The Sleeping Princess Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDC EFGF HHIH JKEK LMEM NOBO PQBQ BRSR HTUT PVWV UXYX ZA2IA2 B2C2BC2 D2QUE2 F2A2UA2 UPZP ZOG2G2 DUG2U G2H2BH2 HDPD PG2UG2 DUUU UG2ZG2 HDDD UI2G2I2 DHUH DC2UC2 G2BG2B HDG2D DG2DG2 G2G2J2G2 HFG2F G2UG2U DUG2U G2K2UK2 HG2G2G2 DDG2D

Versified by Clara Doty BatesA
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The ringing bells and the booming cannonB
Proclaimed on a summer mornC
That in the good king's royal palaceD
A Princess had been bornC
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The towers flung out their brightest bannersE
The ships their streamers gayF
And every one from lord to peasantG
Made joyful holidayF
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Great plans for feasting and merry makingH
Were made by the happy kingH
And to bring good fortune seven fairiesI
Were bid to the christeningH
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And for them the king had seven dishesJ
Made out of the best red goldK
Set thickly round on the sides and coversE
With jewels of price untoldK
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When the day of the christening came the buglesL
Blew forth their shrillest notesM
Drums throbbed and endless lines of soldiersE
Filed past in scarlet coatsM
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And the fairies were there the king had biddenN
Bearing their gifts of goodO
But right in the midst a strange old womanB
Surly and scowling stoodO
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They knew her to be the old old fairyP
All nose and eyes and earsQ
Who had not peeped till now from her dungeonB
For more than fifty yearsQ
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Angry she was to have been forgottenB
Where others were guests and to findR
That neither a seat nor a dish at the banquetS
To her had been assignedR
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Now came the hour for the gift bestowingH
And the fairy first in placeT
Touched with her wand the child and gave herU
Beauty of form and faceT
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Fairy the second bade Be wittyP
The third said Never failV
The fourth Dance well and the fifth O PrincessW
Sing like the nightingaleV
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The sixth gave Joy in the heart foreverU
But before the seventh could speakX
The crooked black old Dame came forwardY
And tapping the baby's cheekX
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You shall prick your finger upon a spindleZ
And die of it she criedA2
All trembling were the lords and ladiesI
And the king and queen besideA2
-
But the seventh fairy interruptedB2
Do not tremble nor weepC2
That cruel curse I can change and softenB
And instead of death give sleepC2
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But the sleep though I do my best and kindestD2
Must last for an hundred yearsQ
On the king's stern face was a dreadful pallorU
In the eyes of the queen were tearsE2
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Yet after the hundred years are vanishedF2
The fairy added besideA2
A Prince of a noble line shall find herU
And take her for his brideA2
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But the king with a hope to change the futureU
Proclaimed this law to beP
That if in all the land there was kept one spindleZ
Sure death was the penaltyP
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The Princess grew from her very cradleZ
Lovely and witty and goodO
And at last in the course of years had blossomedG2
Into full sweet maidenhoodG2
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And one day in her father's summer palaceD
As blithe as the very airU
She climbed to the top of the highest turretG2
Over an old worn stairU
-
And there in the dusky cobwebbed garretG2
Where dimly the daylight shoneH2
A little doleful hunch backed womanB
Sat spinning all aloneH2
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O Goody she cried what are you doingH
Why spinning you little dunceD
The Princess laughed 'Tis so very funnyP
Pray let me try it onceD
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With a careless touch from the hand of GoodyP
She caught the half spun threadG2
And the fatal spindle pricked her fingerU
Down fell she as if deadG2
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And Goody shrieking the frightened courtiersD
Climbed up the old worn stairU
Only to find in heavy slumberU
The Princess lying thereU
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They bore her down to a lofty chamberU
They robed her in her bestG2
And on a couch of gold and purpleZ
They laid her for her restG2
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The roses upon her cheek still bloomingH
And the red still on her lipsD
While the lids of her eyes like night shut liliesD
Were closed in white eclipseD
-
Then the fairy who strove her fate to alterU
From the dismal doom of deathI2
Now that the vital hour impendedG2
Came hurrying in a breathI2
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And then about the slumbering palaceD
The fairy made up springH
A wood so heavy and dense that neverU
Could enter a living thingH
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And there for a century the PrincessD
Lay in a trance so deepC2
That neither the roar of winds nor thunderU
Could rouse her from her sleepC2
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Then at last one day past the long enchantedG2
Old wood rode a new king's sonB
Who catching a glimpse of a royal turretG2
Above the forest dunB
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Felt in his heart a strange wish for exploringH
The thorny and briery placeD
And lo a path through the deepest thicketG2
Opened before his faceD
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On on he went till he spied a terraceD
And further a sleeping guardG2
And rows of soldiers upon their carbinesD
Leaning and snoring hardG2
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Up the broad steps The doors swung backwardG2
The wide halls heard no treadG2
But a lofty chamber opening showed himJ2
A gold and purple bedG2
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And there in her beauty warm and glowingH
The enchanted Princess layF
While only a word from his lips was neededG2
To drive her sleep awayF
-
He spoke the word and the spell was scatteredG2
The enchantment broken throughU
The lady woke Dear Prince she murmuredG2
How long I have waited for youU
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Then at once the whole great slumbering palaceD
Was wakened and all astirU
Yet the Prince in joy at the Sleeping BeautyG2
Could only look at herU
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She was the bride who for years an hundredG2
Had waited for him to comeK2
And now that the hour was here to claim herU
Should eyes or tongue be dumbK2
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The Princess blushed at his royal wooingH
Bowed yes with her lovely headG2
And the chaplain yawning but very livelyG2
Came in and they were wedG2
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But about the dress of the happy PrincessD
I have my woman's fearsD
It must have grown somewhat old fashionedG2
In the course of so many yearsD

Clara Doty Bates



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