The Nine Little Goblins Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCC DED D FGFGHH IJI II KLKLM NONOPP BQBQRR ABSBDThey all climbed up on a high board fence | A |
Nine little Goblins with green glass eyes | B |
Nine little Goblins that had no sense | A |
And couldn't tell coppers from cold mince pies | B |
And they all climbed up on the fence and sat | C |
And I asked them what they were staring at | C |
- | |
And the first one said as he scratched his head | D |
With a queer little arm that reached out of his ear | E |
And rasped its claws in his hair so red | D |
'This is what this little arm is fer ' | - |
And he scratched and stared and the next one said | D |
'How on earth do you scratch your head ' | - |
- | |
And he laughed like the screech of a rusty hinge | F |
Laughed and laughed till his face grew black | G |
And when he choked with a final twinge | F |
Of his stifling laughter he thumped his back | G |
With a fist that grew on the end of his tail | H |
Till the breath came back to his lips so pale | H |
- | |
And the third little Goblin leered round at me | I |
And there were no lids on his eyes at all | J |
And he clucked one eye and he says says he | I |
'What is the style of your socks this fall ' | - |
And he clapped his heels and I sighed to see | I |
That he had hands where his feet should be | I |
- | |
Then a bald faced Goblin gray and grim | K |
Bowed his head and I saw him slip | L |
His eyebrows off as I looked at him | K |
And paste them over his upper lip | L |
And then he moaned in remorseful pain | M |
'Would Ah would I'd me brows again ' | - |
- | |
And then the whole of the Goblin band | N |
Rocked on the fence top to and fro | O |
And clung in a long row hand in hand | N |
Singing the songs that they used to know | O |
Singing the songs that their grandsires sung | P |
In the goo goo days of the Goblin tongue | P |
- | |
And ever they kept their green glass eyes | B |
Fixed on me with a stony stare | Q |
Till my own grew glazed with a dread surmise | B |
And my hat whooped up on my lifted hair | Q |
And I felt the heart in my breast snap to | R |
As you've heard the lid of a snuff box do | R |
- | |
And they sang 'You're asleep There is no board fence | A |
And never a Goblin with green glass eyes | B |
'Tis only a vision the mind invents | S |
After a supper of cold mince pies | B |
And you're doomed to dream this way ' they said | D |
' And you sha'n't wake up till you're clean plum dead ' | - |
James Whitcomb Riley
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Nine Little Goblins poem by James Whitcomb Riley
Best Poems of James Whitcomb Riley