The Willows Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAAAAAAA BCCBCCBCBC AAAAAAAAA DEEDEDEDE FAAFAFAAFAFA ADDADADADD AGGDGGAGHG AAAAAAAAAAAAAThe skies they were ashen and sober | A |
The streets they were dirty and drear | A |
It was night in the month of October | A |
Of my most immemorial year | A |
Like the skies I was perfectly sober | A |
As I stopped at the mansion of Shear | A |
At the Nightingale perfectly sober | A |
And the willowy woodland down here | A |
- | |
Here once in an alley Titanic | B |
Of Ten pins I roamed with my soul | C |
Of Ten pins with Mary my soul | C |
They were days when my heart was volcanic | B |
And impelled me to frequently roll | C |
And made me resistlessly roll | C |
Till my ten strikes created a panic | B |
In the realms of the Boreal pole | C |
Till my ten strikes created a panic | B |
With the monkey atop of his pole | C |
- | |
I repeat I was perfectly sober | A |
But my thoughts they were palsied and sear | A |
My thoughts were decidedly queer | A |
For I knew not the month was October | A |
And I marked not the night of the year | A |
I forgot that sweet morceau of Auber | A |
That the band oft performed down here | A |
And I mixed the sweet music of Auber | A |
With the Nightingale's music by Shear | A |
- | |
And now as the night was senescent | D |
And star dials pointed to morn | E |
And car drivers hinted of morn | E |
At the end of the path a liquescent | D |
And bibulous lustre was born | E |
'Twas made by the bar keeper present | D |
Who mixed a duplicate horn | E |
His two hands describing a crescent | D |
Distinct with a duplicate horn | E |
- | |
And I said This looks perfectly regal | F |
For it's warm and I know I feel dry | A |
I am confident that I feel dry | A |
We have come past the emeu and eagle | F |
And watched the gay monkey on high | A |
Let us drink to the emeu and eagle | F |
To the swan and the monkey on high | A |
To the eagle and monkey on high | A |
For this bar keeper will not inveigle | F |
Bully boy with the vitreous eye | A |
He surely would never inveigle | F |
Sweet youth with the crystalline eye | A |
- | |
But Mary uplifting her finger | A |
Said Sadly this bar I mistrust | D |
I fear that this bar does not trust | D |
Oh hasten oh let us not linger | A |
Oh fly let us fly are we must | D |
In terror she cried letting sink her | A |
Parasol till it trailed in the dust | D |
In agony sobbed letting sink her | A |
Parasol till it trailed in the dust | D |
Till it sorrowfully trailed in the dust | D |
- | |
Then I pacified Mary and kissed her | A |
And tempted her into the room | G |
And conquered her scruples and gloom | G |
And we passed to the end of the vista | D |
But were stopped by the warning of doom | G |
By some words that were warning of doom | G |
And I said What is written sweet sister | A |
At the opposite end of the room | G |
She sobbed as she answered All liquors | H |
Must be paid for ere leaving the room | G |
- | |
Then my heart it grew ashen and sober | A |
As the streets were deserted and drear | A |
For my pockets were empty and drear | A |
And I cried It was surely October | A |
On this very night of last year | A |
That I journeyed I journeyed down here | A |
That I brought a fair maiden down here | A |
On this night of all nights in the year | A |
Ah to me that inscription is clear | A |
Well I know now I'm perfectly sober | A |
Why no longer they credit me here | A |
Well I know now that music of Auber | A |
And this Nightingale kept by one Shear | A |
Bret Harte (francis)
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Willows poem by Bret Harte (francis)
Best Poems of Bret Harte (francis)