The Mackaiad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDD EEFFGGHHIIJJKKL LLMM LLNNKK GOOLLP QQLLRRSSGG LLLLTTUUGGVVVVLLLLWW LL XXAATTBBYZ GGVVLLLMackay's hot wrath to Bonynge direful spring | A |
Of blows unnumbered heavenly goddess sing | A |
That wrath which hurled to Hellman's office floor | B |
Two heroes mutually smeared with gore | B |
Whose hair in handfuls marked the dire debate | C |
And riven coat tails testified their hate | C |
Sing muse what first their indignation fired | D |
What words augmented it by whom inspired | D |
- | |
First the great Bonynge comes upon the scene | E |
And asks the favor of the British Queen | E |
Suppliant he stands and urges all his claim | F |
His wealth his portly person and his name | F |
His habitation in the setting sun | G |
As child of nature and his suit he won | G |
No more the Sovereign wearied with his plea | H |
From slumber's chain her faculties can free | H |
Low and more low the royal eyelids creep | I |
She gives the assenting nod and falls asleep | I |
Straightway the Bonynges all invade the Court | J |
And telegraph the news to every port | J |
Beneath the seas red hot the tidings fly | K |
The cables crinkle and the fishes fry | K |
The world awaking like a startled bat | L |
Exclaims 'A Bonynge What the devil's that ' | - |
Mackay meanwhile to envy all attent | L |
Untaught to spare unable to relent | L |
Walks in our town on needles and on pins | M |
And in a mean revengeful spirit grins | M |
- | |
Sing muse what next to break the peace occurred | L |
What act uncivil what unfriendly word | L |
The god of Bosh ascending from his pool | N |
Where since creation he has played the fool | N |
Clove the blue slush as other gods the sky | K |
And waiting but a moment's space to dry | K |
Touched Bonynge with his finger tip 'O son ' | - |
He said 'alike of nature and a gun | G |
Knowest not Mackay's insufferable sin | O |
Hast thou not heard that he doth stand and grin | O |
Arise assert thy manhood and attest | L |
The uncommercial spirit in thy breast | L |
Avenge thine honor for by Jove I swear | P |
Thou shalt not else be my peculiar care ' | - |
He spake and ere his worshiper could kneel | Q |
Had dived into his slush pool head and heel | Q |
Full of the god and to revenges nerved | L |
And conscious of a will that never swerved | L |
Bonynge set sail the world beyond the wave | R |
As gladly took him as the other gave | R |
New York received him but a shudder ran | S |
Through all the western coast which knew the man | S |
And science said that the seismic action | G |
Was owing to an asteroid's impaction | G |
- | |
O goddess sing what Bonynge next essayed | L |
Did he unscabbard the avenging blade | L |
The long spear brandish and porrect the shield | L |
Havoc the town and devastate the field | L |
His sacred thirst for blood did he allay | T |
By halving the unfortunate Mackay | T |
Small were the profit and the joy to him | U |
To hew a base born person limb from limb | U |
Let vulgar souls to low revenge incline | G |
That of diviner spirits is divine | G |
Bonynge at noonday stood in public places | V |
And with regard to the Mackays made faces | V |
Before those formidable frowns and scowls | V |
The dogs fled tail tucked with affrighted howls | V |
And horses terrified with flying feet | L |
O'erthrew the apple stands along the street | L |
Involving the metropolis in vast | L |
Financial ruin Man himself aghast | L |
Retreated east and west and north and south | W |
Before the menace of that twisted mouth | W |
Till Jove in answer to their prayers sent Night | L |
To veil the dreadful visage from their sight | L |
- | |
Such were the causes of the horrid strife | X |
The mother wrongs which nourished it to life | X |
O for a quill from an archangel's wing | A |
O for a voice that's adequate to sing | A |
The splendor and the terror of the fray | T |
The scattered hair the coat tails all astray | T |
The parted collars and the gouts of gore | B |
Reeking and smoking on the banker's floor | B |
The interlocking limbs embraces dire | Y |
Revolving bodies and deranged attire | Z |
- | |
Vain vain the trial 'tis vouchsafed to none | G |
To sing two millionaires rolled into one | G |
My hand and pen their offices refuse | V |
And hoarse and hoarser grows the weary muse | V |
Alone remains to tell of the event | L |
Abandoned lost and variously rent | L |
The Bonynge nethermost habiliment | L |
Ambrose Bierce
(1)
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