Cadet Grey Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A A BCBCBDBDD A EFEFEEEEE A GHGIGJIJJ C KLKLKMNMM C OPOPOQOOO C OEOEOOOOO C EOEOEOEOO C COCOCOCOO C RORORSRSS C OCOEOOOOO A A OCOCOTOTT A UVUVUWUXW A AOAOAYAYY A CCCCCOCOO A AZAZACACC A OAOAOCOCC A EA2EA2EEEEE A OOOOOOOOO C OEOEOB2OB2B2 C CCCCCECEE C OAOAOB2OB2B2 C AIAIAAAAA C AZAZAEAEE O COCOIIO EEEEAAO A OEOEOB2OB2C2 A OOOOOEOEE A IOIOID2ID2D2 A AEAEAB2AB2B2 A CACACZCZZ C CE2CE2CB2CB2B2 C CF2CA2CE2CE2E2 C B2B2B2B2B2CB2CC C YB2YB2YCYCC C OEOEOEOEE A OEOEOCOCC A VB2VB2VB2VB2B2 A OG2OG2OAOAA A EEEEEEEEA E2 OB2OB2AAO OVOOVAAO A A AEAEAOAOO A COCOCE2CE2E2 A AB2AB2AOAOO A AB2B2B2AAAAA A AEAEAOAOO A B2YB2YB2CB2OO A OOOOOEOEE A OCOCOCOCC C E2OE2OE2OE2OO C OCOCOOCOO C OAOAOB2OB2B2 C E2OE2OE2AE2AA C EOEOEOEOO A AOAOAB2AB2B2

Canto I	A
	-
I	A
	-
Act first scene first A study Of a kind	B
Half cell half salon opulent yet grave	C
Rare books low shelved yet far above the mind	B
Of common man to compass or to crave	C
Some slight relief of pamphlets that inclined	B
The soul at first to trifling till dismayed	D
By text and title it drew back resigned	B
Nor cared with levity to vex a shade	D
That to itself such perfect concord made	D
	-
II	A
	-
Some thoughts like these perplexed the patriot brain	E
Of Jones Lawgiver to the Commonwealth	F
As on the threshold of this chaste domain	E
He paused expectant and looked up in stealth	F
To darkened canvases that frowned amain	E
With stern eyed Puritans who first began	E
To spread their roots in Georgius Primus' reign	E
Nor dropped till now obedient to some plan	E
Their century fruit the perfect Boston man	E
	-
III	A
	-
Somewhere within that Russia scented gloom	G
A voice catarrhal thrilled the Member's ear	H
Brief is our business Jones Look round this room	G
Regard yon portraits Read their meaning clear	I
These much proclaim my station I presume	G
You are our Congressman before whose wit	J
And sober judgment shall the youth appear	I
Who for West Point is deemed most just and fit	J
To serve his country and to honor it	J
	-
IV	C
	-
Such is my son Elsewhere perhaps 'twere wise	K
Trial competitive should guide your choice	L
There are some people I can well surmise	K
Themselves must show their merits History's voice	L
Spares me that trouble all desert that lies	K
In yonder ancestor of Queen Anne's day	M
Or yon grave Governor is all my boy's	N
Reverts to him entailed as one might say	M
In brief result in Winthrop Adams Grey	M
	-
V	C
	-
He turned and laid his well bred hand and smiled	O
On the cropped head of one who stood beside	P
Ah me in sooth it was no ruddy child	O
Nor brawny youth that thrilled the father's pride	P
'Twas but a Mind that somehow had beguiled	O
From soulless Matter processes that served	Q
For speech and motion and digestion mild	O
Content if all one moral purpose nerved	O
Nor recked thereby its spine were somewhat curved	O
	-
VI	C
	-
He was scarce eighteen Yet ere he was eight	O
He had despoiled the classics much he knew	E
Of Sanskrit not that he placed undue weight	O
On this but that it helped him with Hebrew	E
His favorite tongue He learned alas too late	O
One can't begin too early would regret	O
That boyish whim to ascertain the state	O
Of Venus' atmosphere made him forget	O
That philologic goal on which his soul was set	O
	-
VII	C
	-
He too had traveled at the age of ten	E
Found Paris empty dull except for art	O
And accent Mabille with its glories then	E
Less than Egyptian Almees touched a heart	O
Nothing if not pure classic If some men	E
Thought him a prig it vexed not his conceit	O
But moved his pity and ofttimes his pen	E
The better to instruct them through some sheet	O
Published in Boston and signed Beacon Street	O
	-
VIII	C
	-
From premises so plain the blind could see	C
But one deduction and it came next day	O
In times like these the very name of G	C
Speaks volumes wrote the Honorable J	O
Inclosed please find appointment Presently	C
Came a reception to which Harvard lent	O
Fourteen professors and to give esprit	C
The Liberal Club some eighteen ladies sent	O
Five that spoke Greek and thirteen sentiment	O
	-
IX	C
	-
Four poets came who loved each other's song	R
And two philosophers who thought that they	O
Were in most things impractical and wrong	R
And two reformers each in his own way	O
Peculiar one who had waxed strong	R
On herbs and water and such simple fare	S
Two foreign lions Ram See and Chy Long	R
And several artists claimed attention there	S
Based on the fact they had been snubbed elsewhere	S
	-
X	C
	-
With this indorsement nothing now remained	O
But counsel Godspeed and some calm adieux	C
No foolish tear the father's eyelash stained	O
And Winthrop's cheek as guiltless shone of dew	E
A slight publicity such as obtained	O
In classic Rome these few last hours attended	O
The day arrived the train and depot gained	O
The mayor's own presence this last act commended	O
The train moved off and here the first act ended	O
	-
	-
	-
CANTO II	A
	-
I	A
	-
Where West Point crouches and with lifted shield	O
Turns the whole river eastward through the pass	C
Whose jutting crags half silver stand revealed	O
Like bossy bucklers of Leonidas	C
Where buttressed low against the storms that wield	O
Their summer lightnings where her eaglets swarm	T
By Freedom's cradle Nature's self has steeled	O
Her heart like Winkelried and to that storm	T
Of leveled lances bares her bosom warm	T
	-
II	A
	-
But not to night The air and woods are still	U
The faintest rustle in the trees below	V
The lowest tremor from the mountain rill	U
Come to the ear as but the trailing flow	V
Of spirit robes that walk unseen the hill	U
The moon low sailing o'er the upland farm	W
The moon low sailing where the waters fill	U
The lozenge lake beside the banks of balm	X
Gleams like a chevron on the river's arm	W
	-
III	A
	-
All space breathes languor from the hilltop high	A
Where Putnam's bastion crumbles in the past	O
To swooning depths where drowsy cannon lie	A
And wide mouthed mortars gape in slumbers vast	O
Stroke upon stroke the far oars glance and die	A
On the hushed bosom of the sleeping stream	Y
Bright for one moment drifts a white sail by	A
Bright for one moment shows a bayonet gleam	Y
Far on the level plain then passes as a dream	Y
	-
IV	A
	-
Soft down the line of darkened battlements	C
Bright on each lattice of the barrack walls	C
Where the low arching sallyport indents	C
Seen through its gloom beyond the moonbeam falls	C
All is repose save where the camping tents	C
Mock the white gravestones farther on where sound	O
No morning guns for reveille nor whence	C
No drum beat calls retreat but still is ever found	O
Waiting and present on each sentry's round	O
	-
V	A
	-
Within the camp they lie the young the brave	A
Half knight half schoolboy acolytes of fame	Z
Pledged to one altar and perchance one grave	A
Bred to fear nothing but reproach and blame	Z
Ascetic dandies o'er whom vestals rave	A
Clean limbed young Spartans disciplined young elves	C
Taught to destroy that they may live to save	A
Students embattled soldiers at their shelves	C
Heroes whose conquests are at first themselves	C
	-
VI	A
	-
Within the camp they lie in dreams are freed	O
From the grim discipline they learn to love	A
In dreams no more the sentry's challenge heed	O
In dreams afar beyond their pickets rove	A
One treads once more the piny paths that lead	O
To his green mountain home and pausing hears	C
The cattle call one treads the tangled weed	O
Of slippery rocks beside Atlantic piers	C
One smiles in sleep one wakens wet with tears	C
	-
VII	A
	-
One scents the breath of jasmine flowers that twine	E
The pillared porches of his Southern home	A2
One hears the coo of pigeons in the pine	E
Of Western woods where he was wont to roam	A2
One sees the sunset fire the distant line	E
Where the long prairie sweeps its levels down	E
One treads the snow peaks one by lamps that shine	E
Down the broad highways of the sea girt town	E
And two are missing Cadets Grey and Brown	E
	-
VIII	A
	-
Much as I grieve to chronicle the fact	O
That selfsame truant known as Cadet Grey	O
Was the young hero of our moral tract	O
Shorn of his twofold names on entrance day	O
Winthrop and Adams dropped in that one act	O
Of martial curtness and the roll call thinned	O
Of his ancestors he with youthful tact	O
Indulgence claimed since Winthrop no more sinned	O
Nor sainted Adams winced when he plain Grey was skinned	O
	-
IX	C
	-
He had known trials since we saw him last	O
By sheer good luck had just escaped rejection	E
Not for his learning but that it was cast	O
In a spare frame scarce fit for drill inspection	E
But when he ope'd his lips a stream so vast	O
Of information flooded each professor	B2
They quite forgot his eyeglass something past	O
All precedent accepting the transgressor	B2
Weak eyes and all of which he was possessor	B2
	-
X	C
	-
E'en the first day he touched a blackboard's space	C
So the tradition of his glory lingers	C
Two wise professors fainted each with face	C
White as the chalk within his rapid fingers	C
All day he ciphered at such frantic pace	C
His form was hid in chalk precipitation	E
Of every problem till they said his case	C
Could meet from them no fair examination	E
Till Congress made a new appropriation	E
	-
XI	C
	-
Famous in molecules he demonstrated	O
From the mess hash to many a listening classful	A
Great as a botanist he separated	O
Three kinds of Mentha in one julep's glassful	A
High in astronomy it has been stated	O
He was the first at West Point to discover	B2
Mars' missing satellites and calculated	O
Their true positions not the heavens over	B2
But 'neath the window of Miss Kitty Rover	B2
	-
XII	C
	-
Indeed I fear this novelty celestial	A
That very night was visible and clear	I
At least two youths of aspect most terrestrial	A
And clad in uniform were loitering near	I
A villa's casement where a gentle vestal	A
Took their impatience somewhat patiently	A
Knowing the youths were somewhat green and bestial	A
A certain slang of the Academy	A
I beg the reader won't refer to me	A
	-
XIII	C
	-
For when they ceased their ardent strain Miss Kitty	A
Glowed not with anger nor a kindred flame	Z
But rather flushed with an odd sort of pity	A
Half matron's kindness and half coquette's shame	Z
Proud yet quite blameful when she heard their ditty	A
She gave her soul poetical expression	E
And being clever too as she was pretty	A
From her high casement warbled this confession	E
Half provocation and one half repression	E
	-
Not Yet	O
	-
Not yet O friend not yet the patient stars	C
Lean from their lattices content to wait	O
All is illusion till the morning bars	C
Slip from the levels of the Eastern gate	O
Night is too young O friend day is too near	I
Wait for the day that maketh all things clear	I
Not yet O friend not yet	O
	-
Not yet O love not yet all is not true	E
All is not ever as it seemeth now	E
Soon shall the river take another blue	E
Soon dies yon light upon the mountain brow	E
What lieth dark O love bright day will fill	A
Wait for thy morning be it good or ill	A
Not yet O love not yet	O
	-
	-
XIV	A
	-
The strain was finished softly as the night	O
Her voice died from the window yet e'en then	E
Fluttered and fell likewise a kerchief white	O
But that no doubt was accident for when	E
She sought her couch she deemed her conduct quite	O
Beyond the reach of scandalous commenter	B2
Washing her hands of either gallant wight	O
Knowing the moralist might compliment her	B2
Thus voicing Siren with the words of Mentor	C2
	-
XV	A
	-
She little knew the youths below who straight	O
Dived for her kerchief and quite overlooked	O
The pregnant moral she would inculcate	O
Nor dreamed the less how little Winthrop brooked	O
Her right to doubt his soul's maturer state	O
Brown who was Western amiable and new	E
Might take the moral and accept his fate	O
The which he did but being stronger too	E
Took the white kerchief also as his due	E
	-
XVI	A
	-
They did not quarrel which no doubt seemed queer	I
To those who knew not how their friendship blended	O
Each was opposed and each the other's peer	I
Yet each the other in some things transcended	O
Where Brown lacked culture brains and oft I fear	I
Cash in his pocket Grey of course supplied him	D2
Where Grey lacked frankness force and faith sincere	I
Brown of his manhood suffered none to chide him	D2
But in his faults stood manfully beside him	D2
	-
XVII	A
	-
In academic walks and studies grave	A
In the camp drill and martial occupation	E
They helped each other but just here I crave	A
Space for the reader's full imagination	E
The fact is patent Grey became a slave	A
A tool a fag a pleb To state it plainer	B2
All that blue blood and ancestry e'er gave	A
Cleaned guns brought water was in fact retainer	B2
To Jones whose uncle was a paper stainer	B2
	-
XVIII	A
	-
How they bore this at home I cannot say	C
I only know so runs the gossip's tale	A
It chanced one day that the paternal Grey	C
Came to West Point that he himself might hail	A
The future hero in some proper way	C
Consistent with his lineage With him came	Z
A judge a poet and a brave array	C
Of aunts and uncles bearing each a name	Z
Eyeglass and respirator with the same	Z
	-
XIX	C
	-
Observe quoth Grey the elder to his friends	C
Not in these giddy youths at baseball playing	E2
You'll notice Winthrop Adams Greater ends	C
Than these absorb his leisure No doubt straying	E2
With Caesar's Commentaries he attends	C
Some Roman council Let us ask however	B2
Yon grimy urchin who my soul offends	C
By wheeling offal if he will endeavor	B2
To find What heaven Winthrop Oh no never	B2
	-
XX	C
	-
Alas too true The last of all the Greys	C
Was doing police detail it had come	F2
To this in vain the rare historic bays	C
That crowned the pictured Puritans at home	A2
And yet 'twas certain that in grosser ways	C
Of health and physique he was quite improving	E2
Straighter he stood and had achieved some praise	C
In other exercise much more behooving	E2
A soldier's taste than merely dirt removing	E2
	-
XXI	C
	-
But to resume we left the youthful pair	B2
Some stanzas back before a lady's bower	B2
'Tis to be hoped they were no longer there	B2
For stars were pointing to the morning hour	B2
Their escapade discovered ill 'twould fare	B2
With our two heroes derelict of orders	C
But like the ghost they scent the morning air	B2
And back again they steal across the borders	C
Unseen unheeded by their martial warders	C
	-
XXII	C
	-
They got to bed with speed young Grey to dream	Y
Of some vague future with a general's star	B2
And Mistress Kitty basking in its gleam	Y
While Brown content to worship her afar	B2
Dreamed himself dying by some lonely stream	Y
Having snatched Kitty from eighteen Nez Perces	C
Till a far bugle with the morning beam	Y
In his dull ear its fateful song rehearses	C
Which Winthrop Adams after put to verses	C
	-
XXIII	C
	-
So passed three years of their novitiate	O
The first real boyhood Grey had ever known	E
His youth ran clear not choked like his Cochituate	O
In civic pipes but free and pure alone	E
Yet knew repression could himself habituate	O
To having mind and body well rubbed down	E
Could read himself in others and could situate	O
Themselves in him except I grieve to own	E
He couldn't see what Kitty saw in Brown	E
	-
XXIV	A
	-
At last came graduation Brown received	O
In the One Hundredth Cavalry commission	E
Then frolic flirting parting when none grieved	O
Save Brown who loved our young Academician	E
And Grey who felt his friend was still deceived	O
By Mistress Kitty who with other beauties	C
Graced the occasion and it was believed	O
Had promised Brown that when he could recruit his	C
Promised command she'd share with him those duties	C
	-
XXV	A
	-
Howe'er this was I know not all I know	V
The night was June's the moon rode high and clear	B2
'Twas such a night as this three years ago	V
Miss Kitty sang the song that two might hear	B2
There is a walk where trees o'erarching grow	V
Too wide for one not wide enough for three	B2
A fact precluding any plural beau	V
Which quite explained Miss Kitty's company	B2
But not why Grey that favored one should be	B2
	-
XXVI	A
	-
There is a spring whose limpid waters hide	O
Somewhere within the shadows of that path	G2
Called Kosciusko's There two figures bide	O
Grey and Miss Kitty Surely Nature hath	G2
No fairer mirror for a might be bride	O
Than this same pool that caught our gentle belle	A
To its dark heart one moment At her side	O
Grey bent A something trembled o'er the well	A
Bright spherical a tear Ah no a button fell	A
	-
XXVII	A
	-
Material minds might think that gravitation	E
Quoth Grey drew yon metallic spheroid down	E
The soul poetic views the situation	E
Fraught with more meaning When thy girlish crown	E
Was mirrored there there was disintegration	E
Of me and all my spirit moved to you	E
Taking the form of slow precipitation	E
But here came Taps a start a smile adieu	E
A blush a sigh and end of Canto II	A
	-
Bugle Song	E2
	-
Fades the light	O
And afar	B2
Goeth day cometh night	O
And a star	B2
Leadeth all	A
Speedeth all	A
To their rest	O
	-
Love good night	O
Must thou go	V
When the day	O
And the light	O
Need thee so	V
Needeth all	A
Heedeth all	A
That is best	O
	-
	-
	-
Canto III	A
	-
I	A
	-
Where the sun sinks through leagues of arid sky	A
Where the sun dies o'er leagues of arid plain	E
Where the dead bones of wasted rivers lie	A
Trailed from their channels in yon mountain chain	E
Where day by day naught takes the wearied eye	A
But the low rimming mountains sharply based	O
On the dead levels moving far or nigh	A
As the sick vision wanders o'er the waste	O
But ever day by day against the sunset traced	O
	-
II	A
	-
There moving through a poisonous cloud that stings	C
With dust of alkali the trampling band	O
Of Indian ponies ride on dusky wings	C
The red marauders of the Western land	O
Heavy with spoil they seek the trail that brings	C
Their flaunting lances to that sheltered bank	E2
Where lie their lodges and the river sings	C
Forgetful of the plain beyond that drank	E2
Its life blood where the wasted caravan sank	E2
	-
III	A
	-
They brought with them the thief's ignoble spoil	A
The beggar's dole the greed of chiffonnier	B2
The scum of camps the implements of toil	A
Snatched from dead hands to rust as useless here	B2
All they could rake or glean from hut or soil	A
Piled their lean ponies with the jackdaw's greed	O
For vacant glitter It were scarce a foil	A
To all this tinsel that one feathered reed	O
Bore on its barb two scalps that freshly bleed	O
	-
IV	A
	-
They brought with them alas a wounded foe	A
Bound hand and foot yet nursed with cruel care	B2
Lest that in death he might escape one throe	B2
They had decreed his living flesh should bear	B2
A youthful officer by one foul blow	A
Of treachery surprised yet fighting still	A
Amid his ambushed train calm as the snow	A
Above him hopeless yet content to spill	A
His blood with theirs and fighting but to kill	A
	-
V	A
	-
He had fought nobly and in that brief spell	A
Had won the awe of those rude border men	E
Who gathered round him and beside him fell	A
In loyal faith and silence save that when	E
By smoke embarrassed and near sight as well	A
He paused to wipe his eyeglass and decide	O
Its nearer focus there arose a yell	A
Of approbation and Bob Barker cried	O
Wade in Dundreary tossed his cap and died	O
	-
VI	A
	-
Their sole survivor now his captors bear	B2
Him all unconscious and beside the stream	Y
Leave him to rest meantime the squaws prepare	B2
The stake for sacrifice nor wakes a gleam	Y
Of pity in those Furies' eyes that glare	B2
Expectant of the torture yet alway	C
His steadfast spirit shines and mocks them there	B2
With peace they know not till at close of day	O
On his dull ear there thrills a whispered Grey	O
	-
VII	A
	-
He starts Was it a trick Had angels kind	O
Touched with compassion some weak woman's breast	O
Such things he'd read of Faintly to his mind	O
Came Pocahontas pleading for her guest	O
But then this voice though soft was still inclined	O
To baritone A squaw in ragged gown	E
Stood near him frowning hatred Was he blind	O
Whose eye was this beneath that beetling frown	E
The frown was painted but that wink meant Brown	E
	-
VIII	A
	-
Hush for your life and mine the thongs are cut	O
He whispers in yon thicket stands my horse	C
One dash I follow close as if to glut	O
My own revenge yet bar the others' course	C
Now And 'tis done Grey speeds Brown follows but	O
Ere yet they reach the shade Grey fainting reels	C
Yet not before Brown's circling arms close shut	O
His in uplifting him Anon he feels	C
A horse beneath him bound and hears the rattling heels	C
	-
IX	C
	-
Then rose a yell of baffled hate and sprang	E2
Headlong the savages in swift pursuit	O
Though speed the fugitives they hope to hang	E2
Hot on their heels like wolves with tireless foot	O
Long is the chase Brown hears with inward pang	E2
The short hard panting of his gallant steed	O
Beneath its double burden vainly rang	E2
Both voice and spur The heaving flanks may bleed	O
Yet comes the sequel that they still must heed	O
	-
X	C
	-
Brown saw it reined his steed dismounting stood	O
Calm and inflexible Old chap you see	C
There is but one escape You know it Good	O
There is one man to take it You are he	C
The horse won't carry double If he could	O
'Twould but protract this bother I shall stay	O
I've business with these devils they with me	C
I will occupy them till you get away	O
Hush quick time forward There God bless you Grey	O
	-
XI	C
	-
But as he finished Grey slipped to his feet	O
Calm as his ancestors in voice and eye	A
You do forget yourself when you compete	O
With him whose right it is to stay and die	A
That's not your duty Please regain your seat	O
And take my orders since I rank you here	B2
Mount and rejoin your men and my defeat	O
Report at quarters Take this letter ne'er	B2
Give it to aught but her nor let aught interfere	B2
	-
XII	C
	-
And shamed and blushing Brown the letter took	E2
Obediently and placed it in his pocket	O
Then drawing forth another said I look	E2
For death as you do wherefore take this locket	O
And letter Here his comrade's hand he shook	E2
In silence Should we both together fall	A
Some other man but here all speech forsook	E2
His lips as ringing cheerily o'er all	A
He heard afar his own dear bugle call	A
	-
XIII	C
	-
'Twas his command and succor but e'en then	E
Grey fainted with poor Brown who had forgot	O
He likewise had been wounded and both men	E
Were picked up quite unconscious of their lot	O
Long lay they in extremity and when	E
They both grew stronger and once more exchanged	O
Old vows and memories one common den	E
In hospital was theirs and free they ranged	O
Awaiting orders but no more estranged	O
	-
XIV	A
	-
And yet 'twas strange nor can I end my tale	A
Without this moral to be fair and just	O
They never sought to know why each did fail	A
The prompt fulfillment of the other's trust	O
It was suggested they could not avail	A
Themselves of either letter since they were	B2
Duly dispatched to their address by mail	A
By Captain X who knew Miss Rover fair	B2
Now meant stout Mistress Bloggs of Blank Blank Square	B2

Bret Harte (francis)

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