The Pixy People
It was just a veryMerry fairy dream!--All the woods were airyWith the gloom and gleam;Crickets in the cloverClattered clear and strong,And the bees droned overTheir old honey-song.
In the mossy passes,Saucy grasshoppersLeapt about the grassesAnd the thistle-burs;And the whispered chuckleOf the katydidShook the honeysuckleBlossoms where he hid.
Through the breezy mazesOf the lazy June,Drowsy with the hazesOf the dreamy noon,Little Pixy peopleWinged above the walk,Pouring from the steepleOf a mullein-stalk.
One--a gallant fellow--Evidently King,--Wore a plume of yellowIn a jewelled ringOn a pansy bonnet,Gold and white and blue,With the dew still on it,And the fragrance, too.
One--a dainty lady,--Evidently Queen,--Wore a gown of shadyMoonshine and green,With a lace of gleamingStarlight that sentAll the dewdrops dreamingEverywhere she went.
One wore a waistcoatOf roseleaves, out and in,And one wore a faced-coatOf tiger-lily-skin;And one wore a neat coatOf palest galingale;And one a tiny street-coat,And one a swallow-tail.
And Ho! sang the King of them,And Hey! sang the Queen;And round and round the ring of themWent dancing o'er the green;And Hey! sang the Queen of them,And Ho! sang the King--And all that I had seen of them--Wasn't anything!
It was just a veryMerry fairy dream!--All the woods were airyWith the gloom and gleam;Crickets in the cloverClattered clear and strong,And the bees droned overTheir old honey-song!
Words in this poem
- chuckle v. t.
- To call, as a hen her chickens; to cluck. [From lst Chuck.]
- katydid n.
- A large, green, arboreal, orthopterous insect (Cyrtophyllus concavus) of the family Locustidæ, common in the United States. The males have stridulating organs at the bases of the front wings.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- breezy a.
- Characterized by, or having, breezes; airy.
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- pixy n.
- An old English name for a fairy; an elf. [For Pucksy, from Puck.]
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- moonshine n.
- The light of the moon.
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- galingale n.
- A plant of the Sedge family (Cyperus longus) having aromatic roots; also, any plant of the same genus. [See Galangal.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pixy People 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 Pixy People, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/the-pixy-people.html, id L25067.
Form and metre
The Pixy People is 64 lines in 8 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 ABABCDCD veryA · dreamB · airyA · gleamB · cloverC · strongD · overC · songD
- 2 A-A-BCBC passesA · grasshoppers · grassesA · burs · chuckleB · katydidC · honeysuckleB · hidC
- 3 ABABCDCD mazesA · juneB · hazesA · noonB · peopleC · walkD · steepleC · stalkD
- 4 ABABCDCD fellowA · kingB · yellowA · ringB · bonnetC · blueD · itC · tooD
- 5 ABABCDCD ladyA · queenB · shadyA · greenB · gleamingC · sentD · dreamingC · wentD
- 6 ABABACAC waistcoatA · inB · coatA · skinB · coatA · galingaleC · coatA · tailC
- 7 ABABACAC themA · queenB · themA · greenB · themA · kingC · themA · anythingC
- 8 ABABCDCD veryA · dreamB · airyA · gleamB · cloverC · strongD · overC · songD
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| It was just a very | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Merry fairy dream!-- | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| All the woods were airy | 6 | ····/˘ |
| With the gloom and gleam; | 5 | ····· |
| Crickets in the clover | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Clattered clear and strong, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| And the bees droned over | 6 | ······ |
| Their old honey-song. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| In the mossy passes, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Saucy grasshoppers | 5 | /˘/·˘ |
| Leapt about the grasses | 6 | ····/˘ |
| And the thistle-burs; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the whispered chuckle | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Of the katydid | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Shook the honeysuckle | 6 | ··/˘·˘ |
| Blossoms where he hid. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Through the breezy mazes | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Of the lazy June, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Drowsy with the hazes | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Of the dreamy noon, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Little Pixy people | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Winged above the walk, | 6 | ·˘···· |
| Pouring from the steeple | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Of a mullein-stalk. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| One--a gallant fellow-- | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Evidently King,-- | 5 | /˘˘˘· |
| Wore a plume of yellow | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In a jewelled ring | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| On a pansy bonnet, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Gold and white and blue, | 5 | ····· |
| With the dew still on it, | 6 | ······ |
| And the fragrance, too. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| One--a dainty lady,-- | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Evidently Queen,-- | 5 | /˘˘˘· |
| Wore a gown of shady | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Moonshine and green, | 4 | /··· |
| With a lace of gleaming | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Starlight that sent | 4 | /··· |
| All the dewdrops dreaming | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Everywhere she went. | 5 | /˘··· |
| One wore a waistcoat | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Of roseleaves, out and in, | 7 | ······· |
| And one wore a faced-coat | 6 | ······ |
| Of tiger-lily-skin; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And one wore a neat coat | 6 | ······ |
| Of palest galingale; | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| And one a tiny street-coat, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And one a swallow-tail. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And Ho! sang the King of them, | 7 | ······· |
| And Hey! sang the Queen; | 5 | ····· |
| And round and round the ring of them | 8 | ········ |
| Went dancing o'er the green; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And Hey! sang the Queen of them, | 7 | ······· |
| And Ho! sang the King-- | 5 | ····· |
| And all that I had seen of them | 8 | ········ |
| --Wasn't anything! | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| It was just a very | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Merry fairy dream!-- | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| All the woods were airy | 6 | ····/˘ |
| With the gloom and gleam; | 5 | ····· |
| Crickets in the clover | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Clattered clear and strong, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| And the bees droned over | 6 | ······ |
| Their old honey-song! | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.