The Farnshire Cup Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBAADA EFGFHIJI K CDLMNM MOPOQMJM QJ MQR STDTA LU VJQ Q QI ABWBKQAQ JXKXAGMG FQKQYAMA YQYQMBDB QZA2ZQQVQ ABMBLVAV YBDYMY AYA QQQ YB2YB2 Q Q YYQYMIAI QLYLQJEJ JUJULSMChristopher Davis was up upon Mavis | A |
And Sammy MacGregor on Flo | B |
Jo Chauncy rode Spider the rankest outsider | C |
But HE'D make a wooden horse go | B |
There was Robin and Leah and Boadicea | A |
And Chesterfield's Son of the Sea | A |
And Irish Nuneaton who never was beaten | D |
They backed her at seven to three | A |
- | |
The course was the devil A start on the level | E |
And then a stiff breather uphill | F |
A bank at the top with a four foot drop | G |
And a bullfinch down by the mill | F |
A stretch of straight from the Whittlesea gate | H |
Then up and down and up | I |
And the mounts that stay through Farnshire clay | J |
May bid for the Farnshire Cup | I |
- | |
The tipsters were touting the bookies were shouting | K |
'Bar one bar one bar one ' | - |
With a glint and a glimmer of silken shimmer | C |
The field shone bright in the sun | D |
When Farmer Brown came riding down | L |
'I hain't much time to spare | M |
But I've entered her name so I'll play out the game | N |
On the back o' my old gray mare | M |
- | |
'You never would think 'er a thoroughbred clinker | M |
There's never a judge that would | O |
Each leg be'ind 'as a splint you'll find | P |
And the fore are none too good | O |
She roars a bit and she don't look fit | Q |
She's moulted 'alf 'er 'air | M |
But ' He smiled in a way that seemed to say | J |
That he knew that old gray mare | M |
- | |
And the bookies laughed and the bookies chaffed | Q |
'Who backs the mare ' cried they | J |
'A hundred to one ' 'It's done and done ' | - |
'We'll take that price all day ' | - |
'What if the mare is shedding hair | M |
What if her eye is wild | Q |
We read her worth and her pedigree birth | R |
In the smile that her owner smiled ' | - |
- | |
And the whisper grew and the whisper flew | S |
That she came of Isonomy stock | T |
'Fifty to one ' 'It's done and done | D |
Look at her haunch and hock | T |
Ill groomed Why yes but one may guess | A |
That that is her owner's guile ' | - |
Ah Farmer Brown the sharps from town | L |
Have read your simple smile | U |
- | |
They've weighed him in 'Now lose or win | V |
I've money at stake this day | J |
Gee long my sweet and if we're beat | Q |
We'll both do all we may ' | - |
He joins the rest they line abreast | Q |
'Back Leah Mavis up ' | - |
The flag is dipped and the field is slipped | Q |
Full split for the Farnshire Cup | I |
- | |
Christopher Davis is leading on Mavis | A |
Spider is waiting on Flo | B |
Boadicea is gaining on Leah | W |
Irish Nuneaton lies low | B |
Robin is tailing his wind has been failing | K |
Son of the Sea's going fast | Q |
So crack on the pace for it's anyone's race | A |
And the winner's the horse that can last | Q |
- | |
Chestnut and bay and sorrel and gray | J |
See how they glimmer and gleam | X |
Bending and straining and losing and gaining | K |
Silk jackets flutter and stream | X |
They are over the grass as the cloud shadows pass | A |
They are up to the fence at the top | G |
It's 'hey then ' and over and into the clover | M |
There wasn't one slip at the drop | G |
- | |
They are all going still they are round by the mill | F |
They are down by the Whittlesea gate | Q |
Leah's complaining and Mavis is gaining | K |
And Flo's catching up in the straight | Q |
Robin's gone wrong but the Spider runs strong | Y |
He sticks to the leader like wax | A |
An utter outsider but look at his rider | M |
Jo Chauncy the pick of the cracks | A |
- | |
Robin was tailing and pecked at a paling | Y |
Leah's gone weak in her feet | Q |
Boadicea came down at the railing | Y |
Son of the Sea is dead beat | Q |
Leather to leather they're pounding together | M |
Three of them all in a row | B |
And Irish Nuneaton who never was beaten | D |
Is level with Spider and Flo | B |
- | |
It's into the straight from the Whittlesea gate | Q |
Clean galloping over the green | Z |
But four foot high the hurdles lie | A2 |
With a sunken ditch between | Z |
'Tis a bit of a test for a beast at its best | Q |
And the devil and all at its worst | Q |
But it's clear run in with the Cup to win | V |
For the horse that is over it first | Q |
- | |
So try it my beauties and fly it my beauties | A |
Spider Nuneaton and Flo | B |
With a trip and a blunder there's one of them under | M |
Hark to it crashing below | B |
Is it the brown or the sorrel that's down | L |
The brown It is Flo who is in | V |
And Spider with Chauncy the pick of the fancy | A |
Is going full split for a win | V |
- | |
'Spider is winning ' 'Jo Chauncy is winning ' | - |
'He's winning He's winning Bravo ' | - |
The bookies are raving the ladies are waving | Y |
The Stand is all shouting for Jo | B |
The horse is clean done but the race may be won | D |
By the Newmarket lad on his back | Y |
For the fire of the rider may bring an outsider | M |
Ahead of a thoroughbred crack | Y |
- | |
'Spider is winning ' 'Jo Chauncy is winning ' | - |
It swells like the roar of the sea | A |
But Jo hears the drumming of somebody coming | Y |
And sees a lean head by his knee | A |
'Nuneaton Nuneaton The Spider is beaten ' | - |
It is but a spurt at the most | Q |
For lose it or win it they have but a minute | Q |
Before they are up with the post | Q |
- | |
Nuneaton is straining Nuneaton is gaining | Y |
Neither will falter nor flinch | B2 |
Whips they are plying and jackets are flying | Y |
They're fairly abreast to an inch | B2 |
'Crack em up Let 'em go Well ridden Bravo ' | - |
Gamer ones never were bred | Q |
Jo Chauncy has done it He's spurted He's won it ' | - |
The favourite's beat by a head | Q |
- | |
Don't tell me of luck for its judgment and pluck | Y |
And a courage that never will shirk | Y |
To give your mind to it and know how to do it | Q |
And put all your heart in your work | Y |
So here's to the Spider the winning outsider | M |
With little Jo Chauncy up | I |
May they stay life's course both jockey and horse | A |
As they stayed in the Farnshire Cup | I |
- | |
But it's possible that you are wondering what | Q |
May have happened to Farmer Brown | L |
And the old gray crock of Isonomy stock | Y |
Who was backed by the sharps from town | L |
She blew and she sneezed she coughed and she wheezed | Q |
She ran till her knees gave way | J |
But never a grumble at trip or at stumble | E |
Was heard from her jock that day | J |
- | |
For somebody laid AGAINST the gray | J |
And somebody made a pile | U |
And Brown says he can make farming pay | J |
And he smiles a simple smile | U |
'Them sharps from town were riled ' says Brown | L |
'But I can't see why can you | S |
For I said quite fair as I knew that mare | M |
And I proved my words was true ' | - |
Arthur Conan Doyle
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