Off Scarborough Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCCDEDEE A AFAFFGEGEE A DDCDDHIJII DKDKKLDLDD D MKMKKKAKAA A CNCOOKKKKK A JKJKKPDPDD A QJQJJAKAKK D RSRSSATATT D UJUJJKAKAA| I | A |
| - | |
| Have a care the bailiffs cried | B |
| From their cockleshell that lay | C |
| Off the frigate's yellow side | B |
| Tossing on Scarborough Bay | C |
| While the forty sail it convoyed on a bowline stretched away | C |
| Take your chicks beneath your wings | D |
| And your claws and feathers spread | E |
| Ere the hawk upon them springs | D |
| Ere around Flamborough Head | E |
| Swoops Paul Jones the Yankee falcon with his beak and talons red | E |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| How we laughed my mate and I | A |
| On the Bon Homme Richard's deck | F |
| As we saw that convoy fly | A |
| Like a snow squall till each fleck | F |
| Melted in the twilight shadows of the coast line speck by speck | F |
| And scuffling back to shore | G |
| The Scarborough bailiffs sped | E |
| As the Richard with a roar | G |
| Of her cannon round the Head | E |
| Crossed her royal yards and signaled to her consort Chase ahead | E |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| But the devil seize Landais | D |
| In that consort ship of France | D |
| For the shabby lubber way | C |
| That he worked the Alliance | D |
| In the offing nor a broadside fired save to our mischance | D |
| When tumbling to the van | H |
| With his battle lanterns set | I |
| Rose the burly Englishman | J |
| 'Gainst our hull as black as jet | I |
| Rode the yellow sided Serapis and all alone we met | I |
| - | |
| IV | - |
| - | |
| All alone though far at sea | D |
| Hung his consort rounding to | K |
| All alone though on our lee | D |
| Fought our Pallas stanch and true | K |
| For the first broadside around us both a smoky circle drew | K |
| And like champions in a ring | L |
| There was cleared a little space | D |
| Scarce a cable's length to swing | L |
| Ere we grappled in embrace | D |
| All the world shut out around us and we only face to face | D |
| - | |
| V | D |
| - | |
| Then awoke all hell below | M |
| From that broadside doubly curst | K |
| For our long eighteens in row | M |
| Leaped the first discharge and burst | K |
| And on deck our men came pouring fearing their own guns the worst | K |
| And as dumb we lay till through | K |
| Smoke and flame and bitter cry | A |
| Hailed the Serapis Have you | K |
| Struck your colors Our reply | A |
| We have not yet begun to fight went shouting to the sky | A |
| - | |
| VI | A |
| - | |
| Roux of Brest old fisher lay | C |
| Like a herring gasping here | N |
| Bunker of Nantucket Bay | C |
| Blown from out the port dropped sheer | O |
| Half a cable's length to leeward yet we faintly raised a cheer | O |
| As with his own right hand | K |
| Our Commodore made fast | K |
| The foeman's head gear and | K |
| The Richard's mizzen mast | K |
| And in that death lock clinging held us there from first to last | K |
| - | |
| VII | A |
| - | |
| Yet the foeman gun on gun | J |
| Through the Richard tore a road | K |
| With his gunners' rammers run | J |
| Through our ports at every load | K |
| Till clear the blue beyond us through our yawning timbers showed | K |
| Yet with entrails torn we clung | P |
| Like the Spartan to our fox | D |
| And on deck no coward tongue | P |
| Wailed the enemy's hard knocks | D |
| Nor that all below us trembled like a wreck upon the rocks | D |
| - | |
| VIII | A |
| - | |
| Then a thought rose in my brain | Q |
| As through Channel mists the sun | J |
| From our tops a fire like rain | Q |
| Drove below decks every one | J |
| Of the enemy's ship's company to hide or work a gun | J |
| And that thought took shape as I | A |
| On the Richard s yard lay out | K |
| That a man might do and die | A |
| If the doing brought about | K |
| Freedom for his home and country and his messmates' cheering shout | K |
| - | |
| IX | D |
| - | |
| Then I crept out in the dark | R |
| Till I hung above the hatch | S |
| Of the Serapis a mark | R |
| For her marksmen with a match | S |
| And a hand grenade but lingered just a moment more to snatch | S |
| One last look at sea and sky | A |
| At the lighthouse on the hill | T |
| At the harvest moon on high | A |
| And our pine flag fluttering still | T |
| Then turned and down her yawning throat I launched that devil's pill | T |
| - | |
| X | D |
| - | |
| Then a blank was all between | U |
| As the flames around me spun | J |
| Had I fired the magazine | U |
| Was the victory lost or won | J |
| Nor knew I till the fight was o'er but half my work was done | J |
| For I lay among the dead | K |
| In the cockpit of our foe | A |
| With a roar above my head | K |
| Till a trampling to and fro | A |
| And a lantern showed my mate's face and I knew what now you know | A |
Bret Harte (francis)
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About Off Scarborough
Off Scarborough is a poem by Bret Harte (francis). This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about Off Scarborough poem by Bret Harte (francis)
Best Poems of Bret Harte (francis)