The Rider of the Knee
Knightly Rider of the KneeOf Proud-prancing Unclery!Gaily mount, and wave the signOf that mastery of thine.
Pat thy steed and turn him free,Knightly Rider of the Knee!Sit thy charger as a throne--Lash him with thy laugh alone:
Sting him only with the spurOf such wit as may occur,Knightly Rider of the Knee,In thy shriek of ecstasy.
Would, as now, we might endure,Twain as one--thou miniatureRuler, at the rein of me--Knightly Rider of the Knee!
Words in this poem
- knightly a.
- Of or pertaining to a knight; becoming a knight; chivalrous; as, a knightly combat; a knightly spirit. [AS. cnihtlic boyish.]
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- charger n.
- One who, or that which charges.
- occur v. i.
- To meet; to clash. [L. occurrere, occursum; ob (see Ob-) + currere to run. See Course.]
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- miniature n.
- Originally, a painting in colors such as those in mediæval manuscripts; in modern times, any very small painting, especially a portrait. [It. miniatura, fr. L. miniare. See Miniate, v.,Minium.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rider of the Knee 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 Rider of the Knee, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/the-rider-of-the-knee.html, id L25038.
Form and metre
The Rider of the Knee is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 --AA knee · unclery · signA · thineA
- 2 AABB freeA · kneeA · throneB · aloneB
- 3 AA-- spurA · occurA · knee · ecstasy
- 4 AABB endureA · miniatureA · meB · kneeB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Knightly Rider of the Knee | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Of Proud-prancing Unclery! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Gaily mount, and wave the sign | 7 | /˘····· |
| Of that mastery of thine. | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Pat thy steed and turn him free, | 7 | ······· |
| Knightly Rider of the Knee! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Sit thy charger as a throne-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lash him with thy laugh alone: | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Sting him only with the spur | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of such wit as may occur, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Knightly Rider of the Knee, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| In thy shriek of ecstasy. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Would, as now, we might endure, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Twain as one--thou miniature | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ruler, at the rein of me-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| Knightly Rider of the Knee! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
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.