Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LITTLE GIRLY-GIRL by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: LITTLE GIRLY-GIRL, OF YOU
Last Line: "CALLING, ""LITTLE GIRLY-GIRL!"
Subject(s): BEAUTY; DREAMS; GIRLS; LOVE; MEMORY; NIGHTMARES;

LITTLE Girly-Girl, of you
Still forever I am dreaming. --
Laughing eyes of limpid blue --
Tresses glimmering and gleaming
Like glad waters running over
Shelving shallows, rimmed with clover,
Trembling where the eddies whirl,
Gurgling, "Little Girly-Girl!"

For your name it came to me
Down the brink of brooks that brought it
Out of Paradise -- and we --
Love and I -- we, leaning, caught it
From the ripples romping nigh us,
And the bubbles bumping by us
Over shoals of pebbled pearl,
Lilting, "Little Girly-Girl!"

That was long and long ago,
But in memory the tender
Winds of summer weather blow,
And the roses burst in splendor;
And the meadow's grassy billows
Break in blossoms round the willows
Where the currents curve and curl,
Calling, "Little Girly-Girl!"



Home: PoetryExplorer.net