By Flood And Field - A Legend Of The Cottiswold Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDE FGFGCHCHICIJCIC KGKGKLKLCMCMKNKNKGKG KKKKNHNHKHKH OKOKPKPKQRQRSTSU KVKVKWKKWXNXN| They have saddled a hundred milk white steeds | A |
| They have bridled a hundred black Old Ballad | B |
| He turned in his saddle now follow who dare | C |
| I ride for my country quoth | D |
| Lawrence | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| I remember the lowering wintry morn | F |
| And the mist on the Cotswold hills | G |
| Where I once heard the blast of the huntsman's horn | F |
| Not far from the seven rills | G |
| Jack Esdale was there and Hugh St Clair | C |
| Bob Chapman and Andrew Kerr | H |
| And big George Griffiths on Devil May Care | C |
| And black Tom Oliver | H |
| And one who rode on a dark brown steed | I |
| Clean jointed sinewy spare | C |
| With the lean game head of the Blacklock breed | I |
| And the resolute eye that loves the lead | J |
| And the quarters massive and square | C |
| A tower of strength with a promise of speed | I |
| There was Celtic blood in the pair | C |
| - | |
| I remember how merry a start we got | K |
| When the red fox broke from the gorse | G |
| In a country so deep with a scent so hot | K |
| That the hound could outpace the horse | G |
| I remember how few in the front rank shew'd | K |
| How endless appeared the tail | L |
| On the brown hill side where we cross'd the road | K |
| And headed towards the vale | L |
| The dark brown steed on the left was there | C |
| On the right was a dappled grey | M |
| And between the pair on a chestnut mare | C |
| The duffer who writes this lay | M |
| What business had this child there to ride | K |
| But little or none at all | N |
| Yet I held my own for a while in the pride | K |
| That goeth before a fall | N |
| Though rashness can hope for but one result | K |
| We are heedless when fate draws nigh us | G |
| And the maxim holds good Quem perdere vult | K |
| Deus dementat prius | G |
| - | |
| The right hand man to the left hand said | K |
| As down in the vale we went | K |
| Harden your heart like a millstone Ned | K |
| And set your face as flint | K |
| Solid and tall is the rasping wall | N |
| That stretches before us yonder | H |
| You must have it at speed or not at all | N |
| 'Twere better to halt than to ponder | H |
| For the stream runs wide on the take off side | K |
| And washes the clay bank under | H |
| Here goes for a pull 'tis a madman's ride | K |
| And a broken neck if you blunder | H |
| - | |
| No word in reply his comrade spoke | O |
| Nor waver'd nor once look'd round | K |
| But I saw him shorten his horse's stroke | O |
| As we splash'd through the marshy ground | K |
| I remember the laugh that all the while | P |
| On his quiet features play'd | K |
| So he rode to his death with that careless smile | P |
| In the van of the Light Brigade | K |
| So stricken by Russian grape the cheer | Q |
| Rang out while he toppled back | R |
| From the shattered lungs as merry and clear | Q |
| As it did when it roused the pack | R |
| Let never a tear his memory stain | S |
| Give his ashes never a sigh | T |
| One of many who perished not in vain | S |
| As a type of our chivalry | U |
| - | |
| I remember one thrust he gave to his hat | K |
| And two to the flanks of the brown | V |
| And still as a statue of old he sat | K |
| And he shot to the front hands down | V |
| I remember the snort and the stag like bound | K |
| Of the steed six lengths to the fore | W |
| And the laugh of the rider while landing sound | K |
| He turned in his saddle and glanced around | K |
| I remember but little more | W |
| Save a bird's eye gleam of the dashing stream | X |
| A jarring thud on the wall | N |
| A shock and the blank of a nightmare's dream | X |
| I was down with a stunning fall | N |
Adam Lindsay Gordon
(1)
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About By Flood And Field - A Legend Of The Cottiswold
By Flood And Field - A Legend Of The Cottiswold is a poem by Adam Lindsay Gordon. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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