The Ballad Of The Calliope Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCCBDDEFFE CCGHHI JJKBBK LLHBBH MMNOON PPQNNQ RRBBBB LLBBBB BBNSSN TTQBBQ UUVBBV WWXBBX BBNYYN BBFBBF| By the far Samoan shore | A |
| Where the league long rollers pour | A |
| All the wash of the Pacific on the coral guarded bay | B |
| Riding lightly at their ease | C |
| In the calm of tropic seas | C |
| The three great nations' warships at their anchors proudly lay | B |
| Riding lightly head to wind | D |
| With the coral reefs behind | D |
| Three German and three Yankee ships were mirrored in the blue | E |
| And on one ship unfurled | F |
| Was the flag that rules the world | F |
| For on the old Calliope the flag of England flew | E |
| - | |
| When the gentle off shore breeze | C |
| That had scarcely stirred the trees | C |
| Dropped down to utter stillness and the glass began to fall | G |
| Away across the main | H |
| Lowered the coming hurricane | H |
| And far away to seaward hung the cloud wrack like a pall | I |
| - | |
| If the word had passed around | J |
| Let us move to safer ground | J |
| Let us steam away to seaward then his tale were not to tell | K |
| But each Captain seemed to say | B |
| If the others stay I stay | B |
| And they lingered at their moorings till the shades of evening fell | K |
| - | |
| Then the cloud wrack neared them fast | L |
| And there came a sudden blast | L |
| And the hurricane came leaping down a thousand miles of main | H |
| Like a lion on its prey | B |
| Leapt the storm fiend on the bay | B |
| And the vessels shook and shivered as their cables felt the strain | H |
| - | |
| As the surging seas came by | M |
| That were running mountains high | M |
| The vessels started dragging drifting slowly to the lee | N |
| And the darkness of the night | O |
| Hid the coral reefs from sight | O |
| And the Captains dared not risk the chance to grope their way to sea | N |
| - | |
| In the dark they dared not shift | P |
| They were forced to wait and drift | P |
| All hands stood by uncertain would the anchors hold or no | Q |
| But the men on deck could see | N |
| If a chance for them might be | N |
| There was little chance of safety for the men who were below | Q |
| - | |
| Through that long long night of dread | R |
| While the storm raged overhead | R |
| They were waiting by their engines with the furnace fires aroar | B |
| So they waited staunch and true | B |
| Though they knew and well they knew | B |
| They must drown like rats imprisoned if the vessel touched the shore | B |
| - | |
| When the grey dawn broke at last | L |
| And the long long night was past | L |
| While the hurricane redoubled lest its prey should steal away | B |
| On the rocks all smashed and strown | B |
| Were the German vessels thrown | B |
| While the Yankees swamped and helpless drifted shorewards down the bay | B |
| - | |
| Then at last spoke Captain Kane | B |
| All our anchors are in vain | B |
| And the Germans and the Yankees they have drifted to the lee | N |
| Cut the cables at the bow | S |
| We must trust the engines now | S |
| Give her steam and let her have it lads we'll fight her out to sea | N |
| - | |
| And the answer came with cheers | T |
| From the stalwart engineers | T |
| From the grim and grimy firemen at the furnaces below | Q |
| And above the sullen roar | B |
| Of the breakers on the shore | B |
| Came the throbbing of the engines as they laboured to and fro | Q |
| - | |
| If the strain should find a flaw | U |
| Should a bolt or rivet draw | U |
| Then God help them for the vessel were a plaything in the tide | V |
| With a face of honest cheer | B |
| Quoth an English engineer | B |
| I will answer for the engiines that were built on old Thames side | V |
| - | |
| For the stays and stanchions taut | W |
| For the rivets truly wrought | W |
| For the valves that fit their faces as a glove should fit the hand | X |
| Give her every ounce of power | B |
| If we make a knot an hour | B |
| Then it's way enough to steer her and we'll drive her from the land | X |
| - | |
| Life a foam flake tossed and thrown | B |
| She could barely hold her own | B |
| While the other ships all helplessly were drifting to the lee | N |
| Through the smother and the rout | Y |
| The Calliope steamed out | Y |
| And they cheered her from the Trenton that was foundering in the sea | N |
| - | |
| Ay drifting shoreward there | B |
| All helpless as they were | B |
| Their vessel hurled upon the reefs as weed ashore is hurled | F |
| Without a thought of fear | B |
| The Yankees raised a cheer | B |
| A cheer that English speaking folk should echo round the world | F |
Banjo Paterson
(2)
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