The May Queen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCBB DDBB EEBB FFBB EEBB GGBB HHBB IIBB JJBB AABB K AAEE LLEE BBEE MNOO EEPP CCJJ FFQQ RREE STUU EEEE VVGW VVXX YYAA Z A2A2AB2 EETT ZZEE C2C2XX WWEE XXCC D2D2E2E2 AB2XX XXXX CEE TTXX XXF2F2 TTCC ZZG2G2 H2I2XXYou must wake and call me early call me early mother dear | A |
To morrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New year | A |
Of all the glad New year mother the maddest merriest day | B |
For I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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There's many a black black eye they say but none so bright as mine | C |
There's Margaret and Mary there's Kate and Caroline | C |
But none so fair as little Alice in all the land they say | B |
So I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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I sleep so sound all night mother that I shall never wake | D |
If you do not call me loud when the day begins to break | D |
But I must gather knots of flowers and buds and garlands gay | B |
For I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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As I came up the valley whom think ye should I see | E |
But Robin leaning on the bridge beneath the hazel tree | E |
He thought of that sharp look mother I gave him yesterday | B |
But I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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He thought I was a ghost mother for I was all in white | F |
And I ran by him without speaking like a flash of light | F |
They call me cruel hearted but I care not what they say | B |
For I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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They say he's dying all for love but that can never be | E |
They say his heart is breaking mother what is that to me | E |
There's many a bolder lad 'ill woo me any summer day | B |
And I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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Little Effie shall go with me to morrow to the green | G |
And you'll be there too mother to see me made the Queen | G |
For the shepherd lads on every side 'ill come from far away | B |
And I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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The honeysuckle round the porch has woven its wavy bowers | H |
And by the meadow trenches blow the faint sweet cuckoo flowers | H |
And the wild marsh marigold shines like fire in swamps and hollows gray | B |
And I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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The night winds come and go mother upon the meadow grass | I |
And the happy stars above them seem to brighten as they pass | I |
There will not be a drop of rain the whole of the livelong day | B |
And I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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All the valley mother 'ill be fresh and green and still | J |
And the cowslip and the crowfoot are over all the hill | J |
And the rivulet in the flowery dale 'ill merrily glance and play | B |
For I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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So you must wake and call me early call me early mother dear | A |
To morrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New year | A |
To morrow 'ill be of all the year the maddest merriest day | B |
For I'm to be Queen o' the May mother I'm to be Queen o' the May | B |
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NEW YEAR'S EVE | K |
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If you're waking call me early call me early mother dear | A |
For I would see the sun rise upon the glad New year | A |
It is the last New year that I shall ever see | E |
Then you may lay me low i' the mould and think no more of me | E |
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To night I saw the sun set he set and left behind | L |
The good old year the dear old time and all my peace of mind | L |
And the New year's coming up mother but I shall never see | E |
The blossom on the blackthorn the leaf upon the tree | E |
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Last May we made a crown of flowers we had a merry day | B |
Beneath the hawthorn on the green they made me Queen of May | B |
And we danced about the may pole and in the hazel copse | E |
Till Charles's Wain came out above the tall white chimney tops | E |
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There's not a flower on all the hills the frost is on the pane | M |
I only wish to live till the snowdrops come again | N |
I wish the snow would melt and the sun come out on high | O |
I long to see a flower so before the day I die | O |
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The building rook'll caw from the windy tall elm tree | E |
And the tufted plover pipe along the fallow lea | E |
And the swallow 'ill come back again with summer o'er the wave | P |
But I shall lie alone mother within the mouldering grave | P |
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Upon the chancel casement and upon that grave of mine | C |
In the early early morning the summer sun 'ill shine | C |
Before the red cock crows from the farm upon the hill | J |
When you are warm asleep mother and all the world is still | J |
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When the flowers come again mother beneath the waning light | F |
You'll never see me more in the long gray fields at night | F |
When from the dry dark wold the summer airs blow cool | Q |
On the oat grass and the sword grass and the bulrush in the pool | Q |
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You'll bury me my mother just beneath the hawthorn shade | R |
And you'll come sometimes and see me where I am lowly laid | R |
I shall not forget you mother I shall hear you when you pass | E |
With your feet above my head in the long and pleasant grass | E |
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I have been wild and wayward but you'll forgive me now | S |
You'll kiss me my own mother and forgive me ere I go | T |
Nay nay you must not weep nor let your grief be wild | U |
You should not fret for me mother you have another child | U |
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If I can I'll come again mother from out my resting place | E |
Tho' you'll not see me mother I shall look upon your face | E |
Tho' I cannot speak a work I shall harken what you say | E |
And be often often with you when you think I'm far away | E |
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Good night good night when I have said good night for evermore | V |
And you see me carried out from the threshold of the door | V |
Don't let Effie come to see me till my grave be growing green | G |
She'll be a better child to you than ever I have been | W |
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She'll find my garden tools upon the granary floor | V |
Let her take 'em they are hers I shall never garden more | V |
But tell her when I'm gone to train the rosebush that I set | X |
About the parlor window and the box of mignonette | X |
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Good night sweet mother call me before the day is born | Y |
All night I lie awake but I fall asleep at morn | Y |
But I would see the sun rise upon the glad New year | A |
So if you're waking call me call me early mother dear | A |
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CONCLUSION | Z |
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I thought to pass away before and yet alive I am | A2 |
And in the fields all round I hear the bleating of the lamb | A2 |
How sadly I remember rose the morning of the year | A |
To die before the snowdrop came and now the violet's here | B2 |
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O sweet is the new violet that comes beneath the skies | E |
And sweeter is the young lamb's voice to me that cannot rise | E |
And sweet is all the land about and all the flowers that blow | T |
And sweeter far is death than life to me that long to go | T |
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It seem'd so hard at first mother to leave the blessed sun | Z |
And now it seems as hard to stay and yet His will be done | Z |
But still I think it can't be long before I find release | E |
And that good man the clergyman has told me words of peace | E |
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O blessings on his kindly voice and on his silver hair | C2 |
And blessings on his whole life long until he meet me there | C2 |
O blessings on his kindly heart and on his silver head | X |
A thousand times I blest him as he knelt beside my bed | X |
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He taught me all the mercy for he show'd me all the sin | W |
Now tho' my lamp was lighted late there's One will let me in | W |
Nor would I now be well mother again if that could be | E |
For my desire is but to pass to Him that died for me | E |
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I did not hear the dog howl mother or the death watch beat | X |
There came a sweeter token when the night and morning meet | X |
But sit beside my bed mother and put your hand in mine | C |
And Effie on the other side and I will tell the sign | C |
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All in the wild March morning I heard the angels call | D2 |
It was when the moon was setting and the dark was over all | D2 |
The trees began to whisper and the wind began to roll | E2 |
And in the wild March morning I heard them call my soul | E2 |
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For lying broad awake I thought of you and Effie dear | A |
I saw you sitting in the house and I no longer here | B2 |
With all my strength I pray'd for both and so I felt resign'd | X |
And up the valley came a swell of music on the wind | X |
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I thought that it was fancy and I listen'd in my bed | X |
And then did something speak to me I know not what was said | X |
For great delight and shuddering took hold of all my mind | X |
And up the valley came again the music on the wind | X |
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But you were sleeping and I said 'It's not for them it's mine ' | - |
And if it come three times I thought I take it for a sign | C |
And once again it came and close beside the window bars | E |
Then seem'd to go right up to heaven and die among the stars | E |
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So now I think my time is near I trust it is I know | T |
The blessed music went that way my soul will have to go | T |
And for myself indeed I care not if I go to day | X |
But Effie you must comfort her when I am past away | X |
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And say to Robin a kind word and tell him not to fret | X |
There's many a worthier than I would make him happy yet | X |
If I had lived I cannot tell I might have been his wife | F2 |
But all these things have ceased to be with my desire of life | F2 |
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O look the sun begins to rise the heavens are in a glow | T |
He shines upon a hundred fields and all of them I know | T |
And there I move no longer now and there his light may shine | C |
Wild flowers in the valley for other hands than mine | C |
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O sweet and strange it seems to me that ere this day is done | Z |
The voice that now is speaking may be beyond the sun | Z |
For ever and for ever with those just souls and true | G2 |
And what is life that we should moan why make we such ado | G2 |
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For ever and for ever all in a blessed home | H2 |
And there to wait a little while till you and Effie come | I2 |
To lie within the light of God as I lie upon your breast | X |
And the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest | X |
Alfred Lord Tennyson
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