The Wanderer Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC DEDF GDGD HIHI JKJK LMLM FNFN DODO JPQP OROR LSLT LULU VQVQ VWVW LXLX YZZZ A2B2C2B2 TCTC LTLT TD2TD2 KDKD ZQZQ E2F2E2F2 LLLL G2H2I2H2With acknowledgment to my friend Sir A Quiller Couch | A |
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'Twas in the shadowy gloaming | B |
Of a cold and wet March day | C |
That a wanderer came roaming | B |
From countries far away | C |
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Scant raiment had he round him | D |
Nor purse nor worldly gear | E |
Hungry and faint we found him | D |
And bade him welcome here | F |
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His weary frame bent double | G |
His eyes were old and dim | D |
His face was writhed with trouble | G |
Which none might share with him | D |
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His speech was strange and broken | H |
And none could understand | I |
Such words as might be spoken | H |
In some far distant land | I |
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We guessed not whence he hailed from | J |
Nor knew what far off quay | K |
His roving bark had sailed from | J |
Before he came to me | K |
- | |
But there he was so slender | L |
So helpless and so pale | M |
That my wife's heart grew tender | L |
For one who seemed so frail | M |
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She cried But you must bide here | F |
You shall no further roam | N |
Grow stronger by our side here | F |
Within our moorland home | N |
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She laid her best before him | D |
Homely and simple fare | O |
And to his couch she bore him | D |
The raiment he should wear | O |
- | |
To mine he had been welcome | J |
My suit of russet brown | P |
But she had dressed our weary guest | Q |
In a loose and easy gown | P |
- | |
And long in peace he lay there | O |
Brooding and still and weak | R |
Smiling from day to day there | O |
At thoughts he would not speak | R |
- | |
The months flowed on but ever | L |
Our guest would still remain | S |
Nor made the least endeavour | L |
To leave our home again | T |
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He heeded not for grammar | L |
Nor did we care to teach | U |
But soon he learned to stammer | L |
Some words of English speech | U |
- | |
With these our guest would tell us | V |
The things that he liked best | Q |
And order and compel us | V |
To follow his behest | Q |
- | |
He ruled us without malice | V |
But as if he owned us all | W |
A sultan in his palace | V |
With his servants at his call | W |
- | |
Those calls came fast and faster | L |
Our service still we gave | X |
Till I who had been master | L |
Had grown to be his slave | X |
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He claimed with grasping gestures | Y |
Each thing of price he saw | Z |
Watches and rings and vestures | Z |
His will the only law | Z |
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In vain had I commanded | A2 |
In vain I struggled still | B2 |
Servants and wife were banded | C2 |
To do the stranger's will | B2 |
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And then in deep dejection | T |
It came to me one day | C |
That my own wife's affection | T |
Had been beguiled away | C |
- | |
Our love had known no danger | L |
So certain had it been | T |
And now to think a stranger | L |
Should dare to step between | T |
- | |
I saw him lie and harken | T |
To the little songs she sung | D2 |
And when the shadows darken | T |
I could hear his lisping tongue | D2 |
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They would sit in chambers shady | K |
When the light was growing dim | D |
Ah my fickle hearted lady | K |
With your arm embracing him | D |
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So at last lest he divide us | Z |
I would put them to the test | Q |
There was no one there beside us | Z |
Save this interloping guest | Q |
- | |
So I took my stand before them | E2 |
Very silent and erect | F2 |
My accusing glance passed o'er them | E2 |
Though with no observed effect | F2 |
- | |
But the lamp light shone upon her | L |
And I saw each tell tale feature | L |
As I cried Now on your honour | L |
Do or don't you love the creature | L |
- | |
But her answer seemed evasive | G2 |
It was Ducky doodle doo | H2 |
If his mummy loves um babby | I2 |
Doesn't daddums love um too | H2 |
Arthur Conan Doyle
(1)
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