At The Ferry Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD BEBEFGFG BHBHAIAI BJBJAKAK ILILIMIM BNBNIOIO PQPQRSSS TUSUVWXW BYBYZBZB A2WA2WB2C2B2C2 D2BD2BE2F2E2F2On such a day the shrunken stream | A |
Spends its last water and runs dry | B |
Clouds like far turrets in a dream | A |
Stand baseless in the burning sky | B |
On such a day at every rod | C |
The toilers in the hay field halt | D |
With dripping brows and the parched sod | C |
Yields to the crushing foot like salt | D |
- | |
But here a little wind astir | B |
Seen waterward in jetting lines | E |
From yonder hillside topped with fir | B |
Comes pungent with the breath of pines | E |
And here when all the noon hangs still | F |
White hot upon the city tiles | G |
A perfume and a wintry chill | F |
Breathe from the yellow lumber piles | G |
- | |
And all day long there falls a blur | B |
Of noises upon listless ears | H |
The rumble of the trams the stir | B |
Of barges at the clacking piers | H |
The champ of wheels the crash of steam | A |
And ever without change or stay | I |
The drone as through a troubled dream | A |
Of waters falling far away | I |
- | |
A tug boat up the farther shore | B |
Half pants half whistles in her draught | J |
The cadence of a creaking oar | B |
Falls drowsily a corded raft | J |
Creeps slowly in the noonday gleam | A |
And wheresoe'er a shadow sleeps | K |
The men lie by or half a dream | A |
Stand leaning at the idle sweeps | K |
- | |
And all day long in the quiet bay | I |
The eddying amber depths retard | L |
And hold as in a ring at play | I |
The heavy saw logs notched and scarred | L |
And yonder between cape and shoal | I |
Where the long currents swing and shift | M |
An aged punt man with his pole | I |
Is searching in the parted drift | M |
- | |
At moments from the distant glare | B |
The murmur of a railway steals | N |
Round yonder jutting point the air | B |
Is beaten with the puff of wheels | N |
And here at hand an open mill | I |
Strong clamor at perpetual drive | O |
With changing chant now hoarse now shrill | I |
Keeps dinning like a mighty hive | O |
- | |
A furnace over field and mead | P |
The rounding noon hangs hard and white | Q |
Into the gathering heats recede | P |
The hollows of the Chelsea height | Q |
But under all to one quiet tune | R |
A spirit in cool depths withdrawn | S |
With logs and dust and wrack bestrewn | S |
The stately river journeys on | S |
- | |
I watch the swinging currents go | T |
Far down to where enclosed and piled | U |
The logs crowd and the Gatineau | S |
Comes rushing from the northern wild | U |
I see the long low point where close | V |
The shore lines and the waters end | W |
I watch the barges pass in rows | X |
That vanish at the tapering bend | W |
- | |
I see as at the noon's pale core | B |
A shadow that lifts clear and floats | Y |
The cabin'd village round the shore | B |
The landing and the fringe of boats | Y |
Faint films of smoke that curl and wreathe | Z |
And upward with the like desire | B |
The vast gray church that seems to breathe | Z |
In heaven with its dreaming spire | B |
- | |
And there the last blue boundaries rise | A2 |
That guard within their compass furled | W |
This plot of earth beyond them lies | A2 |
The mystery of the echoing world | W |
And still my thought goes on and yields | B2 |
New vision and new joy to me | C2 |
Far peopled hills and ancient fields | B2 |
And cities by the crested sea | C2 |
- | |
I see no more the barges pass | D2 |
Nor mark the ripple round the pier | B |
And all the uproar mass on mass | D2 |
Falls dead upon a vacant ear | B |
Beyond the tumult of the mills | E2 |
And all the city's sound and strife | F2 |
Beyond the waste beyond the hills | E2 |
I look far out and dream of life | F2 |
Archibald Lampman
(1)
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