The Chimney-sweeps Of Cheltenham Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EBEB FGFG HBHB IJIJ KLKL MBMB FNFN BOPO QRSR BBPB PETE UBVB BWPW XBBB| When hawthorn buds are creaming white | A |
| And the red foolscap all stuck with may | B |
| Then lasses walk with eyes alight | A |
| And it's chimney sweepers' dancing day | B |
| - | |
| For the chimney sweeps of Cheltenham town | C |
| Sooty of face as a swallow of wing | D |
| Come whistling singing dancing down | C |
| With white teeth flashing as they sing | D |
| - | |
| And Jack in the green by a clown in blue | E |
| Walks like a two legged bush of may | B |
| With the little wee lads that wriggled up the flue | E |
| Ere Cheltenham town cried dancing day | B |
| - | |
| For brooms were short and the chimneys tall | F |
| And the gipsies caught 'em these blackbirds cheap | G |
| So Cheltenham bought them spry and small | F |
| And shoved them up in the dark to sweep | G |
| - | |
| For Cheltenham town was cruel of old | H |
| But she has been gathering garlands gay | B |
| And the little wee lads are in green and gold | H |
| For it's chimney sweepers' dancing day | B |
| - | |
| And red as a rose and blue as the sky | I |
| With teeth as white as their faces are black | J |
| The master sweeps go dancing by | I |
| With a gridiron painted on every back | J |
| - | |
| But when they are ranged in the market place | K |
| The clown's wife comes with an iron spoon | L |
| And cozens a penny for her sweet face | K |
| To keep their golden throats in tune | L |
| - | |
| Then hushing the riot of that mad throng | M |
| And sweet as the voice of a long dead May | B |
| A wandering pedlar lifts 'em a song | M |
| Of chimney sweepers' dancing day | B |
| - | |
| And the sooty faces they try to recall | F |
| As they gather around in their spell struck rings | N |
| But nobody knows that singer at all | F |
| Or the curious old time air he sings | N |
| - | |
| Why are you dancing O chimney sweeps of Cheltenham | B |
| And where did you win you these may coats so fine | O |
| For some are red as roses and some are gold as daffodils | P |
| But who ah who remembers now a little lad of mine | O |
| - | |
| Lady we are dancing as we danced in old England | Q |
| When the may was more than may very long ago | R |
| As for our may coats it was your white hands lady | S |
| Filled our sooty hearts and minds with blossom white as snow | R |
| - | |
| It was a beautiful face we saw wandering through Cheltenham | B |
| It was a beautiful song we heard very far away | B |
| Weeping for a little lad stolen by the gipsies | P |
| Broke our hearts and filled 'em with the glory of the may | B |
| - | |
| Many a little lad had we chirruping in the chimney tops | P |
| Twirling out a sooty broom a blot against the blue | E |
| Ah but when we called to him and when he saw and ran to her | T |
| All our winter ended and our world was made anew | E |
| - | |
| Then she gave us may coats of gold and green and crimson | U |
| Then with a long garland she led our hearts away | B |
| Whispering Remember though the boughs forget the hawthorn | V |
| Yet shall I return to you that was your lady May | B |
| - | |
| But why are you dancing now O chimney sweeps of Cheltenham | B |
| And why are you singing of a May that is fled | W |
| O there's music to be born though we pluck the old fiddle strings | P |
| And a world's May awaking where the fields lay dead | W |
| - | |
| And we dance dance dreaming of a lady most beautiful | X |
| That shall walk the green valleys of this dark earth one day | B |
| And call to us gently O chimney sweeps of Cheltenham | B |
| I am looking for my children Awake and come away | B |
Alfred Noyes
(1)
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