Analysis of What Uncle Rob Says

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Uncle Rob says,
That once on a time the fire flies
Were stars with the others up in the skies.

They used to shimmer, and dance and play,
Night after night in the Milky Way.

But when their papa, the stern old Sun
Said 'off to bed with you every one,'

These bold little stars refused to obey,
'Let's hide in that cloud and then run away.'

'Let's run to the earth,' these bad stars said
'We are quite too old to be sent to bed.'

So then they were exiled out of the skies,
And that's how we came with the fire flies,
So Uncle Rob says.


Scheme ABB CC DD CC EE BBA
Poetic Form
Metre 1011 111010101 0110101001 111100101 110100101 111100111 1111111001 1110101101 1101101101 111011111 1111111111 111011101 0111110101 11011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 526
Words 114
Sentences 6
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 67
Words per stanza (avg) 18
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

33 sec read
119

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

All Ella Wheeler Wilcox poems | Ella Wheeler Wilcox Books

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