The Grandmother Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCD AEEFG AHHII EJJKK ELLMM ENOPP EQQRR ECCSS CKKTU CVVWW CXXYY CZZA2 CB2B2C2 ED2 P EE2E2F2F2 EG2G2EE EH2H2F2F2 EKKNN CI2I2J2J2 CK2K2C2C2 CL2L2M2M2 CEEN2N2 CEEEE EO2O2CC EH2N2MM ERRP2P2 ECCKKI | A |
And Willy my eldest born is gone you say little Anne | B |
Ruddy and white and strong on his legs he looks like a man | B |
And Willy's wife has written she never was over wise | C |
Never the wife for Willy he would n't take my advice | D |
- | |
II | A |
For Annie you see her father was not the man to save | E |
Had n't a head to manage and drank himself into his grave | E |
Pretty enough very pretty but I was against it for one | F |
Eh but he would n't hear me and Willy you say is gone | G |
- | |
III | A |
Willy my beauty my eldest born the flower of the flock | H |
Never a man could fling him for Willy stood like a rock | H |
Here's a leg for a babe of a week ' says doctor and he would be bound | I |
There was not his like that year in twenty parishes round | I |
- | |
IV | E |
Strong of his hands and strong on his legs but still of his tongue | J |
I ought to have gone before him I wonder he went so young | J |
I cannot cry for him Annie I have not long to stay | K |
Perhaps I shall see him the sooner for he lived far away | K |
- | |
V | E |
Why do you look at me Annie you think I am hard and cold | L |
But all my children have gone before me I am so old | L |
I cannot weep for Willy nor can I weep for the rest | M |
Only at your age Annie I could have wept with the best | M |
- | |
VI | E |
For I remember a quarrel I had with your father my dear | N |
All for a slanderous story that cost me many a tear | O |
I mean your grandfather Annie it cost me a world of woe | P |
Seventy years ago my darling seventy years ago | P |
- | |
VII | E |
For Jenny my cousin had come to the place and I knew right well | Q |
That Jenny had tript in her time I knew but I would not tell | Q |
And she to be coming and slandering me the base little liar | R |
But the tongue is a fire as you know my dear the tongue is a fire | R |
- | |
VIII | E |
And the parson made it his text that week and he said likewise | C |
That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies | C |
That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright | S |
But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight | S |
- | |
IX | C |
And Willy had not been down to the farm for a week and a day | K |
And all things look'd half dead tho' it was the middle of May | K |
Jenny to slander me who knew what Jenny had been | T |
But soiling another Annie will never make oneself clean | U |
- | |
X | C |
And I cried myself well nigh blind and all of an evening late | V |
I climb'd to the top of the garth and stood by the road at the gate | V |
The moon like a rick on fire was rising over the dale | W |
And whit whit whit in the bush beside me chirrupt the nightingale | W |
- | |
XI | C |
All of a sudden he stopt there past by the gate of the farm | X |
Willy he did n't see me and Jenny hung on his arm | X |
Out into the road I started and spoke I scarce knew how | Y |
Ah there's no fool like the old one it makes me angry now | Y |
- | |
XII | C |
Willy stood up like a man and look'd the thing that he meant | Z |
Jenny the viper made me a mocking courtesy and went | Z |
And I said Let us part in a hundred years it'll all be the same | A2 |
You cannot love me at all if you love not my good name ' | - |
- | |
XIII | C |
And he turn'd and I saw his eyes all wet in the sweet moonshine | B2 |
Sweetheart I love you so well that your good name is mine | B2 |
And what do I care for Jane let her speak of you well of ill | C2 |
But marry me out of hand we two shall be happy still ' | - |
- | |
XIV | E |
Marry you Willy ' said I but I needs must speak my mind | D2 |
And I fear you'll listen to tales be jealous and hard and unkind ' | - |
But he turn'd and claspt me in his arms and answer'd No love no ' | - |
Seventy years ago my darling seventy years ago | P |
- | |
XV | E |
So Willy and I were wedded I wore a lilac gown | E2 |
And the ringers rang with a will and he gave the ringers a crown | E2 |
But the first that ever I bare was dead before he was born | F2 |
Shadow and shine is life little Annie flower and thorn | F2 |
- | |
XVI | E |
That was the first time too that ever I thought of death | G2 |
There lay the sweet little body that never had drawn a breath | G2 |
I had not wept little Anne not since I had been a wife | E |
But I wept like a child that day for the babe had fought for his life | E |
- | |
XVII | E |
His dear little face was troubled as if with anger or pain | H2 |
I look'd at the still little body his trouble had all been in vain | H2 |
For Willy I cannot weep I shall see him another morn | F2 |
But I wept like a child for the child that was dead before he was born | F2 |
- | |
XVIII | E |
But he cheer'd me my good man for he seldom said me nay | K |
Kind like a man was he like a man too would have his way | K |
Never jealous not he we had many a happy year | N |
And he died and I could not weep my own time seem'd so near | N |
- | |
XIX | C |
But I wish'd it had been God's will that I too then could have died | I2 |
I began to be tired a little and fain had slept at his side | I2 |
And that was ten years back or more if I don't forget | J2 |
But as to the children Annie they're all about me yet | J2 |
- | |
XX | C |
Pattering over the boards my Annie who left me at two | K2 |
Patter she goes my own little Annie an Annie like you | K2 |
Pattering over the boards she comes and goes at her will | C2 |
While Harry is in the five acre and Charlie ploughing the hill | C2 |
- | |
XXI | C |
And Harry and Charlie I hear them too they sing to their team | L2 |
Often they come to the door in a pleasant kind of a dream | L2 |
They come and sit by my chair they hover about my bed | M2 |
I am not always certain if they be alive or dead | M2 |
- | |
XXII | C |
And yet I know for a truth there's none of them left alive | E |
For Harry went at sixty your father at sixty five | E |
And Willy my eldest born at nigh threescore and ten | N2 |
I knew them all as babies and now they're elderly men | N2 |
- | |
XXIII | C |
For mine is a time of peace it is not often I grieve | E |
I am oftener sitting at home in my father's farm at eve | E |
And the neighbors come and laugh and gossip and so do I | E |
I find myself often laughing at things that have long gone by | E |
- | |
XXIV | E |
To be sure the preacher says our sins should make us sad | O2 |
But mine is a time of peace and there is Grace to be had | O2 |
And God not man is the Judge of us all when life shall cease | C |
And in this Book little Annie the message is one of Peace | C |
- | |
XXV | E |
And age is a time of peace so it be free from pain | H2 |
And happy has been my life but I would not live it again | N2 |
I seem to be tired a little that's all and long for rest | M |
Only at your age Annie I could have wept with the best | M |
- | |
XXVI | E |
So Willy has gone my beauty my eldest born my flower | R |
But how can I weep for Willy he has but gone for an hour | R |
Gone for a minute my son from this room into the next | P2 |
I too shall go in a minute What time have I to be vext | P2 |
- | |
XXVII | E |
And Willy's wife has written she never was over wise | C |
Get me my glasses Annie thank God that I keep my eyes | C |
There is but a trifle left you when I shall have past away | K |
But stay with the old woman now you cannot have long to stay | K |
Alfred Lord Tennyson
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