Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AT NINETY IN THE SHADE, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Hot weather? Yes; but really not Last Line: Compared with weather twice as hot! Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Heat; Summer; Weather | ||||||||
HOT weather? Yes; but really not, Compared with weather twice as hot. Find comfort, then, in arguing thus, And you'll pull through victorious! -- For instance, while you gasp and pant And try to cool yourself -- and can't -- With soda, cream and lemonade, The heat at ninety in the shade, -- Just calmly sit and ponder o'er These same degrees, with ninety more On top of them, and so concede The weather now is cool indeed! Think -- as the perspiration dews Your fevered brow, and seems to ooze From out the ends of every hair -- Whole floods of it, with floods to spare -- Think, I repeat, the while the sweat Pours down your spine -- how hotter yet Just ninety more degrees would be, And bear this ninety patiently! Think -- as you mop your brow and hair, With sticky feelings everywhere -- How ninety more degrees increase Of heat like this would start the grease; Or, think, as you exhausted stand, A wilted "palm-leaf" in each hand -- When the thermometer has done With ease the lap of ninety-one; O think, I say, what heat might do At one hundred and eighty-two -- Just twice the heat you now declare, Complainingly, is hard to bear. Or, as you watch the mercury Mount, still elate, one more degree, And doff your collar and cravat, And rig a sponge up in your hat, And ask Tom, Harry, Dick or Jim If this is hot enough for him -- Consider how the sun would pour At one hundred and eighty-four -- Just twice the heat that seems to be Affecting you unpleasantly, The very hour that you might find As cool as dew, were you inclined. But why proceed when none will heed Advice apportioned to the need? Hot weather? Yes; but really not, Compared with weather twice as hot! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FARMER'S BOY: AUTUMN by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD HOW TO FORETELL A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER by TED KOOSER LEAVING BUFFALO by CHARLES MARTIN WHEN THE WEATHER CHANGES TO WARM, THE BOYS DRIVE SHIRTLESS by MARY JO BANG THE LIFE OF TOWNS: ONE-MAN TOWN by ANNE CARSON POWER FAILURE by MADELINE DEFREES THE CITY OF THE OLESHA FRUIT by NORMAN DUBIE FRAGMENTS WRITTEN WHILE TRAVELING...A MIDWESTERN HEAT WAVE by JAMES GALVIN A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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