Old Man's Nursery Rhyme
In the jolly wintersOf the long-ago,It was not so cold as now--O! No! No!Then, as I remember,Snowballs to eatWere as good as apples now.And every bit as sweet!
In the jolly wintersOf the dead-and-gone,Bub was warm as summer,With his red mitts on,--Just in his little waist-And-pants all together,Who ever hear him growlAbout cold weather?
In the jolly wintersOf the long-ago--Was it HALF so cold as now?O! No! No!Who caught his death o' cold,Making prints of menFlat-backed in snow that now'sTwice as cold again?
In the jolly wintersOf the dead-and-gone,Startin' out rabbit-huntin'--Early as the dawn,--Who ever froze his fingers,Ears, heels, or toes,--Or'd 'a' cared if he had?Nobody knows!
Nights by the kitchen-stove,Shellin' white and redCorn in the skillet, andSleepin' four abed!Ah! the jolly wintersOf the long-ago!We were not as old as now--O! No! No!
Words in this poem
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- skillet n.
- A small vessel of iron, copper, or other metal, with a handle, used for culinary purpose, as for stewing meat. [OF. escuelette, dim. of escuelle a porringer, F. ecuelle, fr. L. scutella, dim. of scutra, scuta, a dish. Cf. Scuttle a basket.]
- abed adv.
- In bed, or on the bed. [Pref. a- in, on + bed.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old Man's Nursery Rhyme is in the public domain. This text is taken from Riley Farm-Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #4783; 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, Old Man's Nursery Rhyme, in Riley Farm-Rhymes (1883–1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4783, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-farm-rhymes/old-man-s-nursery-rhyme.html, id L01968.
Form and metre
Old Man's Nursery Rhyme is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -ABA-CBC winters · agoA · nowB · noA · remember · eatC · nowB · sweetC
- 2 -A-A-B-B winters · goneA · summer · onA · waist · togetherB · growl · weatherB
- 3 -A-A-B-B winters · agoA · now · noA · cold · menB · now's · againB
- 4 -A-ABB-B winters · goneA · huntin · dawnA · fingersB · toesB · had · knowsB
- 5 -A-A-B-B stove · redA · and · abedA · winters · agoB · now · noB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the jolly winters | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Of the long-ago, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| It was not so cold as now-- | 7 | ······· |
| O! No! No! | 3 | ··· |
| Then, as I remember, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Snowballs to eat | 4 | /··· |
| Were as good as apples now. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And every bit as sweet! | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| In the jolly winters | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Of the dead-and-gone, | 5 | ····· |
| Bub was warm as summer, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| With his red mitts on,-- | 5 | ····· |
| Just in his little waist- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And-pants all together, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Who ever hear him growl | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| About cold weather? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In the jolly winters | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Of the long-ago-- | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Was it HALF so cold as now? | 7 | ······· |
| O! No! No! | 3 | ··· |
| Who caught his death o' cold, | 6 | ······ |
| Making prints of men | 5 | /˘··· |
| Flat-backed in snow that now's | 6 | ······ |
| Twice as cold again? | 5 | ···˘/ |
| In the jolly winters | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Of the dead-and-gone, | 5 | ····· |
| Startin' out rabbit-huntin'-- | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Early as the dawn,-- | 5 | /˘··· |
| Who ever froze his fingers, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Ears, heels, or toes,-- | 4 | ···· |
| Or'd 'a' cared if he had? | 6 | ······ |
| Nobody knows! | 4 | /··· |
| Nights by the kitchen-stove, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Shellin' white and red | 5 | ····· |
| Corn in the skillet, and | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sleepin' four abed! | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Ah! the jolly winters | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Of the long-ago! | 5 | ···˘/ |
| We were not as old as now-- | 7 | ······· |
| O! No! No! | 3 | ··· |
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.