The Pearl Diver Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DDD AAA EEE FFF GGG AAA HHH III CCC JJJ AAA GGG KKK CCC BBA AAA LLL AAA| Kanzo Makame the diver sturdy and small Japanee | A |
| Seeker of pearls and of pearl shell down in the depths of the sea | B |
| Trudged o'er the bed of the ocean searching industriously | C |
| - | |
| Over the pearl grounds the lugger drifted a little white speck | D |
| Joe Nagasaki the tender holding the life line on deck | D |
| Talked through the rope to the diver knew when to drift or to check | D |
| - | |
| Kanzo was king of his lugger master and diver in one | A |
| Diving wherever it pleased him taking instructions from none | A |
| Hither and thither he wandered steering by stars and by sun | A |
| - | |
| Fearless he was beyond credence looking at death eye to eye | E |
| This was his formula always All man go dead by and by | E |
| S'posing time come no can help it s'pose time no come then no die | E |
| - | |
| Dived in the depths of the Darnleys down twenty fathom and five | F |
| Down where by law and by reason men are forbidden to dive | F |
| Down in a pressure so awful that only the strongest survive | F |
| - | |
| Sweated four men at the air pumps fast as the handles could go | G |
| Forcing the air down that reached him heated and tainted and slow | G |
| Kanzo Makame the diver stayed seven minutes below | G |
| - | |
| Came up on deck like a dead man paralysed body and brain | A |
| Suffered while blood was returning infinite tortures of pain | A |
| Sailed once again to the Darnleys laughed and descended again | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Scarce grew the shell in the shallows rarely a patch could they touch | H |
| Always the take was so little always the labour so much | H |
| Always they thought of the Islands held by the lumbering Dutch | H |
| - | |
| Islands where shell was in plenty lying in passage and bay | I |
| Islands where divers could gather hundreds of shell in a day | I |
| But the lumbering Dutch in their gunboats they hunted the divers away | I |
| - | |
| Joe Nagasaki the tender finding the profits grow small | C |
| Said Let us go to the Islands try for a number one haul | C |
| If we get caught go to prison let them take lugger and all | C |
| - | |
| Kanzo Makame the diver knowing full well what it meant | J |
| Fatalist gambler and stoic smiled a broad smile of content | J |
| Flattened in mainsail and foresail and off to the Islands they went | J |
| - | |
| Close to the headlands they drifted picking up shell by the ton | A |
| Piled up on deck were the oysters opening wide in the sun | A |
| When from the lee of the headland boomed the report of a gun | A |
| - | |
| Then if the diver was sighted pearl shell and lugger must go | G |
| Joe Nagasaki decided quick was the word and the blow | G |
| Cut both the pipe and the life line leaving the diver below | G |
| - | |
| Kanzo Makame the diver failing to quite understand | K |
| Pulled the haul up on the life line found it was slack in his hand | K |
| Then like a little brown stoic lay down and died on the sand | K |
| - | |
| Joe Nagasaki the tender smiling a sanctified smile | C |
| Headed her straight for the gunboat throwing out shells all the while | C |
| Then went aboard and reported No makee dive in three mile | C |
| - | |
| Dress no have got and no helmet diver go shore on the spree | B |
| Plenty wind come and break rudder lugger get blown out to sea | B |
| Take me to Japanee Consul he help a poor Japanee | A |
| - | |
| So the Dutch let him go but they watched him as off from the Islands he ran | A |
| Doubting him much but what would you You have to be sure of your man | A |
| Ere you wake up that nest ful of hornets the little brown men of Japan | A |
| - | |
| Down in the ooze and the coral down where earth's wonders are spread | L |
| Helmeted ghastly and swollen Kanzo Makame lies dead | L |
| Joe Nagasaki his tender is owner and diver instead | L |
| - | |
| Wearer of pearls in your necklace comfort yourself if you can | A |
| These are the risks of the pearling these are the ways of Japan | A |
| Plenty more Japanee diver plenty more little brown man | A |
Banjo Paterson
(1)
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