The Convicts' Ball Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFGHHEEHHII JJGGKKLLMMNNOOHHHH LLHH| San Quentin was brilliant Within the halls | A |
| Of the noble pile with the frowning walls | A |
| God knows they've enough to make them frown | B |
| With a Governor trying to break them down | B |
| Was a blaze of light 'Twas the natal day | C |
| Of his nibs the popular John S Gray | C |
| And many observers considered his birth | D |
| The primary cause of his moral worth | D |
| 'The ball is free ' cried Black Bart and they all | E |
| Said a ball with no chain was a novel ball | E |
| 'And I never have seed ' said Jimmy Hope | F |
| 'Sech a lightsome dance withouten a rope ' | G |
| Chinamen Indians Portuguese Blacks | H |
| Russians Italians Kanucks and Kanaks | H |
| Chilenos Peruvians Mexicans all | E |
| Greased with their presence that notable ball | E |
| None were excluded excepting perhaps | H |
| The Rev Morrison's churchly chaps | H |
| Whom to prevent a religious debate | I |
| The Warden had banished outside of the gate | I |
| The fiddler fiddling his hardest the while | J |
| 'Called off' in the regular foot hill style | J |
| 'Circle to the left ' and 'Forward and back ' | G |
| And 'Hellum to port for the stabbard tack ' | G |
| This great virtuoso it would appear | K |
| Was Mate of the Gatherer many a year | K |
| ' Ally man left ' to a painful degree | L |
| His French was unlike to the French of Paree | L |
| As heard from our countrymen lately abroad | M |
| And his ' doe cee doe ' was the gem of the fraud | M |
| But what can you hope from a gentleman barred | N |
| From circles of culture by dogs in the yard | N |
| 'Twas a glorious dance though all the same | O |
| The Jardin Mabille in the days of its fame | O |
| Never saw legs perform such springs | H |
| The cold chisel's magic had given them wings | H |
| They footed it featly those lades and gents | H |
| Dull care said Long Moll had a helly go hence | H |
| - | |
| 'Twas a very aristocratic affair | L |
| The creme de la creme and elite were there | L |
| Rank beauty and wealth from the highest sets | H |
| And Hubert Howe Bancroft sent his regrets | H |
Ambrose Bierce
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