The Ring Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDC EFGF HIJI KLML NCOC PB Q RC STUV WNV JXXYZA2B2XC2D2JIE2F2 A2 G2F2B SH2 S I2 V J2A2 K2L2 CM2N2 O2P2Q2V R2A S2T2 U2V2 W2 SX2Y2Z2TV Z2Z2A3JVIZ2 B3UZ2I2 C3 Z2 V SD3 E3Z Z2 F3G3H3A3 I3 J3K3CL3D3VWM3N3O3Z2P 3L3Q3 I2 Z2 R3AZ2 S3T3Z2 Z2U3WWA AJ E3V3M3D3Z2 M3WA3I2W3 X3Y3WZ2K3Z2Z3 WZ2 Z2S3 A3T3F3A3S2WZ2BWA4B4E 3W Z2T3 WB T2K2Z2C4D4D4Z2Z2CWW E4X Z2WA3V3W M3Z2 Z2WA3AWF4 WJZWWG4WAH4U2WAI4WV3 M3W A3H4 WWWA3 WA3 AF3WB3WM3AWWU2WWD2A3 WK2Z2R2J4MK4A3L4WMWW AA3WT2 WM3L4W AI2W U2 A3WM4AYZ2Z2 U2 A3WA3A3WZ2T2WJD4M3 Z2Z2N4Z2Z2A3W A3M3Z3W Z2Q3WF3A3WP3Z2O4Z2WE 4V2A3JU2WB3WZ2WB4WMZ 2WA3 WZ2WA3A3P4W WZ2F3WB2A3WA3WQ4A3WT 3WE4R4Z2Z2WZ2WZ2A3Z2 WXI2U2WR3WA3Y3B3WU2Z 2T2E3Z2WA3M3WU2AA3AW T2T2Z2JB3Z2I4A3B3B3A A3A3WZ2Z2Z2U2WA3Z2K4 Z3 WA3WZ2WT2C4 W Z2A3 WU2Z2B3A3T2WB3Z2Z2WI 2 M3AWZ2Z2A3U2A3Z2 A3T3XWS4AB3Z2B3 Z2 W Z2 A3WN4M4B3 W W Z2AB3W A3A3F2M3A3M3Z2Z2T4Z2 Z3A3Z2WZ2 U2J

Miriam singing	A
Mellow moon of heaven	B
Bright in blue	C
Moon of married hearts	D
Hear me you	C
	-
Twelve times in the year	E
Bring me bliss	F
Globing Honey Moons	G
Bright as this	F
	-
Moon you fade at times	H
From the night	I
Young again you grow	J
Out of sight	I
	-
Silver crescent curve	K
Coining soon	L
Globe again and make	M
Honey Moon	L
	-
Shall not my love last	N
Moon with you	C
For ten thousand years	O
Old and new	C
	-
Father And who was he with such love drunken eyes	P
They made a thousand honey moons of one	B
	-
Miriam The prophet of his own my Hubert his	Q
The words and mine the setting 'Air and Words '	-
Said Hubert when I sang the song 'are bride	R
And bridegroom ' Does it please you	C
	-
Father Mainly child	S
Because I hear your Mother's voice in yours	T
She why you shiver tho' the wind is west	U
With all the warmth of summer	V
	-
Miriam Well I felt	W
On a sudden I know not what a breath that past	N
With all the cold of winter	V
	-
Father muttering to himself Even so	J
The Ghost in Man the Ghost that once was Man	X
But cannot wholly free itself from Man	X
Are calling to each other thro' a dawn	Y
Stranger than earth has ever seen the veil	Z
Is rending and the Voices of the day	A2
Are heard across the Voices of the dark	B2
No sudden heaven nor sudden hell for man	X
But thro' the Will of One who knows and rules	C2
And utter knowledge is but utter love	D2
onian Evolution swift or slow	J
Thro' all the Spheres an ever opening height	I
An ever lessening earth and she perhaps	E2
My Miriam breaks her latest earthly link	F2
With me to day	A2
	-
Miriam You speak so low what is it	G2
Your 'Miriam breaks' is making a new link	F2
Breaking an old one	B
	-
Father No for we my child	S
Have been till now each other's all in all	H2
	-
Miriam And you the lifelong guardian of the child	S
	-
Father I and one other whom you have not known	I2
	-
Miriam And who what other	V
	-
Father Whither are you bound	J2
For Naples which we only left in May	A2
	-
Miriam No father Spain but Hubert brings me home	K2
With April and the swallow Wish me joy	L2
	-
Father What need to wish when Hubert weds in you	C
The heart of Love and you the soul of Truth	M2
In Hubert	N2
	-
Miriam Tho' you used to call me once	O2
The lonely maiden Princess of the wool	P2
Who meant to sleep her hundred summers out	Q2
Before a kiss should wake her	V
	-
Father Ay but now	R2
Your fairy Prince has found you take this ring	A
	-
Miriam 'Io t'amo' and these diamonds beautiful	S2
'From Walter ' and for me from you then	T2
	-
Father Well	U2
One Way for Miriam	V2
	-
Miriam Miriam am I not	W2
	-
Father This ring bequeath'd you by your mother child	S
Was to be given you such her dying wish	X2
Given on the morning when you came of age	Y2
Or on the day you married Both the days	Z2
Now close in one The ring is doubly yours	T
Why do you look so gravely at the tower	V
	-
Miriam I never saw it yet so all ablaze	Z2
With creepers crimsoning to the pinnacles	Z2
As if perpetual sunset linger'd there	A3
And all ablaze too in the lake below	J
And how the birds that circle round the tower	V
Are cheeping to each other of their flight	I
To summer lands	Z2
	-
Father And that has made you grave	B3
Fly care not Birds and brides must leave the nest	U
Child I am happier in your happiness	Z2
Than in mine own	I2
	-
Miriam It is not that	C3
	-
Father What else	Z2
	-
Miriam That chamber in the tower	V
	-
Father What chamber child	S
Your nurse is here	D3
	-
Miriam My Mother's nurse and mine	E3
She comes to dress me in my bridal veil	Z
	-
Father What did she say	Z2
	-
Miriam She said that you and I	F3
Had been abroad for my poor health so long	G3
She fear'd I had forgotten her and I ask'd	H3
About my Mother and she said 'Thy hair	A3
Is golden like thy Mother's not so fine '	-
	-
Father What then what more	I3
	-
Miriam She said perhaps indeed	J3
She wander'd having wander'd now so far	K3
Beyond the common date of death that you	C
When I was smaller than the statuette	L3
Of my dear Mother on your bracket here	D3
You took me to that chamber in the tower	V
The topmost a chest there by which you knelt	W
And there were books and dresses left to me	M3
A ring too which you kiss'd and I she said	N3
I babbled Mother Mother as I used	O3
To prattle to her picture stretcht'd my hands	Z2
As if I saw her then a woman came	P3
And caught me from my nurse I hear her yet	L3
A sound of anger like a distant storm	Q3
	-
Father Garrulous old crone	I2
	-
Miriam Poor nurse	Z2
	-
Father I bad her keep	R3
Like a seal'd book all mention of the ring	A
For I myself would tell you all to day	Z2
	-
Miriam 'She too might speak to day ' she mumbled Still	S3
I scarce have learnt the title of your book	T3
But you will turn the pages	Z2
	-
Father Ay to day	Z2
I brought you to that chamber on your third	U3
September birthday with your nurse and felt	W
An icy breath play on me while I stoopt	W
To take and kiss the ring	A
	-
Miriam This very ring	A
Io t'amo	J
	-
Father Yes for some wild hope was mine	E3
That in the misery of my married life	V3
Miriam your Mother might appear to me	M3
She came to you not me The storm you hear	D3
Far off is Muriel your stepmother's voice	Z2
	-
Miriam Vext that you thought my Mother came to me	M3
Or at my crying 'Mother ' or to find	W
My Mother's diamonds hidden from her there	A3
Like worldly beauties in the Cell not shown	I2
To dazzle all that see them	W3
	-
Father Wait a while	X3
Your Mother and step mother Miriam Erne	Y3
And Muriel Erne the two were cousins lived	W
With Muriel's mother on the down that sees	Z2
A thousand squares of corn and meadow far	K3
As the gray deep a landscape which your eyes	Z2
Have many a time ranged over when a babe	Z3
	-
Miriam I climb'd the hill with Hubert yesterday	W
And from the thousand squares one silent voice	Z2
Came on the wind and seem'd to say 'Again '	-
We saw far off an old forsaken house	Z2
Then home and past the ruin'd mill	S3
	-
Father And there	A3
I found these cousins often by the brook	T3
For Miriam sketch'd and Muriel threw the fly	F3
The girls of equal age but one was fair	A3
And one was dark and both were beautiful	S2
No voice for either spoke within my heart	W
Then for the surface eye that only doats	Z2
On outward beauty glancing from the one	B
To the other knew not that which pleased it most	W
The raven ringlet or the gold but both	A4
Were dowerless and myself I used to walk	B4
This Terrace morbid melancholy mine	E3
And yet not mine the hall the farm the field	W
For all that ample woodland whisper'd 'debt '	-
The brook that feeds this lakelet murmur'd 'debt '	-
And in yon arching avenue of old elms	Z2
Tho' mine not mine I heard the sober rook	T3
And carrion crow cry ' Mortgage '	-
	-
Miriam Father's fault	W
Visited on the children	B
	-
Father Ay but then	T2
A kinsman dying stummon'd me to Rome	K2
He left me wealth and while I journey'd hence	Z2
And saw the world fly by me like a dream	C4
And while I communed with my truest self	D4
I woke to all of truest in myself	D4
Till in the gleam of those mid summer dawns	Z2
The form of Muriel faded and the face	Z2
Of Miriam grew upon me till I knew	C
And past and future mix'd in Heaven and made	W
The rosy twilight of a perfect day	W
	-
Miriam So glad no tear for him who left you wealth	E4
Your kinsman	X
	-
Father I had seen the man but once	Z2
He loved my name not me and then I pass'd	W
Home and thro' Venice where a jeweller	A3
So far gone down or so far up in life	V3
That he was nearing his own hundred sold	W
This ring to me then laugh'd 'the ring is weird '	-
And weird and worn and wizard like was he	M3
'Why weird ' I ask'd him and he said 'The souls	Z2
Of two repentant Lovers guard the ring '	-
Then with a ribald twinkle in his bleak eyes	Z2
'And if you give the ring to any maid	W
They still remember what it cost them here	A3
And bind the maid to love you by the ring	A
And if the ring were stolen from the maid	W
The theft were death or madness to the thief	F4
So sacred those Ghost Lovers hold the gift '	-
And then he told their legend	W
'Long ago	J
Two lovers parted by a scurrilous tale	Z
Had quarrell'd till the man repenting sent	W
This ring Io t'amo to his best beloved	W
And sent it on her birthday She in wrath	G4
Return'd it on her birthday and that day	W
His death day when half frenzied by the ring	A
He wildly fought a rival suitor him	H4
The causer of that scandal fought and fell	U2
And she that came to part them all too late	W
And found a corpse and silence drew the ring	A
From his dead finger wore it till her death	I4
Shrined him within the temple of her heart	W
Made every moment of her after life	V3
A virgin victim to his memory	M3
And dying rose and rear'd her arms and cried	W
I see him Io t'amo Io t'amo '	-
	-
Miriam Legend or true So tender should be true	A3
Did he believe it did you ask him	H4
	-
Father Ay	W
But that half skeleton like a barren ghost	W
From out the fleshless world of spirits laugh'd	W
A hollow laughter	A3
	-
Miriam Vile so near the ghost	W
Himself to laugh at love in death But you	A3
	-
Father Well as the bygone lover thro' this ring	A
Had sent his cry for her forgiveness I	F3
Would call thro' this 'Io t'amo' to the heart	W
Of Miriam then I bad the man en grave	B3
'From Walter' on the ring and send it wrote	W
name surname all as clear as noon but he	M3
Some younger hand must have engraven the ring	A
His fingers were so stiffen'd by the frost	W
Of seven and ninety winters that he scrawI'd	W
A 'Miriam' that might seem a ' Muriel'	U2
And Muriel claim'd and open'd what I meant	W
For Miriam took the ring and flaunted it	W
Before that other whom I loved and love	D2
A mountain stay'd me here a minster there	A3
A galleried palace or a battlefield	W
Where stood the sheaf of Peace but coming home	K2
And on your Mother's birthday all but yours	Z2
A week betwixt and when the tower as now	R2
Was all ablaze with crimson to the roof	J4
And all ablaze too plunging in the lake	M
Head foremost who were those that stood between	K4
The tower and that rich phantom of the tower	A3
Muriel and Miriam each in white and like	L4
May blossoms in mid autumn was it they	W
A light shot upward on them from the lake	M
What sparkled there whose hand was that they stood	W
So close together I am not keen of sight	W
But coming nearer Muriel had the ring	A
'O Miriam have you given your ring to her	A3
O Miriam ' Miriam redden'd Muriel clench'd	W
The hand that wore it till I cried again	T2
'O Miriam if you love me take the ring '	-
She glanced at me at Muriel and was mute	W
'Nay if you cannot love me let it be	M3
Then Muriel standing ever statue like	L4
She turn'd and in her soft imperial way	W
And saying gently 'Muriel by your leave '	-
Unclosed the hand and from it drew the ring	A
And gave it me who pass'd it down her own	I2
'Io t'amo all is well then ' Muriel fled	W
	-
Miriam Poor Muriel	U2
	-
Father Ay poor Muriel when you hear	A3
What follows Miriam loved me from the first	W
Not thro' the ring but on her marriage morn	M4
This birthday death day and betrothal ring	A
Laid on her table overnight was gone	Y
And after hours of search and doubt and threats	Z2
And hubbub Muriel enter'd with it 'See	Z2
Found in a chink of that old moulder'd floor '	-
My Miriam nodded with a pitying smile	U2
As who should say 'that those who lose can find '	-
Then I and she were married for a year	A3
One year without a storm or even a cloud	W
And you my Miriam born within the year	A3
And she my Miriam dead within the year	A3
I sat beside her dying and she gaspt	W
'The books the miniature the lace are hers	Z2
My ring too when she comes of age or when	T2
She marries you you loved me kept your word	W
You love me still Io t'amo Muriel no	J
She cannot love she loves her own hard self	D4
Her firm will her fix'd purpose Promise me	M3
Miriam not Muriel she shall have the ring '	-
And there the light of other life which lives	Z2
Beyond our burial and our buried eyes	Z2
Gleam'd for a moment in her own on earth	N4
I swore the vow then with my latest kiss	Z2
Upon them closed her eyes which would not close	Z2
But kept their watch upon the ring and you	A3
Your birthday was her death day	W
	-
Miriam O poor Mother	A3
And you poor desolate Father and poor me	M3
The little senseless worthless wordless babe	Z3
Saved when your life was wreck'd	W
	-
Father Desolate yes	Z2
Desolate as that sailor whom the storm	Q3
Had parted from his comrade in the boat	W
And dash'd half dead on barren sands was I	F3
Nay you were my one solace only you	A3
Were always ailing Muriel's mother sent	W
And sure am I by Muriel one day came	P3
And saw you shook her head and patted yours	Z2
And smiled and making with a kindly pinch	O4
Each poor pale cheek a momentary rose	Z2
'That should be fix'd ' she said 'your pretty bud	W
So blighted here would flower into full health	E4
Among our heath and bracken Let her come	V2
And we will feed her with our mountain air	A3
And send her home to you rejoicing ' No	J
We could not part And once when you my girl	U2
Rode on my shoulder home the tiny fist	W
Had graspt a daisy from your Mother's grave	B3
By the lych gate was Muriel 'Ay ' she said	W
'Among the tombs in this damp vale of yours	Z2
You scorn my Mother's warning but the child	W
Is paler than before We often walk	B4
In open sun and see beneath our feet	W
The mist of autumn gather from your lake	M
And shroud the tower and once we only saw	Z2
Your gilded vane a light above the mist'	W
Our old bright bird that still is veering there	A3
Above his four gold letters 'and the light '	-
She said 'was like that light' and there she paused	W
And long till I believing that the girl's	Z2
Lean fancy groping for it could not find	W
One likeness laugh'd a little and found her two	A3
'A warrior's crest above the cloud of war'	A3
'A fiery phoenix rising from the smoke	P4
The pyre he burnt in ' 'Nay ' she said 'the light	W
That glimmers on the marsh and on the grave '	-
And spoke no more but turn'd and pass'd away	W
Miriam I am not surely one of those	Z2
Caught by the flower that closes on the fly	F3
But after ten slow weeks her fix'd intent	W
In aiming at an all but hopeless mark	B2
To strike it struck I took I left you there	A3
I came I went was happier day by day	W
For Muriel nursed you with a mother's care	A3
Till on that clear and heather scented height	W
The rounder cheek had brighten'd into bloom	Q4
She always came to meet me carrying you	A3
And all her talk was of the babe she loved	W
So following her old pastime of the brook	T3
She threw the fly for me but oftener left	W
That angling to the mother 'Muriel's health	E4
Had weaken'd nursing little Miriam Strange	R4
She used to shun the wailing babe and doats	Z2
On this of yours ' But when the matron saw	Z2
That hinted love was only wasted bait	W
Not risen to she was bolder 'Ever since	Z2
You sent the fatal ring' I told her 'sent	W
To Miriam ' 'Doubtless ay but ever since	Z2
In all the world my dear one sees but you	A3
In your sweet babe she finds but you she makes	Z2
Her heart a mirror that reflects but you '	-
And then the tear fell the voice broke Her heart	W
I gazed into the mirror as a man	X
Who sees his face in water and a stone	I2
That glances from the bottom of the pool	U2
Strike upward thro' the shadow yet at last	W
Gratitude loneliness desire to keep	R3
So skilled a nurse about you always nay	W
Some half remorseful kind of pity too	A3
'Well well you know I married Muriel Erne	Y3
'I take thee Muriel for my wedded wife'	B3
I had forgotten it was your birthday child	W
When all at once with some electric thrill	U2
A cold air pass'd between us and the hands	Z2
Fell from each other and were join'd again	T2
No second cloudless honeymoon was mine	E3
For by and by she sicken'd of the farce	Z2
She dropt the gracious mask of mother hood	W
She came no more to meet me carrying you	A3
Nor ever cared to set you on her knee	M3
Nor ever let you gambol in her sight	W
Nor ever cheer'd you with a kindly smile	U2
Nor ever ceased to clamour for the ring	A
Why had I sent the ring at first to her	A3
Why had I made her love me thro' the ring	A
And then had changed so fickle are men the best	W
Not she but now my love was hers again	T2
The ring by right she said was hers again	T2
At times too shrilling in her angrier moods	Z2
'That weak and watery nature love you No	J
Io t'amo Io t'amo ' flung herself	B3
Against my heart but often while her lips	Z2
Were warm upon my check an icy breath	I4
As from the grating of a sepulchre	A3
Past over both I told her of my vow	B3
No pliable idiot I to break my vow	B3
But still she made her outcry for the ring	A
For one monotonous fancy madden'd her	A3
Till I myself was madden'd with her cry	A3
And even that 'Io t'amo ' those three sweet	W
Italian words became a weariness	Z2
My people too were scared with eerie sounds	Z2
A footstep a low throbbing in the walls	Z2
A noise of falling weights that never fell	U2
Weird whispers bells that rang without a hand	W
Door handles turn'd when none was at the door	A3
And bolted doors that open'd of themselves	Z2
And one betwixt the dark and light had seen	K4
Her bending by the cradle of her babe	Z3
	-
Miriam And I remember once that being waked	W
By noises in the house and no one near	A3
I cried for nurse and felt a gentle hand	W
Fall on my forehead and a sudden face	Z2
Look'd in upon me like a gleam and pass'd	W
And I was quieted and slept again	T2
Or is it some half memory of a dream	C4
	-
Father Your fifth September birth day	W
	-
Miriam And the face	Z2
The hand my Mother	A3
	-
Father Miriam on that day	W
Two lovers parted by no scurrilous tale	U2
Mere want of gold and still for twenty years	Z2
Bound by the golden cord of their first love	B3
Had ask'd us to their marriage and to share	A3
Their marriage banquet Muriel paler then	T2
Than ever you were in your cradle moan'd	W
'I am fitter for my bed or for my grave	B3
I cannot go go you ' And then she rose	Z2
She clung to me with such a hard embrace	Z2
So lingeringly long that half amazed	W
I parted from her and I went alone	I2
And when the bridegroom murmur'd 'With this ring '	-
I felt for what I could not find the key	M3
The guardian of her relics of her ring	A
I kept it as a sacred amulet	W
About me gone and gone in that embrace	Z2
Then hurrying home I found her not in house	Z2
Or garden up the tower an icy air	A3
Fled by me There the chest was open all	U2
The sacred relics tost about the floor	A3
Among them Muriel lying on her face	Z2
I raised her call'd her 'Muriel Muriel wake '	-
The fatal ring lay near her the glazed eye	A3
Glared at me as in horror Dead I took	T3
And chafed the freezing hand A red mark ran	X
All round one finger pointed straight the rest	W
Were crumpled inwards Dead and maybe stung	S4
With some remorse had stolen worn the ring	A
Then torn it from her finger or as if	B3
For never had I seen her show remorse	Z2
As if	B3
	-
Miriam those two Ghost lovers	Z2
	-
Father Lovers yet	W
	-
Miriam Yes yes	Z2
	-
Father but dead so long gone up so far	A3
That now their ever rising life has dwarf'd	W
Or lost the moment of their past on earth	N4
As we forget our wail at being born	M4
As if	B3
	-
Miriam a dearer ghost had	W
	-
Father wrench'd it away	W
	-
Miriam Had floated in with sad reproachful eyes	Z2
Till from her own hand she had torn the ring	A
In fright and fallen dead And I myself	B3
Am half afraid to wear it	W
	-
Father Well no more	A3
No bridal music this but fear not you	A3
You have the ring she guarded that poor link	F2
With earth is broken and has left her free	M3
Except that still drawn downward for an hour	A3
Her spirit hovering by the church where she	M3
Was married too may linger till she sees	Z2
Her maiden coming like a Queen who leaves	Z2
Some colder province in the North to gain	T4
Her capital city where the loyal bells	Z2
Clash welcome linger till her own the babe	Z3
She lean'd to from her Spiritual sphere	A3
Her lonely maiden Princess crown'd with flowers	Z2
Has enter'd on the larger woman world	W
Of wives and mothers	Z2
	-
But the bridal veil	U2
Your nurse is waiting Kiss me child and go	J

Alfred Lord Tennyson

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