The Nine Little Goblins Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCC DED D FGFGHH IJI II KLKLM NONOPP BQBQRR ABSBD| They 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)
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About The Nine Little Goblins
The Nine Little Goblins is a poem by James Whitcomb Riley. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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