Maiden-song Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFEA GHIHJHHKLKA MHMHNEOEBEA PBDBODDDQDQDA RHRHRBSBA DTUTVEHEA WHUHXEYEA ZKIKA2VB2VC2VRVA VD2E2D2F2MG2MH2MA I2J2K2J2K2ISILIA L2M2SM2VA2SA2N2A2A O2P2P2P2M2P2Q2P2DSR2 SA A2S2T2S2P2HP2HMHA EU2P2U2DDP2DP2DA OO2V2O2EW2I2W2HW2ZW2 X2W2A P2HDHDL2IL2BL2A P2ZY2ZZ2A3Z2A3A IHY2HDHB3C3P2C3A T2D3E3D3F3EP2EG3EA OA2H3A2I3J3HSA K3B2L3B2EM3DM3DM3ALong ago and long ago | A |
And long ago still | B |
There dwelt three merry maidens | C |
Upon a distant hill | B |
One was tall Meggan | D |
And one was dainty May | E |
But one was fair Margaret | F |
More fair than I can say | E |
Long ago and long ago | A |
- | |
When Meggan plucked the thorny rose | G |
And when May pulled the brier | H |
Half the birds would swoop to see | I |
Half the beasts draw nigher | H |
Half the fishes of the streams | J |
Would dart up to admire | H |
But when Margaret plucked a flag flower | H |
Or poppy hot aflame | K |
All the beasts and all the birds | L |
And all the fishes came | K |
To her hand more soft than snow | A |
- | |
Strawberry leaves and May dew | M |
In brisk morning air | H |
Strawberry leaves and May dew | M |
Make maidens fair | H |
I go for strawberry leaves | N |
Meggan said one day | E |
Fair Margaret can bide at home | O |
But you come with me May | E |
Up the hill and down the hill | B |
Along the winding way | E |
You and I are used to go | A |
- | |
So these two fair sisters | P |
Went with innocent will | B |
Up the hill and down again | D |
And round the homestead hill | B |
While the fairest sat at home | O |
Margaret like a queen | D |
Like a blush rose like the moon | D |
In her heavenly sheen | D |
Fragrant breathed as milky cow | Q |
Or field of blossoming bean | D |
Graceful as an ivy bough | Q |
Born to cling and lean | D |
Thus she sat to sing and sew | A |
- | |
When she raised her lustrous eyes | R |
A beast peeped at the door | H |
When she downward cast her eyes | R |
A fish gasped on the floor | H |
When she turned away her eyes | R |
A bird perched on the sill | B |
Warbling out its heart of love | S |
Warbling warbling still | B |
With pathetic pleadings low | A |
- | |
Light foot May with Meggan | D |
Sought the choicest spot | T |
Clothed with thyme alternate grass | U |
Then while day waxed hot | T |
Sat at ease to play and rest | V |
A gracious rest and play | E |
The loveliest maidens near or far | H |
When Margaret was away | E |
Who sat at home to sing and sew | A |
- | |
Sun glow flushed their comely cheeks | W |
Wind play tossed their hair | H |
Creeping things among the grass | U |
Stroked them here and there | H |
Meggan piped a merry note | X |
A fitful wayward lay | E |
While shrill as bird on topmost twig | Y |
Piped merry May | E |
Honey smooth the double flow | A |
- | |
Sped a herdsman from the vale | Z |
Mounting like a flame | K |
All on fire to hear and see | I |
With floating locks he came | K |
Looked neither north nor south | A2 |
Neither east nor west | V |
But sat him down at Meggan's feet | B2 |
As love bird on his nest | V |
And wooed her with a silent awe | C2 |
With trouble not expressed | V |
She sang the tears into his eyes | R |
The heart out of his breast | V |
So he loved her listening so | A |
- | |
She sang the heart out of his breast | V |
The words out of his tongue | D2 |
Hand and foot and pulse he paused | E2 |
Till her song was sung | D2 |
Then he spoke up from his place | F2 |
Simple words and true | M |
Scanty goods have I to give | G2 |
Scanty skill to woo | M |
But I have a will to work | H2 |
And a heart for you | M |
Bid me stay or bid me go | A |
- | |
Then Meggan mused within herself | I2 |
Better be first with him | J2 |
Than dwell where fairer Margaret sits | K2 |
Who shines my brightness dim | J2 |
Forever second where she sits | K2 |
However fair I be | I |
I will be lady of his love | S |
And he shall worship me | I |
I will be lady of his herds | L |
And stoop to his degree | I |
At home where kids and fatlings grow | A |
- | |
Sped a shepherd from the height | L2 |
Headlong down to look | M2 |
White lambs followed lured by love | S |
Of their shepherd's crook | M2 |
He turned neither east nor west | V |
Neither north nor south | A2 |
But knelt right down to May for love | S |
Of her sweet singing mouth | A2 |
Forgot his flocks his panting flocks | N2 |
In parching hillside drouth | A2 |
Forgot himself for weal or woe | A |
- | |
Trilled her song and swelled her song | O2 |
With maiden coy caprice | P2 |
In a labyrinth of throbs | P2 |
Pauses cadences | P2 |
Clear noted as a dropping brook | M2 |
Soft noted like the bees | P2 |
Wild noted as the shivering wind | Q2 |
Forlorn through forest trees | P2 |
Love noted like the wood pigeon | D |
Who hides herself for love | S |
Yet cannot keep her secret safe | R2 |
But cooes and cooes thereof | S |
Thus the notes rang loud or low | A |
- | |
He hung breathless on her breath | A2 |
Speechless who listened well | S2 |
Could not speak or think or wish | T2 |
Till silence broke the spell | S2 |
Then he spoke and spread his hands | P2 |
Pointing here and there | H |
See my sheep and see the lambs | P2 |
Twin lambs which they bare | H |
All myself I offer you | M |
All my flocks and care | H |
Your sweet song hath moved me so | A |
- | |
In her fluttered heart young May | E |
Mused a dubious while | U2 |
If he loves me as he says | P2 |
Her lips curved with a smile | U2 |
Where Margaret shines like the sun | D |
I shine but like a moon | D |
If sister Meggan makes her choice | P2 |
I can make mine as soon | D |
At cockcrow we were sister maids | P2 |
We may be brides at noon | D |
Said Meggan Yes May said not No | A |
- | |
Fair Margaret stayed alone at home | O |
Awhile she sang her song | O2 |
Awhile sat silent then she thought | V2 |
My sisters loiter long | O2 |
That sultry noon had waned away | E |
Shadows had waxen great | W2 |
Surely she thought within herself | I2 |
My sisters loiter late | W2 |
She rose and peered out at the door | H |
With patient heart to wait | W2 |
And heard a distant nightingale | Z |
Complaining of its mate | W2 |
Then down the garden slope she walked | X2 |
Down to the garden gate | W2 |
Leaned on the rail and waited so | A |
- | |
The slope was lightened by her eyes | P2 |
Like summer lightning fair | H |
Like rising of the haloed moon | D |
Lightened her glimmering hair | H |
While her face lightened like the sun | D |
Whose dawn is rosy white | L2 |
Thus crowned with maiden majesty | I |
She peered into the night | L2 |
Looked up the hill and down the hill | B |
To left hand and to right | L2 |
Flashing like fire flies to and fro | A |
- | |
Waiting thus in weariness | P2 |
She marked the nightingale | Z |
Telling if any one would heed | Y2 |
Its old complaining tale | Z |
Then lifted she her voice and sang | Z2 |
Answering the bird | A3 |
Then lifted she her voice and sang | Z2 |
Such notes were never heard | A3 |
From any bird when Spring's in blow | A |
- | |
The king of all that country | I |
Coursing far coursing near | H |
Curbed his amber bitted steed | Y2 |
Coursed amain to hear | H |
All his princes in his train | D |
Squire and knight and peer | H |
With his crown upon his head | B3 |
His sceptre in his hand | C3 |
Down he fell at Margaret's knees | P2 |
Lord king of all that land | C3 |
To her highness bending low | A |
- | |
Every beast and bird and fish | T2 |
Came mustering to the sound | D3 |
Every man and every maid | E3 |
From miles of country round | D3 |
Meggan on her herdsman's arm | F3 |
With her shepherd May | E |
Flocks and herds trooped at their heels | P2 |
Along the hillside way | E |
No foot too feeble for the ascent | G3 |
Not any head too gray | E |
Some were swift and none were slow | A |
- | |
So Margaret sang her sisters home | O |
In their marriage mirth | A2 |
Sang free birds out of the sky | H3 |
Beasts along the earth | A2 |
Sang up fishes of the deep | I3 |
All breathing things that move | J3 |
Sang from far and sang from near | H |
To her lovely love | S |
Sang together friend and foe | A |
- | |
Sang a golden bearded king | K3 |
Straightway to her feet | B2 |
Sang him silent where he knelt | L3 |
In eager anguish sweet | B2 |
But when the clear voice died away | E |
When longest echoes died | M3 |
He stood up like a royal man | D |
And claimed her for his bride | M3 |
So three maids were wooed and won | D |
In a brief May tide | M3 |
Long ago and long ago | A |
Christina Rossetti
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