Poetry Response #2

Little Orphant Annie

By James Whitcomb Riley

"Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay,
An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,
An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep,
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep;
An’ all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the mostest fun
A-list’nin’ to the witch-tales ‘at Annie tells about,
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you
             Ef you
                Don’t
                   Watch
                      Out!
        
Onc’t they was a little boy wouldn’t say his prayers,--
So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an’ his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An’ when they turn’t the kivvers down, he wasn’t there at all!
An’ they seeked him in the rafter-room, an’ cubby-hole, an’ press,
An’ seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an’ ever’wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found was thist his pants an’ roundabout--
An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
             Ef you
                Don’t
                   Watch
                      Out!
        
An’ one time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh an’ grin,
An’ make fun of ever’one, an’ all her blood an’ kin;
An’ onc’t, when they was “company," an’ ole folks was there,
She mocked ‘em an’ shocked ‘em, an’ said she didn’t care!
An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,
They was two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,
An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ‘fore she knowed what she’s about!
An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
             Ef you
                Don’t
                   Watch
                      Out!
        
An’ little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,
An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!
An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,
An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parents, an’ yer teachers fond an’ dear,
An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,
An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns’ll git you
             Ef you
                Don’t
                   Watch
                      Out!"

            I first heard this poem in, I think, third or fourth grade; my class did a unit of study on James Whitcomb Riley and his poems, cultimating in a field trip to his old home in Greenfield. As a result, I remembered this poem pretty well when we read it in class, and hearing it again brought back a lot of memories. It still means pretty much the same thing it meant to me back in elementary school, although I understand the first stanza a little better now; I think back then I wasn’t sure if the goblins came for Annie, but now I know that was just part of her story. 

            The aspect of the poem that I notice first upon reading it is the dialect. A little research has told me that this dialect is apparently nineteenth-century Hoosier dialect, which would fit in with the time and place where it was composed. It gives the poem a very antiquated and rustic feel, which in turn makes it sound more authentic. Combined with other elements such as the meter and the emphasized refrain ending each stanza, this makes the poem quite fun to read aloud. 

            Also, I think the poem lends itself well to the imagination. The descriptions of the
house in the first stanza and the night in the final stanza feel old and homey, and conjure an image of an old house from the nineteenth century – perhaps Riley’s house itself. In the second and third stanzas, the “Gobble-uns” are left purposefully undescribed outside of being “great big Black Things” that can take you away from anywhere without a trace, which allows for a much more frightening image than an actual description could provide. When I was young I remember getting a chill in my spine when I read it, and these days it still makes me grin.