As I Was Going to St. Ives — Nursery Rhyme Lyrics

As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
Comment
This rhyme is a riddle. Can you tell me how many people were going to St. Ives?

Explore Words From This Rhyme

Find Rhymes

Look Up Definitions

More Nursery Rhymes

Browse all nursery rhymes →

Learning from "As I Was Going to St. Ives"

Nursery rhymes are some of the best teachers of rhythm and rhyme. "As I Was Going to St. Ives" uses 9 lines to create a memorable verse — proof that effective poetry doesn't need to be long. Pay attention to the meter: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables is what makes the rhyme stick in your head.

Songwriters and poets can borrow these patterns. Try writing your own lyrics using the same rhyme scheme and line length as this nursery rhyme. You can also use words from the poem above as starting points — click any word to find rhymes or look up its definition, then build from there.

Create your own verse

Inspired by "As I Was Going to St. Ives"? Try writing your own rhymes:

Generate a verse

Frequently asked questions

What are the words to As I Was Going to St. Ives?
The lyrics to As I Was Going to St. Ives are: As I was going to St. Ives, / I met a man with seven wives. / Each wife had seven sacks, / Each sack had seven cats, / Each cat had seven kits. / Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, ... Read the full 9-line nursery rhyme at Rhyme Buster.
How many lines does As I Was Going to St. Ives have?
"As I Was Going to St. Ives" has 9 lines of verse.

Explore More Word Tools