Does the name J. Whitcomb Riley ring a bell? Ever heard of him at all?
I suspect most readers will respond, “No. Who is J. Whitcomb Riley?” Interestingly, I think those same people will, indeed, have heard of his work (and I'll prove it later in this post).
So how’d I land on J. Whitcomb Riley?
Yesterday, I touched on the subject of “reading prose v. reading poetry” (is there a difference?), and I alluded to the age-old question, “What is poetry?”
In that discussion I shared a portion of a letter to Mabel Loomis Todd from one W. I. Fletcher – who had heard a presentation on Emily Dickinson by Todd in June 1892 – in which he stated the following:
“Mr. Stedman has lately been trying to define poetry. It is a hard task. Emily Dickinson wrote poetry which embalmed and interpreted the most insignificant things in nature. J. Whitcomb Riley writes
Without, beneath the rose bush stands
A dripping rooster on one leg.
I suppose this is also poetry (it rhymes [i.e. his verses do] better than your friend’s) but it merely helps us see the things without doing much to help us see into them.”
When I read all of that, I wondered about a few things: 1. Who was Mr. Stedman? 2. Who was J. Whitcomb Riley? (I’ve never heard of him.) 3. Is that the entire poem, “Without, beneath the rose bush stands / A dripping rooster on one leg”?
In response to that third question, I was oh so hopeful that it was the entire poem because it called to mind another very famous and much discussed (and hotly debated) poem by William Carlos Williams:
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
That’s it. That’s the poem. Rain; chickens; a red wheelbarrow. You can see how Riley’s two lines – with rain, a rooster, and red roses – reminded me of Williams’ poem.
Let’s move on, though. I’ll get back to that red wheelbarrow poem in a future post. For now, let’s get to my three questions:
1. Who was Mr. Stedman? Well, that’s a reference to Edmund Clarence Stedman, an American poet, critic and essayist (as well as a banker and scientist). He lived from 1833 to 1908, and you can read about him HERE.
2. Who was J. Whitcomb Riley? “During his lifetime, James Whitcomb Riley, known as the Hoosier Poet, achieved a height of fame that few literary figures ever attain.” Turns out that he wrote the poem “Little Orphan Annie” (originally called “Little Orphant Annie”) on which the comic and the Broadway musical are based.
You can read more about him HERE.
3. Is that the entire poem, “Without, beneath the rose bush stands / A dripping rooster on one leg”? No. These lines come from a longer poem by Riley called “A Sudden Shower” – and yes, it does rhyme perfectly, just as Mr. Fletcher said in his letter. You can read the entire poem below.
Furthermore, just as Mr. Fletcher wrote, Riley’s poem “merely helps us see the things without doing much to help us see into them.”
Compare Riley’s “sudden shower” to four stormy poems by Dickinson (below on the right). I think you’ll agree, she does so much more than “see the things.”
More on this tomorrow. Stay tuned.
I suspect most readers will respond, “No. Who is J. Whitcomb Riley?” Interestingly, I think those same people will, indeed, have heard of his work (and I'll prove it later in this post).
So how’d I land on J. Whitcomb Riley?
Yesterday, I touched on the subject of “reading prose v. reading poetry” (is there a difference?), and I alluded to the age-old question, “What is poetry?”
In that discussion I shared a portion of a letter to Mabel Loomis Todd from one W. I. Fletcher – who had heard a presentation on Emily Dickinson by Todd in June 1892 – in which he stated the following:
“Mr. Stedman has lately been trying to define poetry. It is a hard task. Emily Dickinson wrote poetry which embalmed and interpreted the most insignificant things in nature. J. Whitcomb Riley writes
Without, beneath the rose bush stands
A dripping rooster on one leg.
I suppose this is also poetry (it rhymes [i.e. his verses do] better than your friend’s) but it merely helps us see the things without doing much to help us see into them.”
When I read all of that, I wondered about a few things: 1. Who was Mr. Stedman? 2. Who was J. Whitcomb Riley? (I’ve never heard of him.) 3. Is that the entire poem, “Without, beneath the rose bush stands / A dripping rooster on one leg”?
In response to that third question, I was oh so hopeful that it was the entire poem because it called to mind another very famous and much discussed (and hotly debated) poem by William Carlos Williams:
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
That’s it. That’s the poem. Rain; chickens; a red wheelbarrow. You can see how Riley’s two lines – with rain, a rooster, and red roses – reminded me of Williams’ poem.
Let’s move on, though. I’ll get back to that red wheelbarrow poem in a future post. For now, let’s get to my three questions:
1. Who was Mr. Stedman? Well, that’s a reference to Edmund Clarence Stedman, an American poet, critic and essayist (as well as a banker and scientist). He lived from 1833 to 1908, and you can read about him HERE.
2. Who was J. Whitcomb Riley? “During his lifetime, James Whitcomb Riley, known as the Hoosier Poet, achieved a height of fame that few literary figures ever attain.” Turns out that he wrote the poem “Little Orphan Annie” (originally called “Little Orphant Annie”) on which the comic and the Broadway musical are based.
You can read more about him HERE.
3. Is that the entire poem, “Without, beneath the rose bush stands / A dripping rooster on one leg”? No. These lines come from a longer poem by Riley called “A Sudden Shower” – and yes, it does rhyme perfectly, just as Mr. Fletcher said in his letter. You can read the entire poem below.
Furthermore, just as Mr. Fletcher wrote, Riley’s poem “merely helps us see the things without doing much to help us see into them.”
Compare Riley’s “sudden shower” to four stormy poems by Dickinson (below on the right). I think you’ll agree, she does so much more than “see the things.”
More on this tomorrow. Stay tuned.
| Below: A Sudden Storm by J. Whitcomb Riley:  | Below: Four poems about storms by Emily Dickinson:  |
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