Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BILLY AND HIS DRUM by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: HO! IT'S COME, KIDS, COME!
Last Line: EF YOU DON'T HEAR LITTLE BILLY AN' HIS BIG BASS DRUM!
Subject(s): CHILDREN; DRUMS; JUDGMENT DAY; MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; NOISES; CHILDHOOD; END OF THE WORLD; DOOMSDAY; FALL OF MAN;

HO! it's come, kids, come!
With a bim! bam! bum!
Here's little Billy bangin' on his big bass drum!
He's a-marchin' round the room,
With his feather-duster plume
A-noddin' an' a-bobbin' with his big! bom! boom!

Looky, little Jane an' Jim!
Will you only look at him,
A-humpin' an' a-thumpin' with his bam! bom! bim!
Has the Day o' Judgment come
Er the New Mi-len-nee-um?
Er is it only Billy with his bim! bam! bum!

I'm a-comin'; yes, I am --
Jim an' Sis, an' Jane an' Sam!
We'll all march off with Billy an' his bom! bim! bam!
Come hur@3raw@1in' as you come,
Er they'll think you're deef-an'-dumb
Ef you don't hear little Billy an' his big bass drum!



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