The Little Old Women Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDE FGHI JKLM KKKN KKOK PQRS TUVW X Y KKKZ KXXK KA2KA2 XB2QK C2D2KE2 KKVK KF2 G2 A2 LH2KE2 KI2KK KKKX KJ2K2L2 M2KKV KN2KO2

for Victor HugoA
-
I-
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In sinuous coils of the old capitalsB
Where even horror weaves a magic spellC
Gripped by my fatal humours I observeD
Singular beings with appalling charmsE
-
These dislocated wrecks were women onceF
Were Eponine or Lais hunchbacked freaksG
Though broken let us love them they are soulsH
Under cold rags their shredded petticoatsI
-
They creep lashed by the merciless north windJ
Quake from the riot of an omnibusK
Clasp by their sides like relics of a saintL
Embroidered bags of flowery designM
-
They toddle every bit like marionettesK
Or drag themselves like wounded animalsK
Or dance against their will poor little bellsK
That a remorseless demon rings Worn outN
-
They are yet they have eyes piercing like drillsK
Shining like pot holes where the water sleepsK
Heavenly eyes as of a little girlO
Who laughs with joy at anything that shinesK
-
Have you observed that coffins of the oldP
Are nearly small enough to fit a childQ
Death in this similarity sets upR
An eerie symbol with a strange appealS
-
And when I glimpse some feeble phantom thereT
Part of the swarming tableau of the townU
It always seems to me this fragile soulV
Is moving gently to her cradle bedW
-
Unless geometry occurs to meX
In shapes of these contorted limbs and I-
Think how the workmen have to modify-
The boxes where these bodies will be lainY
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These eyes are wells made of a million tearsK
Or crucibles where spangled metal coolsK
These eyes of mystery have deathless charmsK
For those who suckle Tribulation's breastZ
-
-
II-
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Vestal of love from old Frascati's roomsK
Priestess of Thalia whose name onlyX
The buried prompter knows celebrityX
Whom Tivoli once shaded in its bloomsK
-
All make me drunk but with these weaker soulsK
Are those making a honey of their griefA2
Who've said to Sacrifice who lent them wingsK
Lift me into the sky great HippogriffeA2
-
One by her homeland trained in miseryX
Another whom her husband overtaxedB2
One a Madonna martyred by her childQ
Oh each could make a river with her tearsK
-
-
III-
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So many of these women I have stalkedC2
One among others when the sun would fallD2
Steeping the sky in blood from ruby woundsK
Pensive would settle on a bench aloneE2
-
To listen to a concert rich with brassK
With which the soldiers sometimes flood our parksK
And pour in evenings that revive the soulV
Such heroism in the townsmen's heartsK
-
She then upright and proud stirred by the causeK
Vigorously inhaled this warlike songF2
Sometimes her eye gleamed like an eagle's eye-
Fit for the laurel was her marble browG2
-
-
IVA2
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So you trudge on stoic without complaintL
Through the chaotic city's teeming wasteH2
Saints courtesans mothers of bleeding heartsK
Whose names in times past everyone had knownE2
-
You glorious ones you who were full of graceK
Not one remembers you some rowdy drunkI2
Insults you on the street with crude remarksK
A taunting child cuts capers at your heelsK
-
O you ashamed of living shrunken shadesK
Fearful with backs bent how you hug the wallsK
And no one greets you strange and fated soulsK
Debris of man ripe for eternityX
-
But I who from a distance mark your stepsK
With tenderness and restless eye intentJ2
As though I were your father wondrous thoughtK2
Unknown to you I taste a secret joyL2
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I see your novice passions blossomingM2
Sombre or sunny I see your lost daysK
Heart multiplied I share in all your viceK
With all your virtue shines my glowing soulV
-
Ruins my family my fellow mindsK
Each evening I will bid a grave adieuN2
What of tomorrow Eves of eighty yearsK
Pressed by the dreadful talon of the LordO2

Charles Baudelaire



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