Rizpah Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CC A DDEE A FFAA G HHII G JJKK G GGGGLLMM G NNOO G PPQQGGRR I GGII I SSTUVV I WWXX I FFYY I IIZZIIA2A2CC G B2B2C2C2 G D2D2RR G E2E2F2F2 G G2G2H2H2III | A |
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Wailing wailing wailing the wind over land and sea | B |
And Willy's voice in the wind 'O mother come out to me ' | - |
Why should he call me to night when he knows that I cannot go | C |
For the downs are as bright as day and the full moon stares at the snow | C |
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II | A |
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We should be seen my dear they would spy us out of the town | D |
The loud black nights for us and the storm rushing over the down | D |
When I cannot see my own hand but am led by the creak of the chain | E |
And grovel and grope for my son till I find myself drenched with the rain | E |
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III | A |
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Anything fallen again nay what was there left to fall | F |
I have taken them home I have number'd the bones I have hidden them all | F |
What am I saying and what are you do you come as a spy | A |
Falls what falls who knows As the tree falls so must it lie | A |
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IV | G |
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Who let her in how long has she been you what have you heard | H |
Why did you sit so quiet you never have spoken a word | H |
O to pray with me yes a lady none of their spies | I |
But the night has crept into my heart and begun to darken my eyes | I |
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V | G |
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Ah you that have lived so soft what should you know of the night | J |
The blast and the burning shame and the bitter frost and the fright | J |
I have done it while you were asleep you were only made for the day | K |
I have gather'd my baby together and now you may go your way | K |
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VI | G |
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Nay for it's kind of you Madam to sit by an old dying wife | G |
But say nothing hard of my boy I have only an hour of life | G |
I kiss'd my boy in the prison before he went out to die | G |
'They dared me to do it ' he said and he never has told me a lie | G |
I whipt him for robbing an orchard once when he was but a child | L |
'The farmer dared me to do it ' he said he was always so wild | L |
And idle and couldn't be idle my Willy he never could rest | M |
The King should have made him a soldier he would have been one of his best | M |
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VII | G |
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But he lived with a lot of wild mates and they never would let him be good | N |
They swore that he dare not rob the mail and he swore that he would | N |
And he took no life but he took one purse and when all was done | O |
He flung it among his fellows I'll none of it said my son | O |
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VIII | G |
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I came into court to the Judge and the lawyers I told them my tale | P |
God's own truth but they kill'd him they kill'd him for robbing the mail | P |
They hang'd him in chains for a show we had always borne a good name | Q |
To be hang'd for a thief and then put away isn't that enough shame | Q |
Dust to dust low down let us hide but they set him so high | G |
That all the ships of the world could stare at him passing by | G |
God 'ill pardon the hell black raven and horrible fowls of the air | R |
But not the black heart of the lawyer who kill'd him and hang'd him there | R |
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IX | I |
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And the jailer forced me away I had bid him my last goodbye | G |
They had fasten'd the door of his cell 'O mother ' I heard him cry | G |
I couldn't get back tho' I tried he had something further to say | I |
And now I never shall know it The jailer forced me away | I |
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X | I |
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Then since I couldn't but hear that cry of my boy that was dead | S |
They seized me and shut me up they fasten'd me down on my bed | S |
'Mother O mother ' he call'd in the dark to me year after year | T |
They beat me for that they beat me you know that I couldn't but hear | U |
And then at the last they found I had grown so stupid and still | V |
They let me abroad again but the creatures had worked their will | V |
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XI | I |
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Flesh of my flesh was gone but bone of my bone was left | W |
I stole them all from the lawyers and you will you call it a theft | W |
My baby the bones that had suck'd me the bones that had laughed and had cried | X |
Theirs O no they are mine not theirs they had moved in my side | X |
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XII | I |
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Do you think I was scared by the bones I kiss'd 'em I buried 'em all | F |
I can't dig deep I am old in the night by the churchyard wall | F |
My Willy 'ill rise up whole when the trumpet of judgment 'ill sound | Y |
But I charge you never to say that I laid him in holy ground | Y |
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XIII | I |
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They would scratch him up they would hang him again on the cursed tree | I |
Sin O yes we are sinners I know let all that be | I |
And read me a Bible verse of the Lord's good will toward men | Z |
'Full of compassion and mercy the Lord' let me hear it again | Z |
'Full of compassion and mercy long suffering ' Yes O yes | I |
For the lawyer is born but to murder the Saviour lives but to bless | I |
He'll never put on the black cap except for the worst of the worst | A2 |
And the first may be last I have heard it in church and the last may be first | A2 |
Suffering O long suffering yes as the Lord must know | C |
Year after year in the mist and the wind and the shower and the snow | C |
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XIV | G |
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Heard have you what they have told you he never repented his sin | B2 |
How do they know it are they his mother are you of his kin | B2 |
Heard have you ever heard when the storm on the downs began | C2 |
The wind that 'ill wail like a child and the sea that 'ill moan like a man | C2 |
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XV | G |
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Election Election and Reprobation it's all very well | D2 |
But I go to night to my boy and I shall not find him in Hell | D2 |
For I cared so much for my boy that the Lord has look'd into my care | R |
And He means me I'm sure to be happy with Willy I know not where | R |
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XVI | G |
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And if he be lost but to save my soul that is all your desire | E2 |
Do you think that I care for my soul if my boy be gone to the fire | E2 |
I have been with God in the dark go go you may leave me alone | F2 |
You never have borne a child you are just as hard as a stone | F2 |
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XVII | G |
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Madam I beg your pardon I think that you mean to be kind | G2 |
But I cannot hear what you say for my Willy's voice in the wind | G2 |
The snow and the sky so bright he used but to call in the dark | H2 |
And he calls to me now from the church and not from the gibbet for hark | H2 |
Nay you can hear it yourself it is coming shaking the walls | I |
Willy the moon's in a cloud Good night I am going He calls | I |
Alfred Lord Tennyson
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