring: cf. F. inférer. See 1 st Bear.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- chuckle v. t.
- To call, as a hen her chickens; to cluck. [From lst Chuck.]
- wann a.
- Having a pale or sickly hue; languid of look; pale; pallid. [AS. wann, wonn, wan, won, dark, lurid, livid, perhaps originally, worn out by toil, from winnan to labor, strive. See Win.]
- bigger a.
- , compar. of Big.
- scrunch v. t.
- To scranch; to crunch. Dickens. [Cf. Scranch, Crunch.]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- doorstep n.
- The stone or plank forming a step before an outer door.
- hopped p. a.
- Impregnated with hops.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Jolly Miller 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 Jolly Miller, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/the-jolly-miller.html, id L25059.
Form and metre
The Jolly Miller is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each.
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 AAAB-B deeA · fleaA · meA · dieB · stones · lieB
- 2 AA-B-B wifeA · knifeA · hee · killB · drownd · millB
- 3 AA-B-B tooA · youA · small · slimB · her · himB
- 4 AA-B-B dearA · queerA · legs · skyB · greener · eyeB
- 5 AA-B-B bedA · headA · lee · thereB · tones · dareB
- 6 AA---- quailedA · wailedA · flea · wann · and · man
- 7 AA-B-B shoreA · moreA · clos't · smileB · hopped · mileB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| It was a Jolly Miller lived on the River Dee; | 13 | ···/˘/˘···/˘· |
| He looked upon his piller, and there he found a flea: | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| "O Mr. Flea! you have bit' me, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And you shall shorely die!" | 7 | ······· |
| So he scrunched his bones against the stones-- | 9 | ········· |
| And there he let him lie! | 6 | ······ |
| Twas then the Jolly Miller he laughed and told his wife, | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| And she laughed fit to kill her, and dropped her carvin'-knife!-- | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| "O Mr. Flea!" "Ho-ho!" "Tee-hee!" | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| They both laughed fit to kill, | 6 | ······ |
| Until the sound did almost drownd | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The rumble of the mill! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "Laugh on, my Jolly Miller! and Missus Miller, too!-- | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘/˘· |
| But there's a weeping-willer will soon wave over you!" | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| The voice was all so awful small-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So very small and slim!-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He durst' infer that it was her, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Ner her infer 'twas him! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| That night the Jolly Miller, says he, "It's Wifey dear, | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| That cat o' yourn, I'd kill her!--her actions is so queer,-- | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| She rubbin' 'ginst the grindstone-legs, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And yowlin' at the sky-- | 6 | ······ |
| And I 'low the moon haint greener | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Than the yaller of her eye!" | 7 | ······· |
| And as the Jolly Miller went chuckle-un to bed, | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| Was Somepin jerked his piller from underneath his head! | 14 | ······/˘··˘/·· |
| "O Wife," says he, on-easi-lee, | 8 | ········ |
| "Fetch here that lantern there!" | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But Somepin moans in thunder tones, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| "You tetch it ef you dare!" | 6 | ······ |
| 'Twas then the Jolly Miller he trimbled and he quailed-- | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| And his wife choked until her breath come back, 'n' she wailed! | 13 | ············· |
| And "O!" cried she, "it is the Flea, | 8 | ········ |
| All white and pale and wann-- | 6 | ······ |
| He's got you in his clutches, and | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He's bigger than a man!" | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "Ho! ho! my Jolly Miller," (fer 'twas the Flea, fer shore!) | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| "I reckon you'll not rack my bones ner scrunch 'em any more!" | 14 | ·/˘········/˘· |
| And then the Ghost he grabbed him clos't, | 8 | ········ |
| With many a ghastly smile, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| And from the doorstep stooped and hopped | 8 | ···/···· |
| About four hundred mile! | 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.