When Frost Is On The Pumpkin

When the Frost is on the Punkin

by James Whitcomb Riley

About Poet: James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley was among the most popular writers of the late 19th and early 20th century, known for his uncomplicated, sentimental, and humorous writing. Often writing his verses in dialect, his poetry caused readers to recall a nostalgic and simpler time in earlier American history. This gave his poetry a unique appeal during a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization in the US.

Riley was known as the “Hoosier Poet” for his dialect works and as the “Children’s Poet” for his children’s poetry. Riley gradually rose in prominence during the 1880s through his poetry reading tours. He traveled a touring circuit first in the Midwest, and then nationally, holding shows and making joint appearances on stage with other famous talents.

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His family had a farm in rural Indiana. Riley’s father was a lawyer but was partially paralyzed fighting for the Union army in the Civil War. He was unable to return to his legal practice, so the family sold their house in town and returned to the family farm.

Discussion and Activities

1. Take turns reading the poem out loud as a class.
2. What do you notice about Riley’s use of language? What effect does his use of dialect have?
3. Discuss the poem’s meter. What is the rhyme pattern?
4. Identify unfamiliar words and discuss what you think they mean in context before looking them up in a dictionary.
5. Riley mostly grew up in town, but his family had a farm. Find the references to farm life in the poem.
6. Identify and correct the misspelled words.

Vocabulary

dialect: a regional variety of a language differing from the standard language

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fodder: coarse dry food (as cornstalks) for livestock

furries (furrows): a trench in the earth made by or as if by a plow

guiney (guinea): a gray and white spotted African bird related to the pheasants that has a bare neck and head and is widely raised for food

reaper: a machine for cutting grain

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shock: a bunch of sheaves of grain or stalks of corn set on end (as in a field)

stock: farm animals

tossels (tassels): the male flower cluster on the top of Indian corn that resembles a tassel

turkey cock: male turkey

Source: https://t-tees.com
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