The Victim Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDCE DFGHIHJJD A KLKMNOPOQHJ A RSRSTUTUVWX H SFSFYQYQGHJ Q ZQZ A2BA2 QGJ H B2CC2 HHHHQGHJJXI | A |
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A plague upon the people fell | B |
A famine after laid them low | C |
Then thorpe and byre arose in fire | D |
For on them brake the sudden foe | C |
So thick they died the people cried | E |
'The Gods are moved against the land ' | - |
The Priest in horror about his altar | D |
To Thor and Odin lifted a hand | F |
'Help us from famine | G |
And plague and strife | H |
What would you have of us | I |
Human life | H |
Were it our nearest | J |
Were it our dearest | J |
Answer O answer | D |
We give you his life ' | - |
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II | A |
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But still the foeman spoil'd and burn'd | K |
And cattle died and deer in wood | L |
And bird in air and fishes turn'd | K |
And whiten'd all the rolling flood | M |
And dead men lay all over the way | N |
Or down in a furrow scathed with flame | O |
And ever and aye the Priesthood moan'd | P |
Till at last it seem'd that an answer came | O |
'The King is happy | Q |
In child and wife | H |
Take you his dearest | J |
Give us a life ' | - |
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III | A |
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The Priest went out by heath and hill | R |
The King was hunting in the wild | S |
They found the mother sitting still | R |
She cast her arms about the child | S |
The child was only eight summers old | T |
His beauty still with his years increased | U |
His face was ruddy his hair was gold | T |
He seem'd a victim due to the priest | U |
The Priest beheld him | V |
And cried with joy | W |
'The Gods have answer'd | X |
We give them the boy ' | - |
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IV | H |
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The King return'd from out the wild | S |
He bore but little game in hand | F |
The mother said 'They have taken the child | S |
To spill his blood and heal the land | F |
The land is sick the people diseased | Y |
And blight and famine on all the lea | Q |
The holy Gods they must be appeased | Y |
So I pray you tell the truth to me | Q |
They have taken our son | G |
They will have his life | H |
Is he your dearest | J |
Or I the wife ' | - |
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V | Q |
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The King bent low with hand on brow | Z |
He stay'd his arms upon his knee | Q |
'O wife what use to answer now | Z |
For now the Priest has judged for me ' | - |
The King was shaken with holy fear | A2 |
'The Gods ' he said 'would have chosen well | B |
Yet both are near and both are dear | A2 |
And which the dearest I cannot tell ' | - |
But the Priest was happy | Q |
His victim won | G |
'We have his dearest | J |
His only son ' | - |
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VI | H |
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The rites prepared the victim bared | B2 |
The knife uprising toward the blow | C |
To the altar stone she sprang alone | C2 |
'Me not my darling no ' | - |
He caught her away with a sudden cry | H |
Suddenly from him brake his wife | H |
And shrieking 'I am his dearest I | H |
I am his dearest ' rush'd on the knife | H |
And the Priest was happy | Q |
'O Father Odin | G |
We give you a life | H |
Which was his nearest | J |
Who was his dearest | J |
The Gods have answer'd | X |
We give them the wife ' | - |
Alfred Lord Tennyson
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