Charity Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC ADD AEE FGG FHH FEE FII FJ CKK CFF CEE CLL CJJ FMM FNN FOO FPP FQ CGG CRR CSS CCC| I | A |
| What am I doing you say to me 'wasting the sweet summer hours' | B |
| Haven't you eyes I am dressing the grave of a woman with flowers | C |
| - | |
| II | A |
| For a woman ruin'd the world as God's own scriptures tell | D |
| And a man ruin'd mine but a woman God bless her kept me from Hell | D |
| - | |
| III | A |
| Love me O yes no doubt how long till you threw me aside | E |
| Dresses and laces and jewels and never a ring for the bride | E |
| - | |
| IV | F |
| All very well just now to be calling me darling and sweet | G |
| And after a while would it matter so much if I came on the street | G |
| - | |
| V | F |
| You when I met you first when he brought you I turn'd away | H |
| And the hard blue eyes have it still that stare of a beast of prey | H |
| - | |
| VI | F |
| You were his friend you you when he promised to make me his bride | E |
| And you knew that he meant to betray me you knew you knew that he lied | E |
| - | |
| VII | F |
| He married an heiress an orphan with half a shire of estate | I |
| I sent him a desolate wail and a curse when I learn'd my fate | I |
| - | |
| VIII | F |
| For I used to play with the knife creep down to the river shore | J |
| Moan to myself 'one plunge then quiet for evermore ' | - |
| - | |
| IX | C |
| Would the man have a touch of remorse when he heard what an end was mine | K |
| Or brag to his fellow rakes of his conquest over their wine | K |
| - | |
| X | C |
| Money my hire his money I sent him back what he gave | F |
| Will you move a little that way your shadow falls on the grave | F |
| - | |
| XI | C |
| Two trains clash'd then and there he was crush'd in a moment and died | E |
| But the new wedded wife was unharm'd tho' sitting close at his side | E |
| - | |
| XII | C |
| She found my letter upon him my wail of reproach and scorn | L |
| I had cursed the woman he married and him and the day I was born | L |
| - | |
| XIII | C |
| They put him aside for ever and after a week no more | J |
| A stranger as welcome as Satan a widow came to my door | J |
| - | |
| XIV | F |
| So I turn'd my face to the wall I was mad I was raving wild | M |
| I was close on that hour of dishonour the birth of a baseborn child | M |
| - | |
| XV | F |
| O you that can flatter your victims and juggle and lie and cajole | N |
| Man can you even guess at the love of a soul for a soul | N |
| - | |
| XVI | F |
| I had cursed her as woman and wife and in wife and woman I found | O |
| The tenderest Christ like creature that ever stept on the ground | O |
| - | |
| XVII | F |
| She watch'd me she nursed me she fed me she sat day and night by my bed | P |
| Till the joyless birthday came of a boy born happily dead | P |
| - | |
| XVIII | F |
| And her name what was it I ask'd her She said with a sudden glow | Q |
| On her patient face ' My dear I will tell you before I go ' | - |
| - | |
| XIX | C |
| And I when I learnt it at last I shriek'd I sprang from my seat | G |
| I wept and I kiss'd her hands I flung myself down at her feet | G |
| - | |
| XX | C |
| And we pray'd together for him for him who had given her the name | R |
| She has left me enough to live on I need no wages of shame | R |
| - | |
| XXI | C |
| She died of a fever caught when a nurse in a hospital ward | S |
| She is high in the Heaven of Heavens she is face to face with her Lord | S |
| - | |
| XXII | C |
| And He sees not her like anywhere in this pitiless world of ours | C |
| I have told you my tale Get you gone I am dressing her grave with flowers | C |
Alfred Lord Tennyson
(1)
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