Poetry · Chapter
Alligator and Boy explained
A humorous poem about boys bathing in Hoxa Tarn who are threatened by an alligator.
What happens
A humorous poem about boys bathing in Hoxa Tarn who are threatened by an alligator. The boys outwit the creature by rigging up a decoy boy, which the alligator attacks and destroys, scattering its own hide and grease.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the boy’s childish joy and naive belief that he can see Ameri…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingKey passages
“This is a true tale and no yarn, Our boys bathed in Hoxa Tarn; But for long they had spectator, Eager, watching alligator.”
This is a true story, not a tall tale: the local boys swam in Hoxa Tarn, but they were watched for a long time by a hungry alligator.
Sets up the premise of the poem as a factual account of boys swimming in a pond menaced by an alligator.
“So strategy they did employ, And they rigged up a seeming boy.”
So they devised a plan and created a fake boy as a decoy.
Describes the boys' clever trick to fool the alligator.
“He ope’d his mouth, the earth did shake, Was it thunder bolt or earthquake? For there was scattered far and wide Grease and alligator’s hide.”
He opened his mouth with such force that the ground trembled, as if from a thunderbolt or earthquake, and the alligator's hide and grease were scattered everywhere.
Climax of the poem where the alligator destroys the decoy and is itself blown apart.
