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