Tradin' Joe Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBBCCDEBBBB CCBB FFGGBBBBBB HHIIFFJJKKJJKLMMNN OOBBPQRRFFH STUVWWBBFFXX BBFFCCBB BBJBBBY JYJJHH BBZZZBBYB BBBBD DA2OB2B2JJHHYYBBC2C2 BBYYBBXXD2D2I'm one o' these cur'ous kind o' chaps | A |
You think you know when you don't perhaps | A |
I hain't no fool ner I don't p'tend | B |
To be so smart I could rickommend | B |
Myself fer a CONGERSSMAN my friend | B |
But I'm kind o' betwixt and between you know | C |
One o' these fellers 'at folks call slow | C |
And I'll say jest here I'm kind o' queer | D |
Regardin' things 'at I SEE and HEAR | E |
Fer I'm THICK o' hearin' SOMETIMES and | B |
It's hard to git me to understand | B |
But other times it hain't you bet | B |
Fer I don't sleep with both eyes shet | B |
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I've swapped a power in stock and so | C |
The neighbers calls me Tradin' Joe | C |
And I'm goin' to tell you 'bout a trade | B |
And one o' the best I ever made | B |
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Folks has gone so fur's to say | F |
'At I'm well fixed in a WORLDLY way | F |
And BEIN' so and a WIDOWER | G |
It's not su'prisin' as you'll infer | G |
I'm purty handy among the sect | B |
Widders especially rickollect | B |
And I won't deny that along o' late | B |
I've hankered a heap fer the married state | B |
But some way o' 'nother the longer we wait | B |
The harder it is to discover a mate | B |
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Marshall Thomas a friend o' mine | H |
Doin' some in the tradin' line | H |
But a'most too YOUNG to know it all | I |
On'y at PICNICS er some BALL | I |
Says to me in a banterin' way | F |
As 'we was a loadin' stock one day | F |
You're a huntin' a wife and I want you to see | J |
My girl's mother at Kankakee | J |
She hain't over forty good lookin' and spry | K |
And jest the woman to fill your eye | K |
And I'm a goin' there Sund'y and now says he | J |
I want to take you along with ME | J |
And you marry HER and he says by 'shaw I | K |
You'll hev me fer yer son in law | L |
I studied a while and says I Well I'll | M |
First have to see ef she suits my style | M |
And ef she does you kin bet your life | N |
Your mother in law will be my wife | N |
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Well Sundy come and I fixed up some | O |
Putt on a collar I did by gum | O |
Got down my plug and my satin vest | B |
You wouldn't know me to see me dressed | B |
But any one knows ef you got the clothes | P |
You kin go in the crowd wher' the best of 'em goes | Q |
And I greeced my boots and combed my hair | R |
Keerfully over the bald place there | R |
And Marshall Thomas and me that day | F |
Eat our dinners with Widder Gray | F |
And her girl Han' | H |
- | |
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Well jest a glance | S |
O' the widder's smilin' countenance | T |
A cuttin' up chicken and big pot pies | U |
Would make a man hungry in Paradise | V |
And passin' p'serves and jelly and cake | W |
'At would make an ANGEL'S appetite ACHE | W |
Pourin' out coffee as yaller as gold | B |
Twic't as much as the cup could hold | B |
La it was rich And then she'd say | F |
Take some o' THIS ' in her coaxin' way | F |
Tell ef I'd been a hoss I'd 'a' FOUNDERED shore | X |
And jest dropped dead on her white oak floor | X |
- | |
Well the way I talked would 'a' done you good | B |
Ef you'd 'a' been there to 'a' understood | B |
Tel I noticed Hanner and Marshall they | F |
Was a noticin' me in a cur'ous way | F |
So I says to myse'f says I Now Joe | C |
The best thing fer you is to jest go slow | C |
And I simmered down and let them do | B |
The bulk o' the talkin' the evening through | B |
- | |
And Marshall was still in a talkative gait | B |
When he left that evening tolable late | B |
How do you like her he says to me | J |
Says I She suits to a 'T Y TEE' | B |
And then I ast how matters stood | B |
With him in the OPPOSITE neighberhood | B |
Bully he says I ruther guess | Y |
I'll finally git her to say the 'yes ' | - |
I named it to her to night and she | J |
Kind o' smiled and said 'SHE'D SEE' | Y |
And that's a purty good sign says he | J |
Yes says I you're ahead o' ME | J |
And then he laughed and said GO IN | H |
And patted me on the shoulder ag'in | H |
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Well ever sense then I've been ridin' a good | B |
Deal through the Kankakee neighberhood | B |
And I make it convenient sometimes to stop | Z |
And hitch a few minutes and kind o' drop | Z |
In at the widder's and talk o' the crop | Z |
And one thing o' 'nother And week afore last | B |
The notion struck me as I drove past | B |
I'd stop at the place and state my case | Y |
Might as well do it at first as last | B |
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I felt first rate so I hitched at the gate | B |
And went up to the house and strange to relate | B |
MARSHALL THOMAS had dropped in TOO | B |
Glad to see you sir how do you do | B |
He says says he Well it SOUNDED QUEER | D |
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And when Han' told me to take a cheer | D |
Marshall got up and putt out o' the room | A2 |
And motioned his hand fer the WIDDER to come | O |
I didn't say nothin' fer quite a spell | B2 |
But thinks I to myse'f There's a dog in the well | B2 |
And Han' SHE smiled so cur'ous at me | J |
Says I What's up And she says says she | J |
Marshall's been at me to marry ag'in | H |
And I told him 'no ' jest as you come in | H |
Well somepin' o' 'nother in that girl's voice | Y |
Says to me Joseph here's your choice | Y |
And another minute her guileless breast | B |
Was lovin'ly throbbin' ag'in my vest | B |
And then I kissed her and heerd a smack | C2 |
Come like a' echo a flutterin' back | C2 |
And we looked around and in full view | B |
Marshall was kissin' the widder too | B |
Well we all of us laughed in our glad su'prise | Y |
Tel the tears come A STREAMIN' out of our eyes | Y |
And when Marsh said 'Twas the squarest trade | B |
That ever me and him had made | B |
We both shuck hands 'y jucks and swore | X |
We'd stick together ferevermore | X |
And old Squire Chipman tuck us the trip | D2 |
And Marshall and me's in pardnership | D2 |
James Whitcomb Riley
(1)
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