Jessie Cameron Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCBCBADAD EFEFGFGFHIH JKJKLKLKHBH MNMOB BNPQPQ RERESESEFCFC ATATJTJTTATA KMKMUMUMTVTV TTTTBTBTWXWX YHYHWHWHTETE XTXTVTVTZTA2T'Jessie Jessie Cameron | A |
Hear me but this once ' quoth he | B |
'Good luck go with you neighbor's son | A |
But I'm no mate for you ' quoth she | B |
Day was verging toward the night | C |
There beside the moaning sea | B |
Dimness overtook the light | C |
There where the breakers be | B |
'O Jessie Jessie Cameron | A |
I have loved you long and true ' | D |
'Good luck go with you neighbor's son | A |
But I'm no mate for you ' | D |
- | |
She was a careless fearless girl | E |
And made her answer plain | F |
Outspoken she to earl or churl | E |
Kindhearted in the main | F |
But somewhat heedless with her tongue | G |
And apt at causing pain | F |
A mirthful maiden she and young | G |
Most fair for bliss or bane | F |
'Oh long ago I told you so | H |
I tell you so to day | I |
Go you your way and let me go | H |
Just my own free way ' | - |
- | |
The sea swept in with moan and foam | J |
Quickening the stretch of sand | K |
They stood almost in sight of home | J |
He strove to take her hand | K |
'Oh can't you take your answer then | L |
And won't you understand | K |
For me you're not the man of men | L |
I've other plans are planned | K |
You're good for Madge or good for Cis | H |
Or good for Kate may be | B |
But what's to me the good of this | H |
While you're not good for me ' | - |
- | |
They stood together on the beach | M |
They two alone | N |
And louder waxed his urgent speech | M |
His patience almost gone | O |
'Oh say but one kind word to me | B |
Jessie Jessie Cameron ' | - |
'I'd be too proud to beg ' quoth she | B |
And pride was in her tone | N |
And pride was in her lifted head | P |
And in her angry eye | Q |
And in her foot which might have fled | P |
But would not fly | Q |
- | |
Some say that he had gipsy blood | R |
That in his heart was guile | E |
Yet he had gone through fire and flood | R |
Only to win her smile | E |
Some say his grandam was a witch | S |
A black witch from beyond the Nile | E |
Who kept an image in a niche | S |
And talked with it the while | E |
And by her hut far down the lane | F |
Some say they would not pass at night | C |
Lest they should hear an unked strain | F |
Or see an unked sight | C |
- | |
Alas for Jessie Cameron | A |
The sea crept moaning moaning nigher | T |
She should have hastened to begone | A |
The sea swept higher breaking by her | T |
She should have hastened to her home | J |
While yet the west was flushed with fire | T |
But now her feet are in the foam | J |
The sea foam sweeping higher | T |
O mother linger at your door | T |
And light your lamp to make it plain | A |
But Jessie she comes home no more | T |
No more again | A |
- | |
They stood together on the strand | K |
They only each by each | M |
Home her home was close at hand | K |
Utterly out of reach | M |
Her mother in the chimney nook | U |
Heard a startled sea gull screech | M |
But never turned her head to look | U |
Towards the darkening beach | M |
Neighbours here and neighbours there | T |
Heard one scream as if a bird | V |
Shrilly screaming cleft the air | T |
That was all they heard | V |
- | |
Jessie she comes home no more | T |
Comes home never | T |
Her lover's step sounds at his door | T |
No more forever | T |
And boats may search upon the sea | B |
And search along the river | T |
But none know where the bodies be | B |
Sea winds that shiver | T |
Sea birds that breast the blast | W |
Sea waves swelling | X |
Keep the secret first and last | W |
Of their dwelling | X |
- | |
Whether the tide so hemmed them round | Y |
With its pitiless flow | H |
That when they would have gone they found | Y |
No way to go | H |
Whether she scorned him to the last | W |
With words flung to and fro | H |
Or clung to him when hope was past | W |
None will ever know | H |
Whether he helped or hindered her | T |
Threw up his life or lost it well | E |
The troubled sea for all its stir | T |
Finds no voice to tell | E |
- | |
Only watchers by the dying | X |
Have thought they heard one pray | T |
Wordless urgent and replying | X |
One seem to say him nay | T |
And watchers by the dead have heard | V |
A windy swell from miles away | T |
With sobs and screams but not a word | V |
Distinct for them to say | T |
And watchers out at sea have caught | Z |
Glimpse of a pale gleam here or there | T |
Come and gone as quick as thought | A2 |
Which might be hand or hair | T |
Christina Georgina Rossetti
(1)
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