Nightmare: A Tale For An Autumn Evening Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDECFGHIGJKLJGMKNCG OPJQORSCCCHTUVWXYZA2 GB2UNC2D2E2F2NGJHGHG 2H2I2J2K2L2M2N2GIGHO 2NP2P2E2F2Q2HR2GHP2P 2GGP2P2S2G2GP2P2HP2P 2GGR2T2E2U2CCGV2P2P2 W2GCNHHJGQGX2P2Y2NZ2 GP2CP2GNP2Y2P2GP2P2P 2A3GGT2JGNP2P2P2P2GB 3GJC2NC3P2ND3NY2NNX2 J2NP2GCR2After a Print by George Cruikshank | A |
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It was a gusty night | B |
With the wind booming and swooping | C |
Looping round corners | D |
Sliding over the cobble stones | E |
Whipping and veering | C |
And careering over the roofs | F |
Like a thousand clattering horses | G |
Mr Spruggins had been dining in the city | H |
Mr Spruggins was none too steady in his gait | I |
And the wind played ball with Mr Spruggins | G |
And laughed as it whistled past him | J |
It rolled him along the street | K |
With his little feet pit a patting on the flags of the sidewalk | L |
And his muffler and his coat tails blown straight out behind him | J |
It bumped him against area railings | G |
And chuckled in his ear when he said Ouch | M |
Sometimes it lifted him clear off his little patting feet | K |
And bore him in triumph over three grey flagstones and a quarter | N |
The moon dodged in and out of clouds winking | C |
It was all very unpleasant for Mr Spruggins | G |
And when the wind flung him hard against his own front door | O |
It was a relief | P |
Although the breath was quite knocked out of him | J |
The gas lamp in front of the house flared up | Q |
And the keyhole was as big as a barn door | O |
The gas lamp flickered away to a sputtering blue star | R |
And the keyhole went out with it | S |
Such a stabbing and jabbing | C |
And sticking and picking | C |
And poking and pushing and prying | C |
With that key | H |
And there is no denying that Mr Spruggins rapped out an oath or two | T |
Rub a dub dubbing them out to a real snare drum roll | U |
But the door opened at last | V |
And Mr Spruggins blew through it into his own hall | W |
And slammed the door to so hard | X |
That the knocker banged five times before it stopped | Y |
Mr Spruggins struck a light and lit a candle | Z |
And all the time the moon winked at him through the window | A2 |
Why couldn't you find the keyhole Spruggins | G |
Taunted the wind | B2 |
I can find the keyhole | U |
And the wind thin as a wire | N |
Darted in and seized the candle flame | C2 |
And knocked it over to one side | D2 |
And pummelled it down down down | E2 |
But Mr Spruggins held the candle so close that it singed his chin | F2 |
And ran and stumbled up the stairs in a surprisingly agile manner | N |
For the wind through the keyhole kept saying Spruggins Spruggins | G |
behind him | J |
The fire in his bedroom burned brightly | H |
The room with its crimson bed and window curtains | G |
Was as red and glowing as a carbuncle | H |
It was still and warm | G2 |
There was no wind here for the windows were fastened | H2 |
And no moon | I2 |
For the curtains were drawn | J2 |
The candle flame stood up like a pointed pear | K2 |
In a wide brass dish | L2 |
Mr Spruggins sighed with content | M2 |
He was safe at home | N2 |
The fire glowed red and yellow roses | G |
In the black basket of the grate | I |
And the bed with its crimson hangings | G |
Seemed a great peony | H |
Wide open and placid | O2 |
Mr Spruggins slipped off his top coat and his muffler | N |
He slipped off his bottle green coat | P2 |
And his flowered waistcoat | P2 |
He put on a flannel dressing gown | E2 |
And tied a peaked night cap under his chin | F2 |
He wound his large gold watch | Q2 |
And placed it under his pillow | H |
Then he tiptoed over to the window and pulled back the curtain | R2 |
There was the moon dodging in and out of the clouds | G |
But behind him was his quiet candle | H |
There was the wind whisking along the street | P2 |
The window rattled but it was fastened | P2 |
Did the wind say Spruggins | G |
All Mr Spruggins heard was S s s s s | G |
Dying away down the street | P2 |
He dropped the curtain and got into bed | P2 |
Martha had been in the last thing with the warming pan | S2 |
The bed was warm | G2 |
And Mr Spruggins sank into feathers | G |
With the familiar ticking of his watch just under his head | P2 |
Mr Spruggins dozed | P2 |
He had forgotten to put out the candle | H |
But it did not make much difference as the fire was so bright | P2 |
Too bright | P2 |
The red and yellow roses pricked his eyelids | G |
They scorched him back to consciousness | G |
He tried to shift his position | R2 |
He could not move | T2 |
Something weighed him down | E2 |
He could not breathe | U2 |
He was gasping | C |
Pinned down and suffocating | C |
He opened his eyes | G |
The curtains of the window were flung back | V2 |
The fire and the candle were out | P2 |
And the room was filled with green moonlight | P2 |
And pressed against the window pane | W2 |
Was a wide round face | G |
Winking winking | C |
Solemnly dropping one eyelid after the other | N |
Tick tock went the watch under his pillow | H |
Wink wink went the face at the window | H |
It was not the fire roses which had pricked him | J |
It was the winking eyes | G |
Mr Spruggins tried to bounce up | Q |
He could not because | G |
His heart flapped up into his mouth | X2 |
And fell back dead | P2 |
On his chest was a fat pink pig | Y2 |
On the pig a blackamoor | N |
With a ten pound weight for a cap | Z2 |
His mustachios kept curling up and down like angry snakes | G |
And his eyes rolled round and round | P2 |
With the pupils coming into sight and disappearing | C |
And appearing again on the other side | P2 |
The holsters at his saddle bow were two port bottles | G |
And a curved table knife hung at his belt for a scimitar | N |
While a fork and a keg of spirits were strapped to the saddle behind | P2 |
He dug his spurs into the pig | Y2 |
Which trampled and snorted | P2 |
And stamped its cloven feet deeper into Mr Spruggins | G |
Then the green light on the floor began to undulate | P2 |
It heaved and hollowed | P2 |
It rose like a tide | P2 |
Sea green | A3 |
Full of claws and scales | G |
And wriggles | G |
The air above his bed began to move | T2 |
It weighed over him | J |
In a mass of draggled feathers | G |
Not one lifted to stir the air | N |
They drooped and dripped | P2 |
With a smell of port wine and brandy | P2 |
Closing down slowly | P2 |
Trickling drops on the bed quilt | P2 |
Suddenly the window fell in with a great scatter of glass | G |
And the moon burst into the room | B3 |
Sizzling S s s s s Spruggins Spruggins | G |
It rolled toward him | J |
A green ball of flame | C2 |
With two eyes in the center | N |
A red eye and a yellow eye | C3 |
Dropping their lids slowly | P2 |
One after the other | N |
Mr Spruggins tried to scream | D3 |
But the blackamoor | N |
Leapt off his pig | Y2 |
With a cry | N |
Drew his scimitar | N |
And plunged it into Mr Spruggins's mouth | X2 |
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Mr Spruggins got up in the cold dawn | J2 |
And remade the fire | N |
Then he crept back to bed | P2 |
By the light which seeped in under the window curtains | G |
And lay there shivering | C |
While the bells of St George the Martyr chimed the quarter after seven | R2 |
Amy Lowell
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