Skip to content
Linespedia

Scotty

By James Whitcomb Riley

Topics: classic

Scotty's dead - Of course he is!      Jes' that same old luck of his! -      Ever sence we went cahoots      He's be'n first, you bet yer boots!      When our schoolin' first begun,      Got two whippin's to my one:      Stold and smoked the first cigar:      Stood up first before the bar,      Takin' whisky-straight - and me      Wastin' time on "blackberry"!      Beat me in the Army, too,      And clean on the whole way through!      In more scrapes around the camp,      And more troubles, on the tramp:      Fought and fell there by my side      With more bullets in his hide,      And more glory in the cause, -      That's the kind o' man he was!      Luck liked Scotty more'n me. -      I got married: Scotty, he      Never even would apply      Fer the pension-money I      Had to beg of "Uncle Sam" -      That's the kind o' cuss I am! -      Scotty allus first and best -      Me the last and ornriest!      Yit fer all that's said and done -      All the battles fought and won -      We hain't prospered, him ner me -      Both as pore as pore could be, -      Though we've allus, up tel now,      Stuck together anyhow -      Scotty allus, as I've said,      Luckiest - And now he's dead!

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Scotty's dead - Of course he is!..."

"Scotty" is a quintessential example of James Whitcomb Riley's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:James Whitcomb Riley

"Scotty's dead - Of course he is!..." by James Whitcomb Riley

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"Writ in between the lines of his life-deed         We trace the sacred service of a heart         Answering the Divine command, in every par"

"Crowd about me, little children -         Come and cluster 'round my knee     While I tell a little story         That happened once with me."

"O the night was dark and the night was late,         And the robbers came to rob him;      And they picked the locks of his palace-gate,"

"O her beautiful eyes! they are as blue as the dew         On the violet's bloom when the morning is new,         And the light of their love"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

James Whitcomb Riley

About James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916) was an American poet known as the "Hoosier Poet." His dialect poems—including "Little Orphant Annie" and "When the Frost Is on the Punkin"—celebrate rural Indiana life and childhood nostalgia.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"Writ in between the lines of his life-deed        ..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.