Classic and Contemporary Poetry
UNCLE DAN'L IN TOWN OVER SUNDAY, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I cain't git used to city ways Last Line: Wisht I hed you home with me! Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Country Life; Sabbath; Towns; Sunday | ||||||||
I CAIN'T git used to city ways -- Ner never could, I' bet my hat! Jevver know jes' whur I was raised? -- Raised on a farm! D' ever tell you that? Was undoubtatly, I declare! And now, on Sunday -- fun to spare Around a farm! Why jes' to set Up on the top three-cornered rail Of Pap's old place, nigh La Fayette, I'd swap my soul off, hide and tail! You fellers in the city here, You don't know nothin'! -- S'pose today, This clatterin' Sunday, you waked up Without no jinglin'-janglin' bells, Ner rattlin' of the milkman's cup, Ner any swarm of screechin' birds Like these here English swallers -- S'pose Ut you could miss all noise like those, And git shet o' thinkin' of 'em afterwerds, And then, in the country, wake and hear Nothin' but silence -- wake and see Nothin' but green woods fur and near? -- What sort o' Sunday would that be? -- Wisht I hed you home with me! Now think! The laziest of all days -- To git up any time -- er sleep -- Er jes' lay round and watch the haze A-dancin' 'crost the wheat, and keep My pipe a-goern laisurely, And puff and whiff as pleases me -- And ef I leave a trail of smoke Clean through the house, no one to say "Wah! throw that nasty thing away; Hev some regyard fer decency!" To walk round barefoot, if you choose; Er saw the fiddle -- er dig some bait And go a-fishin' -- er pitch hoss shoes Out in the shade somewhurs, and wait For dinner-time, with an appetite Ut folks in town cain't equal quite! To laze around the barn and poke Fer hens' nests -- er git up a match Betwixt the boys, and watch 'em scratch And rassle round, and sweat and swear And quarrel to their hearts' content; And me a-jes' a-settin' there A-hatchin' out more devilment! What sort o' Sunday would that be? . . . Wisht I hed you home with me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DAT GAL O' MINE by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SUNDAY: NEW GUINEA by KARL SHAPIRO SABBATHS: 2001 by WENDELL BERRY SUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAY by PAUL BLACKBURN THE SABBATH OF THE SOUL by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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