Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PIXY PEOPLE by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: IT WAS JUST A VERY
Last Line: THEIR OLD HONEY-SONG!
Subject(s): FAIRIES; ELVES;
It was just a very
Merry fairy dream! --
All the woods were airy
With the gloom and gleam;
Crickets in the clover
Clattered clear and strong,
And the bees droned over
Their old honey-song!

In the mossy passes,
Saucy grasshoppers
Leaped about the grasses
And the thistle-burs;
And the whispered chuckle
Of the katydid
Shook the honeysuckle-
Blossoms where he hid.

Through the breezy mazes
Of the lazy June,
Drowsy with the hazes
Of the dreamy noon,
Little Pixy people
Winged above the walk,
Pouring from the steeple
Of a mullein-stalk.

One -- a gallant fellow --
Evidently King, --
Wore a plume of yellow
In a jeweled ring
On a pansy bonnet,
Gold and white and blue,
With the dew still on it,
And the fragrance, too.

One -- a dainty lady, --
Evidently Queen --
Wore a gown of shady
Moonshine and green,
With a lace of gleaming
Starlight that sent
All the dewdrops dreaming
Everywhere she went.

One wore a waistcoat
Of rose-leaves, out and in;
And one wore a faced-coat
Of tiger-lily-skin;
And one wore a neat coat
Of palest galingale;
And one a tiny street-coat,
And one a swallow-tail.

And Ho! sang the King of them,
And Hey! sang the Queen;
And round and round the ring of them
Went dancing o'er the green;
And Hey! sang the Queen of them,
And Ho! sang the King --
And all that I had seen of them
-- Wasn't anything!

It was just a very
Merry fairy dream! --
All the woods were airy
With the gloom and gleam;
Crickets in the clover
Clattered clear and strong,
And the bees droned over
Their old honey-song!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net