James Whitcomb Riley's "When the Frost is on the Punkin"

The Daily Poem

Goldberry Studios

Education For Kids, Arts, Kids & Family

4.6 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2023

⏱️ 4 minutes

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Summary

James Whitcomb Riley (born October 7, 1849; died July 22, 1916) was author of numerous beloved poetry volumes, and widely known for books such as The Old Swimmin’-Hole and ’Leven More Poems, Riley Child-Rhymes, Out to Old Aunt Mary’s, and An Old Sweetheart. Born in Indiana in 1849, he was drawn to poetry even before he was able to read. Neglectful of his studies, Riley preferred to take walks in the countryside, read books of his own choosing, and create rhymes, the first of which he sent to his young friends on home-made valentines.

A prolific writer and important contributor to children’s literature, Riley published more than 50 volumes during his lifetime, many of which were popular successes. His poetry is especially prized for its sometimes whimsical reflection of small-town America and he is remembered for his insight and humor by children and adults alike. As was noted in Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1816-1916, “No American poet—those patriarchs of New England included—has thus far caught the popular fancy, has thus far enjoyed the voluntary following, that was and is his.”

-bio via Poetry Foundation

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.
0:04.9	I'm Sean Johnson, and today is December 1st, 2003.
0:10.4	Today's poem is by the Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Riley, born in Indiana in 1849, died 1916, and known for his representation of regional dialects in his poetry, and for his overall fun-loving and fulksy tone.
0:35.4	Today's poem is probably his best known and perfect for this moment of the year
0:43.1	when the frost is on the pumpkin. I'll read it once today.
0:52.1	When the frost is on the pumpkin and the fodder in the shock, and you hear the kiok and
0:57.0	gobble of the strutton turkey cock, and the clackin of the guineas, and the cluckin' of the hens,
1:02.0	and the roosters hallelujah, as he tiptoes on the fence. Oh, it's then's the times of fellers
1:08.2	a feeling at his best, with the rise and sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest, as he leaves the house bareheaded and goes out to feed the stalk when the frost is on the pumpkin and the fodders in the shock.
1:21.0	There's something kind of hearty-like about the atmosphere, when the heat of summer's over and the cool and fall is here.
1:28.5	Of course, we miss the flowers and the blossoms on the trees, and the mumble of the hummingbirds
1:33.2	and buzzing of the bees, but the air is so appetizing and the landscape through the haze of a crisp
1:38.9	and sunny morning of the early autumn days is a picture that no painter has the color into m when the frost is on the pumpkin and the potters and the shock.
1:48.6	The husky, rusty wrestle of the tossils of the corn and the raspon of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn.
1:55.4	The stubble in the furries, kind of lonesome-like, but still a preaching sermons to us of the barns they growed to fill,
2:02.5	the straw sack in the metter and the reaper in the shed, the hosses in their stalls below,
2:08.1	the clover overhead. Oh, it sets my heart a clickin like the ticking of a clock,
2:13.2	when the frost is on the pumpkin and the fodders and the stock.
2:17.5	When your apples all is gathered and the ones the feller keeps is poured around the cellar
2:22.4	floor in red and yellow heaps, and your cider makings over, and your women folks is through
2:28.0	with their mince and apple butter and their souse and sausage too.
2:32.6	I don't know how to tell it,
	...

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