The Admiral's Ghost Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFAF GHCH CIJI KLML NCCC OPAP QRJR SKTK CFUF VWXW CY Y CZA2 CKAB2 CC2CD2 E2WC F2B2CB2 G2FCF H2AI2 J2B2K2B2 DZL2Z WC CB2MB2 CM2N2M2 B2ACA CWO2W P2IJ

I tell you a tale to nightA
Which a seaman told to meB
With eyes that gleamed in the lanthorn lightA
And a voice as low as the seaB
-
You could almost hear the starsC
Twinkling up in the skyD
And the old wind woke and moaned in the sparsC
And the same old waves went byD
-
Singing the same old songE
As ages and ages agoF
While he froze my blood in that deep sea nightA
With the things he seemed to knowF
-
A bare foot pattered on deckG
Ropes creaked then all grew stillH
And he pointed his finger straight in my faceC
And growled as a sea dog willH
-
'Do 'ee know who Nelson wasC
That pore little shrivelled formI
With the patch on his eye and the pinned up sleeveJ
And a soul like a North Sea stormI
-
'Ask of the Devonshire menK
They know and they'll tell you trueL
He wasn't the pore little chawed up chapM
That Hardy thought he knewL
-
'He wasn't the man you thinkN
His patch was a dern disguiseC
For he knew that they'd find him out d'you seeC
If they looked him in both his eyesC
-
'He was twice as big as he seemedO
But his clothes were cunningly madeP
He'd both of his hairy arms alrightA
The sleeve was a trick of the tradeP
-
'You've heard of sperrits no doubtQ
Well there's more in the matter than thatR
But he wasn't the patch and he wasn't the sleeveJ
And he wasn't the laced cocked hatR
-
'Nelson was just a GhostS
You may laugh But the Devonshire menK
They knew that he'd come when England calledT
And they know that he'll come againK
-
'I'll tell you the way it wasC
For none of the landsmen knowF
And to tell it you right you must go a starnU
Two hundred years or soF
-
-
-
'The waves were lapping and slappingV
The same as they are todayW
And Drake lay dying aboard his shipX
In Nobre Dios BayW
-
'The scent of foreign flowersC
Came floating all aroundY
'But I'd give my soul for the smell o' the pitch '-
Says he 'in Plymouth SoundY
-
''What shall I do ' he saysC
'When the guns begin to roarZ
An' England wants me and me not thereA2
To shatter 'er fores once more '-
-
' You've heard what he said maybeC
But I'll mark you the p'ints againK
For I want you to box your compass rightA
And get my story plainB2
-
' 'You must take my drum' he saysC
'To the old sea wall at homeC2
And if ever you strike that drum ' he saysC
'Why strike me blind I'll comeD2
-
''If England needs me deadE2
Or living I'll rise that dayW
I'll rise from the darkness under the seaC
Ten thousand miles away '-
-
'That's what he said and he diedF2
An' his pirates listenin' roun'B2
With their crimson doublets and jewelled swordsC
That flashed as the sun went downB2
-
'They sewed him up in his shroudG2
With a round shot top and toeF
To sink him under the salt sharp seaC
Where all good seamen goF
-
'They lowered him down in the deepH2
And there in the sunset lightA
They boomed a broadside over his graveI2
As meaning to say 'Good night '-
-
'They sailed away in the darkJ2
To the dear little isle they knewB2
And they hung his drum by the old sea wallK2
The same as he told them toB2
-
-
-
'Two hundred years went byD
And the guns began to roarZ
And England was fighting hard for her lifeL2
As ever she fought of yoreZ
-
''It's only my dead that count '-
She said as she says todayW
'It isn't the ships and it isn't the gunsC
'Ull sweep Trafalgar's Bay '-
-
'D'you guess who Nelson wasC
You may laugh but it's true as trueB2
There was more in that pore little chawed up chapM
Than ever his best friend knewB2
-
'The foe was creepin' closeC
In the dark to our white cliffed isleM2
They were ready to leap at England's throatN2
When O you may smile you may smileM2
-
'But ask of the Devenshire menB2
For they heard in the dead of nightA
The roll of a drum and they saw him passC
On a ship all shining whiteA
-
'He stretched out his dead cold faceC
And he sailed in the grand old wayW
The fishes had taken an eye and his armO2
But he swept Trafalgar's BayW
-
'Nelson was Francis DrakeP2
O what matters the uniformI
Or the patch on your eye or your pinned up sleeveJ
If your soul's like a North Sea storm '-

Alfred Noyes



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