The First Quarrel Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDDEEFF AGGHHIIJJ AKKLMN GOOPP GI QQ GR SS GGGTT GHHUU MVVW MHHXX MEEY MZZ MA2A2GG X B2 C2 MD2D2 RC GD2D2 GW GEEE2E2 GRRF2 GMMF2F2| I | A |
| 'Wait a little ' you say 'you are sure it 'll all come right ' | B |
| But the boy was born i' trouble an' looks so wan an' so white | C |
| Wait an' once I ha' waited I hadn't to wait for long | D |
| Now I wait wait wait for Harry No no you are doing me wrong | D |
| Harry and I were married the boy can hold up his head | E |
| The boy was born in wedlock but after my man was dead | E |
| I ha' work'd for him fifteen years an' I work an' I wait to the end | F |
| I am all alone in the world an' you are my only friend | F |
| - | |
| II | A |
| Doctor if you can wait I'll tell you the tale o' my life | G |
| When Harry an' I were children he call'd me his own little wife | G |
| I was happy when I was with him an' sorry when he was away | H |
| An' when we play'd together I loved him better than play | H |
| He workt me the daisy chain he made me the cowslip ball | I |
| He fought the boys that were rude an' I loved him better than all | I |
| Passionate girl tho' I was an' often at home in disgrace | J |
| I never could quarrel with Harry I had but to look in his face | J |
| - | |
| III | A |
| There was a farmer in Dorset of Harry's kin that had need | K |
| Of a good stout lad at his farm he sent an' the father agreed | K |
| So Harry was bound to the Dorsetshire farm for years an' for years | L |
| I walked with him down to the quay poor lad an' we parted in tears | M |
| The boat was beginning to move we heard them a ringing the bell | N |
| I'll never love any but you God bless you my own little Nell ' | - |
| - | |
| IV | G |
| I was a child an' he was a child an' he came to harm | O |
| There was a girl a hussy that workt with him up at the farm | O |
| One had deceived her an' left her alone with her sin an' her shame | P |
| And so she was wicked with Harry the girl was the most to blame | P |
| - | |
| V | G |
| And years went over till I that was little had grown so tall | I |
| The men would say of the maids 'Our Nelly's the flower of 'em all ' | - |
| I didn't take heed o' them but I taught myself all I could | Q |
| To make a good wife for Harry when Harry came home for good | Q |
| - | |
| VI | G |
| Often I seem'd unhappy and often as happy too | R |
| For I heard it abroad in the fields 'I'll never love any but you ' | - |
| 'I'll never love any but you' the morning song of the lark | S |
| 'I' never love any but you' the nightin gale's hymn in the dark | S |
| - | |
| VII | G |
| And Harry came home at last but he look'd at me sidelong and shy | G |
| Vext me a bit till he told me that so many years had gone by | G |
| I had grown so handsome and tall that I might ha' forgot him somehow | T |
| For he thought there were other lads he was fear'd to look at me now | T |
| - | |
| VIII | G |
| Hard was the frost in the field we were married o' Christmas day | H |
| Married among the red berries an' all as merry as May | H |
| Those were the pleasant times my house an' my man were my pride | U |
| We seem'd like ships i' the Channel a sailing with wind an' tide | U |
| - | |
| IX | M |
| But work was scant in the Isle tho' he tried the villages round | V |
| So Harry went over the Solent to see if work could be found | V |
| An' he wrote 'I ha' six weeks' work little wife so far as I know | W |
| I'll come for an hour to morrow an' kiss you before I go ' | - |
| - | |
| X | M |
| So I set to righting the house for wasn't he coming that day | H |
| An' I hit on an old deal box that was pasted in a corner away | H |
| It was full of old odds an' ends an' a letter along wi' the rest | X |
| I had better ha' put my naked hand in a hornets' nest | X |
| - | |
| XI | M |
| 'Sweetheart' this was the letter this was the letter I read | E |
| 'You promised to find me work near you an' I wish I was dead | E |
| Didn't you kiss me an' promise you haven't done it my lad | Y |
| An' I almost died o' your going away an' I wish that I had ' | - |
| - | |
| XII | M |
| I too wish that I had in the pleasant times that had past | Z |
| Before I quarrell'd with Harry my quarrel the first an' the last | Z |
| - | |
| XIII | M |
| For Harry came in an' I flung him the letter that drove me wild | A2 |
| An' he told it me all at once as simple as any child | A2 |
| 'What can it matter my lass what I did wi' my single life | G |
| I ha' been as true to you as ever a man to his wife | G |
| An' she wasn't one o' the worst ' 'Then ' I said 'I'm none o' the best ' | - |
| An' he smiled at me 'Ain't you my love Come come little wife let it rest | X |
| The man isn't like the woman no need to make such a stir ' | - |
| But he anger'd me all the more an' I said 'You were keeping with her | B2 |
| When I was a loving you all along an' the same as before ' | - |
| An' he didn't speak for a while an' he anger'd me more and more | C2 |
| 'Then he patted my hand in his gentle way 'Let bygones be ' | - |
| 'Bygones you kept yours hush'd ' I said 'when you married me | M |
| By gones ma' be come agains an' she in her shame an' her sin | D2 |
| You'll have her to nurse my child if I die o' my lying in | D2 |
| You'll make her its second mother I hate her an' I hate you ' | - |
| Ah Harry my man you had better ha' beaten me black an' blue | R |
| Than ha' spoken as kind as you did when I were so crazy wi' spite | C |
| 'Wait a little my lass I am sure it 'ill all come right ' | - |
| - | |
| XIV | G |
| An' he took three turns in the rain an' I watch'd him an' when he came in | D2 |
| I felt that my heart was hard he was all wet thro' to the skin | D2 |
| An' I never said 'off wi' the wet ' I never said 'on wi' the dry ' | - |
| So I knew my heart was hard when he came to bid me goodbye | G |
| 'You said that you hated me Ellen but that isn't true you know | W |
| I am going to leave you a bit you'll kiss me before I go ' | - |
| - | |
| XV | G |
| 'Going you're going to her kiss her if you will ' I said | E |
| I was near my time wi' the boy I must ha' been light i' my head | E |
| 'I had sooner be cursed than kiss'd ' I didn't know well what I meant | E2 |
| But I turn'd my face from him an' he turn'd his face an' he went | E2 |
| - | |
| XV | G |
| And then he sent me a letter 'I've gotten my work to do | R |
| You wouldn't kiss me my lass an' I never loved any but you | R |
| I am sorry for all the quarrel an' sorry for what she wrote | F2 |
| I ha' six weeks' work in Jersey an' go to night by the boat ' | - |
| - | |
| XVII | G |
| An' the wind began to rise an' I thought of him out at sea | M |
| An' I felt I had been to blame he was always kind to me | M |
| 'Wait a little my lass I am sure it 'ill all come right' | F2 |
| An' the boat went down that night the boat went down that night | F2 |
Alfred Lord Tennyson
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