The Brook-Song
Little brook! Little brook!You have such a happy look--Such a very merry manner, as you swerve andcurve and crook--And your ripples, one and one,Reach each other's hands and runLike laughing little children in the sun!
Little brook, sing to me:Sing about a bumblebeeThat tumbled from a lily-bell and grumbledmumblingly,Because he wet the filmOf his wings, and had to swim,While the water-bugs raced round andlaughed at him!
Little brook-sing a songOf a leaf that sailed alongDown the golden-braided centre of your currentswift and strong,And a dragon-fly that litOn the tilting rim of it,And rode away and wasn't scared a bit.
And sing--how oft in gleeCame a truant boy like me,Who loved to lean and listen to your liltingmelody,Till the gurgle and refrainOf your music in his brainWrought a happiness as keen to himas pain.
Little brook-laugh and leap!Do not let the dreamer weep:Sing him all the songs of summer till he sink insoftest sleep;And then sing soft and lowThrough his dreams of long ago--Sing back to him the rest he used toknow!
Words in this poem
- bumblebee n.
- A large bee of the genus Bombus, sometimes called humblebee; -- so named from its sound. [OE. bumblen to make a humming noise (dim. of bum, v.i.) + bee. Cf. Humblebee.]
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- gurgle v. i.
- To run or flow in a broken, irregular, noisy current, as water from a bottle, or a small stream among pebbles or stones. [Cf. It. gorgogliare to gargle, bubble up, fr. L. gurgulio gullet. Cf. Gargle, Gorge.]
- dreamer n.
- One who dreams.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Brook-Song 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, The Brook-Song, in Riley Farm-Rhymes (1883–1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4783, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-farm-rhymes/the-brook-song.html, id L01951.
Form and metre
The Brook-Song is 38 lines in 5 stanzas. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 47% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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-ABBB brookA · lookA · and · crookA · oneB · runB · sunB
- 2 AA---B-B meA · bumblebeeA · grumbled · mumblingly · film · swimB · and · himB
- 3 AA-ABBB songA · alongA · current · strongA · litB · itB · bitB
- 4 AA--BB-B gleeA · meA · lilting · melody · refrainB · brainB · him · painB
- 5 AA-ABB-B leapA · weepA · in · sleepA · lowB · agoB · to · knowB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Little brook! Little brook! | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| You have such a happy look-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Such a very merry manner, as you swerve and | 12 | ··/˘/˘/˘···· |
| curve and crook-- | 3 | ··· |
| And your ripples, one and one, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Reach each other's hands and run | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Like laughing little children in the sun! | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Little brook, sing to me: | 6 | /˘···· |
| Sing about a bumblebee | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| That tumbled from a lily-bell and grumbled | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| mumblingly, | 3 | ··· |
| Because he wet the film | 6 | ······ |
| Of his wings, and had to swim, | 7 | ······· |
| While the water-bugs raced round and | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| laughed at him! | 3 | ··· |
| Little brook-sing a song | 6 | /˘···· |
| Of a leaf that sailed along | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Down the golden-braided centre of your current | 12 | ··/˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| swift and strong, | 3 | ··· |
| And a dragon-fly that lit | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On the tilting rim of it, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And rode away and wasn't scared a bit. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And sing--how oft in glee | 6 | ······ |
| Came a truant boy like me, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Who loved to lean and listen to your lilting | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| melody, | 3 | /˘˘ |
| Till the gurgle and refrain | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Of your music in his brain | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Wrought a happiness as keen to him | 9 | ··/˘˘···· |
| as pain. | 2 | ·· |
| Little brook-laugh and leap! | 6 | /˘···· |
| Do not let the dreamer weep: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sing him all the songs of summer till he sink in | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| softest sleep; | 3 | /˘· |
| And then sing soft and low | 6 | ······ |
| Through his dreams of long ago-- | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Sing back to him the rest he used to | 9 | ········· |
| know! | 1 | · |
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.