A Wife's Protest Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDC EFGF HIJI KLIL MNON PQRQ LRSR RTUV WXYX ZA2B2A2 RFC2F D2E2F2E2 RG2H2G2 I2J2RJ2 K2L2M2E N2RO2R P2RRR RQ2R2Q2 S2T2U2V2 RI2W2I2 X2G2RG2 Y2Z2Q2A3 B3W2C3W2 FRD3R| A | |
| - | |
| Like a white snowdrop in the spring | B |
| From child to girl I grew | C |
| And thought no thought and heard no word | D |
| That was not pure and true | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| And when I came to seventeen | E |
| And life was fair and free | F |
| A suitor by my father's leave | G |
| Was brought one day to me | F |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Make me the happiest man on earth | H |
| He whispered soft and low | I |
| My mother told me it was right | J |
| I was too young to know | I |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| And then they twined my bridal wreath | K |
| And placed it on my brow | L |
| It seems like fifty years ago | I |
| And I am twenty now | L |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| My star that barely rose is set | M |
| My day of hope is done | N |
| My woman's life of love and joy | O |
| Ere it has scarce begun | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Hourly I die I do not live | P |
| Though still so young and strong | Q |
| No dumb brute from his brother brutes | R |
| Endures such wanton wrong | Q |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| A smouldering shame consumes me now | L |
| It poisons all my peace | R |
| An inward torment of reproach | S |
| That never more will cease | R |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| O how my spirit shrinks and sinks | R |
| Ere yet the light is gone | T |
| What creeping terrors chill my blood | U |
| As each black night draws on | V |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| I lay me down upon my bed | W |
| A prisoner on the rack | X |
| And suffer dumbly as I must | Y |
| Till the kind day comes back | X |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Listening from heavy hour to hour | Z |
| To hear the church clock toll | A2 |
| A guiltless prostitute in flesh | B2 |
| A murderess in soul | A2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Those church bells chimed the marriage chimes | R |
| When he was wed to me | F |
| And they must knell a funeral knell | C2 |
| Ere I again am free | F |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| I did not hate him then in faith | D2 |
| I vowed the vow I will | E2 |
| Were I his mate and not his slave | F2 |
| I could perform it still | E2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| But crushed in these relentless bonds | R |
| I blindly helped to tie | G2 |
| With one way only for escape | H2 |
| I pray that he may die | G2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| O to possess myself once more | I2 |
| Myself so stained and maimed | J2 |
| O to make pure these shuddering limbs | R |
| That loveless lust has shamed | J2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| But beauty cannot be restored | K2 |
| Where such a blight has been | L2 |
| And all the rivers in the world | M2 |
| Can never wash me clean | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| I go to church I go to court | N2 |
| No breath of scandal flaws | R |
| The lustre of my fair repute | O2 |
| For I obey the laws | R |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| My ragged sister of the street | P2 |
| Marked for the world's disgrace | R |
| Scarce dares to lift her sinful eyes | R |
| To the great lady's face | R |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| She hides in shadows as I pass | R |
| On me the sunbeams shine | Q2 |
| Yet in the sight of God her stain | R2 |
| May be less black than mine | Q2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Maybe she gave her all for love | S2 |
| And did not count the cost | T2 |
| If so her crown of womanhood | U2 |
| Was not ignobly lost | V2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Maybe she wears those wretched rags | R |
| And starves from door to door | I2 |
| To keep her body for her own | W2 |
| Since it may love no more | I2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| If so in spite of church and law | X2 |
| She is more pure than I | G2 |
| The latchet of those broken shoes | R |
| I am not fit to tie | G2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| That hungry baby at her breast | Y2 |
| Sign of her fallen state | Z2 |
| Nature who would but mock at mine | Q2 |
| Has made legitimate | A3 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Poor little love child spurned and scorned | B3 |
| Whom church and law disown | W2 |
| Thou hadst thy birthright when the seed | C3 |
| Of thy small life was sown | W2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| O Nature give no child to me | F |
| Whom Love must ne'er embrace | R |
| Thou knowest I could not bear to look | D3 |
| On its reproachful face | R |
Ada Cambridge
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About A Wife's Protest
A Wife's Protest is a poem by Ada Cambridge. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about A Wife's Protest poem by Ada Cambridge
Best Poems of Ada Cambridge