Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

UNCLE MART'S POEM by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: HO! THE OLD SNOW-MAN
Last Line: THAT NOEY BIXLER MADE!
Subject(s): SNOW;
HO! the old Snow-Man
That Noey Bixler made!
He looked as fierce and sassy
As a soldier on parade! --
'Cause Noey, when he made him,
While we all wuz gone, you see,
He made him, jist a-purpose,
Jist as fierce as he could be! --
But when we all got @3ust@1 to him,
Nobody wuz afraid
Of the old Snow-Man
That Noey Bixler made!
'Cause Noey told us 'bout him
And what he made him fer: --
He'd come to feed, that morning
He found we wuzn't here;
And so the notion struck him,
When we all come taggin' home
'T'ud @3s'prise@1 us ef a' old Snow-Man
'Ud meet us when we come!
So, when he'd fed the stock, and milked,
And be'n back home, and chopped
His wood, and et his breakfast, he
Jist grabbed his mitts and hopped
Right in on that-air old Snow-Man
That he laid out he'd make
Er bu'st a trace @3a-tryin'@1 -- jist
Fer old-acquaintance-sake! --
But work like that wuz lots more fun,
He said, than when he played!
Ho! the old Snow-Man
That Noey Bixler made!

He started with a big snowball,
And rolled it all around;
And as he rolled, more snow 'ud stick
And pull up off the ground. --
He rolled and rolled all round the yard --
'Cause we could see the @3track,@1
All wher' the snow come off, you know,
And left it wet and black.
He got the Snow-Man's @3legs-part@1 rolled --
In front the kitchen-door, --
And then he hat to turn in then
And roll and roll some more! --
He rolled the yard all round ag'in,
And round the house, at that --
Clean round the house and back to wher'
The blame legs-half wuz at!
He said he missed his dinner, too --
Jist clean fergot and stayed
There workin'. Oh! the old Snow-Man
That Noey Bixler made!

And Noey said he hat to @3hump@1
To git the @3top-half@1 on
The @3legs-half!@1 -- When he @3did,@1 he said,
His wind wuz purt' nigh gone. --
He said, i jucks! he jist drapped down
There on the old porch-floor
And panted like a dog! -- And then
He up! and rolled some more! --
The @3last@1 batch -- that wuz fer his head, --
And -- time he'd got it right
And clumb and fixed it on, he said --
He hat to quit fer night! --
And @3then,@1 he said, he'd kep' right on
Ef they'd be'n any @3moon@1
To work by! So he crawled in bed --
And @3could@1 'a' slep' tel @3noon,@1
He wuz so plum wore out! he said, --
But it wuz washin'-day,
And hat to cut a cord o' wood
'Fore he could git away!

But, last, he got to work ag'in, --
With spade, and gouge, and hoe,
And trowel, too -- (All tools 'ud do
What @3Noey@1 said, you know!)
He cut his eyebrows out like cliffs --
And his cheek-bones and chin
Stuck @3furder@1 out -- and his old @3nose@1
Stuck out as fur-ag'in!
He made his eyes o' walnuts,
And his whiskers out o' this-
Here buggy-cushion stuffin' -- @3moss,@1
The teacher says it is.
And then he made a' old wood' gun,
Set keerless-like, you know,
Acrost one shoulder -- kind o' like
Big Foot, er Adam Poe --
Er, mayby, Simon Girty,
The dinged old Renegade!
@3Wooh!@1 the old Snow-Man
That Noey Bixler made!

And there he stood, all fierce and grim,
A stern, heroic form:
What was the winter blast to him,
And what the driving storm? --
What wonder that the children pressed
Their faces at the pane
And scratched away the frost, in pride
To look on him again? --
What wonder that, with yearning bold,
Their all of love and care
Went warmest through the keenest cold
To that Snow-Man out there!

But the old Snow-Man --
What a dubious delight
He grew at last when Spring came on
And days waxed warm and bright! --
Alone he stood -- all kith and kin
Of snow and ice were gone; --
Alone, with constant tear-drops in
His eyes and glittering on
His thin, pathetic beard of black --
Grief in a hopeless cause! --
Hope -- hope is for the man that @3dies@1 --
What for the man that @3thaws!@1
O Hero of a hero's make! --
Let @3marble@1 melt and fade,
But never @3you@1 -- you old Snow-Man
That Noey Bixler made!



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