The Child Of The Islands - Spring Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCCDCDDA EFEFFGFGGA HIJIIAIFAK LMLMNOMOPK FQFQQCQCCK RSRSSTSUUK VWVWWFWFFK KXKYYZYZZA2 B2C2B2C2C2D2C2D2D2A2 E2 E2A2A2KA2KKA2 D2F2D2F2F2D2F2D2D2A2 A2UA2UUG2UG2G2A2 D2H2D2I2I2D2I2D2D2K A2FA2FFA2FA2A2K UD2UD2D2D2D2D2D2K FA2FA2A2D2A2D2D2K J2FJ2FFA2FA2A2K D2UD2UUD2UD2D2A2 D2D2D2D2

IA
-
WHAT shalt THOU know of Spring A verdant crownB
Of young boughs waving o'er thy blooming headC
White tufted Guelder roses showering downB
A fairy snow path where thy footsteps treadC
Fragrance and balm which purple violets shedC
Wild birds sweet warbling in commingled songD
Brooklets thin murmuring down their pebbly bedC
Or more abundant rivers swept alongD
With shoals of tiny fish in many a silver throngD
IIA
-
To THEE shall be unknown that weary painE
The feverish thirsting for a breath of airF
Which chokes the heart of those who sigh in vainE
For respite in their round of toil and careF
Who never gaze on Nature fresh and fairF
Nor in sweet leisure wile an hour awayG
But like caged creatures sullenly despairF
As day monotonously follows dayG
Till youth wears on to age and strength to faint decayG
IIIA
-
A feeble girl sits working all aloneH
A ruined Farmer's orphan pale and weakI
Her early home to wealthier strangers goneJ
No rural beauty lingers on her cheekI
Her woe worn looks a woeful heart bespeakI
Though in her dull and rarely lifted eyeA
Whose glances nothing hope and nothing seekI
Those who have time for pity might descryF
A thousand shattered gleams of merriment gone byA
IVK
-
Her window sill some sickly plants adornL
Poor links to memories sweet of Nature's greenM
There to the City's smoke polluted mornL
The primrose lifts its leaves with buds betweenM
'Minished and faint as though their life had beenN
Nipped by long pining and obscure regretO
Torn from the sunny bank where erst were seenM
Lovely and meek companions thickly setO
The cowslip rich in scent and humble violetP
VK
-
Too fanciful the plant but pines like herF
For purer air for sunbeams warm and kindQ
Th' enlivening joy of nature's busy stirF
The rural freedom long since left behindQ
For the fresh woodlands for the summer windQ
The open fields with perfumed clover spreadC
The hazel copse whose branches intertwinedQ
Made natural bow'rs and arches overheadC
With many a narrow path where only two could treadC
VIK
-
Never oh never more shall these affordR
Her stifled heart their innocent delightS
Never oh never more the rich accordR
Of feathered songsters make her morning brightS
Earning scant bread that finds no appetiteS
The sapless life she toils for lingers onT
And when at length it sinks in dreary nightS
A shallow careless grave is dug where noneU
Come round to bless her rest whose ceaseless tasks are doneU
VIIK
-
And now the devious threads her simple skillV
Wove in a quaint device and flowery lineW
Adorn some happier maid whose wayward willV
Was struck with wishing for the fair designW
Some 'curl d darling' of a lordly lineW
Whose blooming cheek through veils of texture rareF
Mantling with youth's warm blood is seen to shineW
While her light garments draped with modest careF
Soft as a dove's white wings float on the breezy airF
VIIIK
-
Oh there is need for permanent beliefK
In the All Equal World of Joy to comeX
Need for such solace to the restless griefK
And heavy troubles of our earthly homeY
Else might our wandering reason blindly roamY
And ask with all a heathen's discontentZ
Why Joy's bright cup for some should sparkling foamY
While others not less worthy still lamentZ
And find the cup of tears the only portion sentZ
IXA2
-
But for the Christian's hope how hard how coldB2
How bitterly unjust our lot would seemC2
How purposeless and sad to young and oldB2
How like the struggles of a torturing dreamC2
When ghastly midnight bids us strive and screamC2
All fades all fleets of which our hearts grow fondD2
Pain presses on us to the last extremeC2
When lo the dawn upriseth clear beyondD2
And radiant from the East forbids us to despondD2
XA2
-
And many a crippled child and aged manE2
And withered crone who once saw 'better days '-
With just enough of intellect to scanE2
This gracious truth uncheered by human praiseA2
Patient plods through the thorn encumbered waysA2
Oh trust God counts the hours through which they sighK
While His green Spring eludes their suffering gazeA2
And flowers along Earth's spangled bosom lieK
Whose barren bloom for them must unenjoyed pass byK
XIA2
-
So lives the little Trapper undergroundD2
No glittering sunshine streaks the oozy wallF2
Not e'en a lamp's cold glimmer shineth roundD2
Where he must sit through summer days and allF2
While in warm upper air the cuckoos callF2
For ever listening at the weary gateD2
Where echoes of the unseen footsteps fallF2
Early he comes and lingers long and lateD2
With savage men whose blows his misery aggravateD2
XIIA2
-
Yet sometimes for the heart of childhood isA2
A thing so pregnant with joy's blessed sunU
That all the dismal gloom that round him liesA2
Can scarce suffice to bid its rays begoneU
In lieu of vain complaint or peevish moanU
A feeble SONG the passing hour will markG2
Poor little nightingale that sing'st aloneU
Thy cage is very low and bitter darkG2
But God hears thee who hears the glad upsoaring larkG2
XIIIA2
-
God seeth thee who sees the prosperous proudD2
Into the sunshine of their joy go forthH2
God marks thee weak one in the human crowdD2
And judgeth all thy grief as all their mirthI2
Bird with the broken wing that trails on earthI2
His angels watch thee if none watch besideD2
As faithfully despite thy lowly birthI2
As the child royal of the queenly brideD2
Or our belief is vain in Christ the CrucifiedD2
XIVK
-
In Christ who made young children's guileless livesA2
The cherished objects of His love and careF
Who bade each sinner that for pardon strivesA2
Low at Heaven's feet a child like heart lay bareF
Opening the world's great universal prayerF
With these meek words 'Our Father ' Strange that weA2
The common blessings of His earth and airF
Deny to those who circling round His kneeA2
Embraced in mortal life His immortalityA2
XVK
-
Those 'common blessings ' In this chequered sceneU
How scant the gratitude we shew to GodD2
Is it in truth a privilege so meanU
To wander with free footsteps o'er the sodD2
See various blossoms paint the valley clodD2
And all things into teeming beauty burstD2
A miracle as great as Aaron's rodD2
But that our senses into dulness nurstD2
Recurring Custom still with Apathy hath curstD2
XVIK
-
They who have rarest joy know Joy's true measureF
They who most suffer value Suffering's pauseA2
They who but seldom taste the simplest pleasureF
Kneel oftenest to the Giver and the CauseA2
Heavy the curtains feasting Luxury drawsA2
To hide the sunset and the silver nightD2
While humbler hearts when Care no longer gnawsA2
And some rare holiday permits delightD2
Lingering with love would watch that earth enchanting sightD2
XVIIK
-
So sits the pallid weaver at his loomJ2
Copying the wreaths the artist pencil drewF
In the dull confines of his cheerless roomJ2
Glisten those tints of rich and living hueF
The air is sweet the grass is fresh with dewF
And feverish aches are throbbing in his veinsA2
But his are work day Springs and Summers tooF
And if he quit his loom he leaves his gainsA2
That gorgeous glistering silk designed with so much painsA2
XVIIIK
-
It shall be purchased as a robe of stateD2
By some great lady when his toil is doneU
While on her will obsequious shopmen waitD2
To shift its radiance in the flattering sunU
And as she listless eyes its beauty noneU
Her brow shall darken or her smile shall shadeD2
By a strange story yet a common oneU
Of tears that fell but not on her brocadeD2
And misery weakly borne while it was slowly madeD2
XIXA2
-
For while that silk the weaver's time beguiledD2
His wife lay groaning on her narrow bedD2
The suffering mother of a new born childD2
Without a cradle for its weakly headD2

Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton



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