Poetry Codex

American

James Whitcomb Riley

1849–1916

James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916) was born in Greenfield, Indiana, and became the best-loved poet of the American Midwest, known as the “Hoosier Poet.” He worked as a sign painter and travelling performer before newspaper verse in Indiana dialect brought him a wide following, and he spent most of his later life in Indianapolis.

His most popular poems, such as “Little Orphant Annie” and “The Raggedy Man,” are written in rural Indiana speech and draw on childhood, farm life and storytelling. Riley toured widely as a reader of his own work, and Riley Child-Rhymes (1905), illustrated by Will Vawter, gathered many of his best-known verses for children.

Major Works (1)

  1. Rubáiyát of Doc Sifers — Poem, 1897

Poems (678)

  1. Little Orphant Annie
  2. The Raggedy Man
  3. Curly Locks
  4. The Funny Little Fellow
  5. The Happy Little Cripple
  6. The Rider of the Knee
  7. Down Around the River
  8. At Aunty's House
  9. The Days Gone By
  10. The Bumblebee
  11. The Boy Lives on Our Farm
  12. The Squirtgun Uncle Maked Me
  13. The Old Tramp
  14. Old Aunt Mary's
  15. Winter Fancies
  16. The Runaway Boy
  17. The Little Coat
  18. An Impetuous Resolve
  19. Who Santy-Claus Wuz
  20. The Nine Little Goblins
  21. Time of Clearer Twitterings
  22. The Circus-Day Parade
  23. The Lugubrious Whing-Whang
  24. Waitin' fer the Cat to Die
  25. Naughty Claude
  26. The South Wind and the Sun
  27. The Jolly Miller
  28. Our Hired Girl
  29. The Boys' Candidate
  30. The Pet Coon
  31. The Old Hay-Mow
  32. On the Sunny Side
  33. A Sudden Shower
  34. Grandfather Squeers
  35. The Pixy People
  36. A Life-Lesson
  37. A Home-Made Fairy-Tale
  38. The Bear Story
  39. Envoy
  40. “When the Frost is on the Punkin”
  41. A Parting Guest
  42. Bereaved
  43. The Absence of Little Wesley
  44. The Rival
  45. Proem
  46. A Country Pathway
  47. On the Banks o' Deer Crick
  48. A Ditty of No Tone
  49. A Water-Color
  50. The Cyclone
  51. Where-Away
  52. The Home-Going
  53. How John Quit the Farm
  54. North and South
  55. The Iron Horse
  56. His Mother's Way
  57. Jap Miller
  58. A Southern Singer
  59. A Dream of Autumn
  60. Tom Van Arden
  61. Just to Be Good
  62. Home at Night
  63. The Hoosier Folk-Child
  64. Jack the Giant Killer
  65. While the Musician Played
  66. August
  67. To Hear Her Sing
  68. Being His Mother
  69. June at Woodruff
  70. Farmer Whipple--Bachelor
  71. Dawn, Noon and Dewfall
  72. Nessmuk
  73. As My Uncle Used to Say
  74. The Singer
  75. A Full Harvest
  76. Blind
  77. Right Here at Home
  78. The Little Fat Doctor
  79. The Shoemaker
  80. The Old Retired Sea Captain
  81. Robert Burns Wilson
  82. To the Serenader
  83. The Wife-Blesséd
  84. Sister Jones's Confession
  85. The Curse of the Wandering Foot
  86. A Monument for the Soldiers
  87. Iry and Billy and Jo
  88. A Wraith of Summertime
  89. Her Beautiful Eyes
  90. Dot Leedle Boy
  91. Donn Piatt of Mac-o-chee
  92. Them Flowers
  93. The Quiet Lodger
  94. The Watches of the Night
  95. His Vigil
  96. The Plaint Human
  97. By Any Other Name
  98. To an Importunate Ghost
  99. The Quarrel
  100. The Old Year and the New
  101. The Hereafter
  102. John Brown
  103. A Cup of Tea
  104. Judith
  105. The Artemus of Michigan
  106. The Hoodoo
  107. What Chris'mas Fetched the Wigginses
  108. Go, Winter!
  109. Elizabeth
  110. Sleep
  111. Dan Paine
  112. Old Winters on the Farm
  113. At Utter Loaf
  114. A Lounger
  115. A Song of Long Ago
  116. The Chant of the Cross-Bearing Child
  117. Thanksgiving
  118. Autumn
  119. The Twins
  120. Bedouin
  121. Tugg Martin
  122. Let Us Forget
  123. John Alden and Percilly
  124. Reach Your Hand to Me
  125. The Rose
  126. My Friend
  127. Suspense
  128. The Passing of a Heart
  129. By Her White Bed
  130. We to Sigh Instead of Sing
  131. The Blossoms on the Trees
  132. A Discouraging Model
  133. Last Night--And This
  134. September Dark
  135. A Glimpse of Pan
  136. Out of Nazareth
  137. The Wandering Jew
  138. Longfellow
  139. John McKeen
  140. Their Sweet Sorrow
  141. Some Scattering Remarks of Bub's
  142. Mr. What's-His-Name
  143. When Age Comes On
  144. Envoy
  145. The Pipes of Pan
  146. Kneeling with Herrick
  147. Romancin'
  148. Has She Forgotten
  149. A' Old Played-Out Song
  150. The Lost Path
  151. The Little Tiny Kickshaw
  152. His Mother
  153. Kissing the Rod
  154. How It Happened
  155. Babyhood
  156. The Tree-Toad
  157. A Worn-Out Pencil
  158. The Stepmother
  159. The Rain
  160. The Legend Glorified
  161. Want to Be Whur Mother Is
  162. Old Man's Nursery Rhyme
  163. Three Dead Friends
  164. In Bohemia
  165. In the Dark
  166. Wet Weather Talk
  167. Where Shall We Land
  168. An Old Sweetheart
  169. Marthy Ellen
  170. Moon-Drowned
  171. Dear Hands
  172. This Man Jones
  173. To My Good Master
  174. When the Green Gits Back in the Trees
  175. At Broad Ripple
  176. When Old Jack Died
  177. Doc Sifers
  178. At Noon--and Midnight
  179. Says He
  180. Chairley Burke
  181. When My Dreams Come True
  182. A Dos't o' Blues
  183. The Bat
  184. The Way It Wuz
  185. The Drum
  186. Tom Johnson's Quit
  187. Lullaby
  188. In the South
  189. The Old Home by the Mill
  190. A Leave-Taking
  191. Wait for the Morning
  192. When June Is Here
  193. A Backward Look
  194. Billy's Alphabetical Animal Show
  195. Beautiful Hands
  196. Proem
  197. Herr Weiser
  198. The Beautiful City
  199. Lockerbie Street
  200. Das Krist Kindel
  201. Anselmo
  202. The Lost Kiss
  203. The Sphinx
  204. If I knew What Poets Know
  205. Ike Walton's Prayer
  206. A Rough Sketch
  207. Our Kind of a Man
  208. The Harper
  209. Illileo
  210. The King
  211. A Bride
  212. The Dead Lover
  213. A Song
  214. When Bessie Died
  215. The Shower
  216. A Scrawl
  217. Away
  218. Who Bides His Time
  219. From the Headboard of a Grave in Paraguay
  220. Laughter Holding Both His Sides
  221. Fame
  222. The Ripest Peach
  223. A Fruit Piece
  224. Back From a Two-years' Sentence
  225. Becalmed
  226. To Santa Claus
  227. Where the Children used to Play
  228. Pan
  229. Dusk
  230. June
  231. Silence
  232. Sleep
  233. Her Hair
  234. Dearth
  235. A Voice From the Farm
  236. The Serenade
  237. Art and Love
  238. Indiana
  239. Time
  240. Grant
  241. Old Fashioned Roses
  242. Griggsby's Station
  243. Knee Deep in June
  244. When The Hearse Comes Back
  245. A Canary At the Farm
  246. A Liz Town Humorist
  247. Kingry's Mill
  248. Joney
  249. Like His Mother Used To Make
  250. The Train Misser
  251. Granny
  252. Old October
  253. Jim
  254. To Robert Burns
  255. A New Year's Time at Willards's
  256. The Town Karnteel
  257. Regardin' Terry Hut
  258. Leedle Dutch Baby
  259. Down On Wriggle Crick
  260. When De Folks Is Gone
  261. The Little Town O' Tailholt
  262. To Young E. Allison—Bookman
  263. O friends of mine, whose kindly words come to me
  264. Back From Town
  265. A Hobo Voluntary
  266. Be Our Fortunes as They May
  267. I Smoke My Pipe
  268. Uncle Sidney to Marcellus
  269. A Song by Uncle Sidney
  270. The Poet's Love for the Children
  271. Friend of a Wayward Hour
  272. My Henry
  273. A Letter to a Friend
  274. The Old-Fashioned Bible
  275. Good-By er Howdy-Do
  276. When We Three Meet
  277. The Little Man in the Tinshop
  278. Tommy Smith
  279. Our Old Friend Neverfail
  280. My Bachelor Chum
  281. Art and Poetry
  282. Down to the Capital
  283. Old Chums
  284. Scotty
  285. The Old Man
  286. James B. Maynard
  287. The Ancient Printerman
  288. The Old Man and Jim
  289. The Old School-Chum
  290. My Jolly Friend's Secret
  291. In the Heart of June
  292. The Old Band
  293. Dan O'Sullivan
  294. My Old Friend
  295. Old John Henry
  296. Her Valentine
  297. Christmas Greeting
  298. Abe Martin
  299. The Little Old Poem That Nobody Reads
  300. In the Afternoon
  301. Because
  302. A Mother-Song
  303. What "Old Santa" Overheard
  304. That Night
  305. To Almon Keefer
  306. To the Quiet Observer
  307. The Dead Joke and the Funny Man
  308. America's Thanksgiving
  309. Old Indiany
  310. The Book of Joyous Children
  311. An Impromptu Fairy-Tale
  312. Dream-March
  313. Elmer Brown
  314. No Boy Knows
  315. When We First Played "Show"
  316. A Diverted Tragedy
  317. The Rambo-Tree
  318. Find the Favorite
  319. The Boy Patriot
  320. Extremes
  321. Intellectual Limitations
  322. Thomas the Pretender
  323. Little Dick and the Clock
  324. Fool-Youngens
  325. The Katydids
  326. Billy and His Drum
  327. The Noble Old Elm
  328. The Penalty of Genius
  329. Evensong
  330. "Igo and Ago"
  331. The Little Lady
  332. "Company Manners"
  333. In Fervent Praise of Picnics
  334. The Good, Old-Fashioned People
  335. The Best Times
  336. "Hik-Tee-Dik!"
  337. A Christmas Memory
  338. "Old Bob White"
  339. One of His Animal Stories
  340. Uncle Brightens Up
  341. Sings a "Winky-Tooden" Song
  342. The Diners in the Kitchen
  343. The Imperious Angler
  344. The Gathering of the Clans
  345. "It"
  346. The Daring Prince
  347. A Dubious "Old Kriss"
  348. A Song of Singing
  349. The Jaybird
  350. A Bear Family
  351. Song
  352. To the Child Julia
  353. The Dolly's Mother
  354. Wind of the Sea
  355. Subtlety
  356. Born to the Purple
  357. Old Man Whiskery-Whee-Kum-Wheeze
  358. Little-Girl-Two-Little-Girls
  359. A Gustatory Achievement
  360. Climatic Sorcery
  361. A Parent Reprimanded
  362. The Treasure of the Wise Man
  363. The Old Swimmin'-Hole
  364. Thoughts Fer the Discuraged Farmer
  365. A Summer's Day
  366. A Hymb of Faith
  367. Wortermelon Time
  368. My Philosofy
  369. On the Death of Little Mahala Ashcraft
  370. The Mulberry Tree
  371. To My Old Friend, William Leachman
  372. My Fiddle
  373. The Clover
  374. Erasmus Wilson
  375. My Ruthers
  376. On a Dead Babe
  377. "Coon-Dog Wess"
  378. Lines to Perfesser John Clark Ridpath
  379. A Tale of the Airly Days
  380. "Mylo Jones's Wife"
  381. On a Splendud Match
  382. Old John Clevenger on Buckeyes
  383. The Hoss
  384. Ezra House
  385. A Pen-Pictur' of a Certin Frivvolus Old Man
  386. Thoughts on a Pore Joke
  387. A Mortul Prayer
  388. The First Bluebird
  389. Evagene Baker
  390. On Any Ordenary Man in a High State of Laughture and Delight
  391. Town and Country
  392. Lines Fer Isaac Bradwell
  393. Decoration Day on the Place
  394. The Rossville Lectur' Course
  395. Pap's Old Sayin'
  396. We Must Get Home
  397. Thinkin' Back
  398. Not Always Glad When We Smile
  399. His Room
  400. The Quest
  401. For You
  402. A Feel in the Chris'mas-Air
  403. As Created
  404. Dreamer, Say
  405. Our Own
  406. The Old Trundle-Bed
  407. Natural Perversities
  408. Writin' Back to the Home-Folks
  409. The Song of Yesterday
  410. Song of Parting
  411. "How Did You Rest, Last Night?"
  412. Out of the Hitherwhere
  413. Jack-in-the-Box
  414. The Boys
  415. It's Got to Be
  416. "Out of Reach?"
  417. "A Brave Refrain"
  418. In the Evening
  419. The Best Is Good Enough
  420. Honey Dripping from the Comb
  421. We Must Believe
  422. A Good Man
  423. The Old Days
  424. A Spring Song and a Later
  425. The Rainy Morning
  426. At Sea
  427. The Old Guitar
  428. Through Sleepy-Land
  429. "Them Old Cheery Words"
  430. To the Judge
  431. Our Boyhood Haunts
  432. My Dancin'-Days Is Over
  433. Somep'n Common-Like
  434. Monsieur Le Secretaire
  435. A Phantom
  436. In the Corridor
  437. Louella Wainie
  438. The Text
  439. William Brown
  440. Why
  441. The Touch of Loving Hands
  442. A Test
  443. A Song for Christmas
  444. Sun and Rain
  445. With Her Face
  446. My Night
  447. The Hour Before the Dawn
  448. Good-By, Old Year
  449. False and True
  450. A Ballad from April
  451. Brudder Sims
  452. Deformed
  453. Faith
  454. The Lost Thrill
  455. At Dusk
  456. Another Ride from Ghent to Aix
  457. To the Cricket
  458. Uncomforted
  459. What They Said
  460. After the Frost
  461. Charles H. Phillips
  462. When It Rains
  463. An Assassin
  464. Best of All
  465. Bin A-Fishin'
  466. Uncle Dan'l in Town Over Sunday
  467. Shadow and Shine
  468. The Guide
  469. Sutter's Claim
  470. Her Light Guitar
  471. Autographic
  472. An Impromptu on Roller Skates
  473. Written in Bunner's "Airs from Arcady"
  474. At Madame Manicure's
  475. Lord Bacon
  476. My First Womern
  477. As We Read Burns
  478. To James Newton Matthews
  479. Josh Billings
  480. Which Ane
  481. The Earthquake
  482. A Fall-Crick View of the Earthquake
  483. Lewis D. Hayes
  484. In Days to Come
  485. Luther A. Todd
  486. John Boyle O'Reilly
  487. Meredith Nicholson
  488. God's Mercy
  489. To Rudyard Kipling
  490. The Gudewife
  491. Tennyson
  492. Rosamond C. Bailey
  493. Mrs. Benjamin Harrison
  494. George A. Carr
  495. To Elizabeth
  496. To--"The J. W. R. Literary Club"
  497. Little Maid-o'-Dreams
  498. To the Boy with a Country
  499. Claude Matthews
  500. To Lesley
  501. William Pinkney Fishback
  502. John Clark Ridpath
  503. New Year's Nursery Jingle
  504. To the Mother
  505. To My Sister
  506. A Motto
  507. To a Poet on His Marriage
  508. Her Smile of Cheer and Voice of Song
  509. O. Henry
  510. "Mona Machree"
  511. William McKinley
  512. Benjamin Harrison
  513. Lee O. Harris
  514. The Highest Good
  515. My Conscience
  516. My Boy
  517. Soldiers Here To-Day
  518. August
  519. While Cigarettes to Ashes Turn
  520. Two Sonnets to the June-Bug
  521. Song
  522. Philiper Flash
  523. The Same Old Story
  524. To a Boy Whistling
  525. An Old Friend
  526. What Smith Knew About Farming
  527. A Poet's Wooing
  528. Man's Devotion
  529. A Ballad
  530. The Old Times Were the Best
  531. A Summer Afternoon
  532. At Last
  533. The Speeding of the King's Spite
  534. Job Work
  535. Private Theatricals
  536. Plain Sermons
  537. Tradin' Joe
  538. Red Riding-Hood
  539. An Old Sweetheart of Mine
  540. Squire Hawkins's Story
  541. Friday Afternoon
  542. Johnson's Boy
  543. Her Beautiful Hands
  544. The Silent Victors
  545. Scraps
  546. Dead in Sight of Fame
  547. Dead Leaves
  548. Over the Eyes of Gladness
  549. Only a Dream
  550. Our Little Girl
  551. Song of the New Year
  552. Lines for an Album
  553. To Annie
  554. An Empty Nest
  555. My Father's Halls
  556. The Harp of the Minstrel
  557. John Walsh
  558. Orlie Wilde
  559. That Other Maud Muller
  560. A Man of Many Parts
  561. The Frog
  562. Dead Selves
  563. A Dream of Long Ago
  564. Craqueodoom
  565. Wash Lowry's Reminiscence
  566. Prior to Miss Belle's Appearance
  567. When Mother Combed My Hair
  568. A Wrangdillion
  569. George Mullen's Confession
  570. Tired Out
  571. Harlie
  572. Say Something to Me
  573. Leonainie
  574. A Test of Love
  575. Father William
  576. What the Wind Said
  577. Morton
  578. An Autumnal Extravaganza
  579. A Summer Sunrise
  580. An Old Year's Address
  581. A New Year's Plaint
  582. Luther Benson
  583. Dream
  584. When Evening Shadows Fall
  585. Ylladmar
  586. A Fantasy
  587. A Dream
  588. Bryant
  589. Liberty
  590. A Child-World: Proem
  591. The Child-World
  592. The Old-Home Folks
  593. Almon Keefer
  594. Noey Bixler
  595. "A Noted Traveler"
  596. A Prospective Visit
  597. At Noey's House
  598. "That Little Dog"
  599. The Loehrs and the Hammonds
  600. The Hired Man and Floretty
  601. The Evening Company
  602. Maymie's Story of Red Riding Hood
  603. Limitations of Genius
  604. Mr. Hammond's Parable: The Dreamer
  605. Floretty's Musical Contribution
  606. Bud's Fairy-Tale
  607. A Delicious Interruption
  608. Noey's Night-Piece
  609. Cousin Rufus' Story
  610. Bewildering Emotions
  611. The Pathos of Applause
  612. Told by "The Noted Traveler"
  613. Heat-Lightning
  614. Uncle Mart's Poem: The Old Snow-Man
  615. "Little Jack Janitor"
  616. Armazindy
  617. The Blind Girl
  618. We Defer Things
  619. The Muskingum Valley
  620. For This Christmas
  621. A Poor Man's Wealth
  622. The Little Red Ribbon
  623. A Good-Bye
  624. When Maimie Married
  625. "This Dear Child-Hearted Woman That Is Dead"
  626. To a Poet-Critic
  627. An Old-Timer
  628. Up and Down Old Brandywine
  629. Three Singing Friends
  630. A Noon Lull
  631. A Windy Day
  632. The Song I Never Sing
  633. To Edgar Wilson Nye
  634. Little David
  635. Rabbit in the Cross-Ties
  636. Serenade--To Nora
  637. The Little White Hearse
  638. What Redress
  639. When Lide Married Him
  640. My Bride That Is to Be
  641. "Ringworm Frank"
  642. An Empty Glove
  643. Dolores
  644. When I Do Mock
  645. My Mary
  646. Eros
  647. To a Jilted Swain
  648. The Voices
  649. A Barefoot Boy
  650. The Youthful Patriot
  651. Ponchus Pilut
  652. A Twintorette
  653. Slumber-Song
  654. The Circus Parade
  655. Folks at Lonesomeville
  656. The Three Jolly Hunters
  657. The Little Dog-Woggy
  658. Charms
  659. A Few of the Bird-Family
  660. The Trestle and the Buck-Saw
  661. The King of Oo-Rinktum-Jing
  662. The Toy Penny-Dog
  663. Jargon-Jingle
  664. The Great Explorer
  665. The School-Boy's Favorite
  666. Albumania
  667. The Little Mock-Man
  668. Summer-Time and Winter-Time
  669. Home-Made Riddles
  670. The Lovely Child
  671. The Yellowbird
  672. Envoy
  673. When She Comes Home
  674. The Way the Baby Woke
  675. The Way the Baby Slept
  676. A Man by the Name of Bolus
  677. Love's Prayer
  678. The Man in the Moon

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