Tamerton Church-tower, Or, First Love Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCDBDBEFEFGHGH AIBIBJKJKALHLMNMNOPO PMHMHMMMMQRQRMSMS ACHCH AT HSBUB ASASAVLVLABABWSWSHBH BXM XMYZYZMAMAMA2MA2B2MB 2M ABSBSB2CB2CMBMBBMBM A MBMBB2SB2SMC2MC2D2MU MMCMCBMBMSE2SE2B2MB2 M F2MF2MMBMBSASA ASCSCMAMASMSMMMMMMCM CMB2MB2MMMMMSMSSB2SB 2 SE2CE2CE2HE2HMG2MG2M H2MH2MSMS HMHMBSBSMB2MB2MMMME2 SE2S AAMMMMHE2I | A |
We left the Church at Tamerton | B |
In gloomy western air | C |
To greet the day we gallop'd on | B |
A merry minded pair | C |
The hazy East hot noon did bode | D |
Our horses sniff'd the dawn | B |
We made ten Cornish miles of road | D |
Before the dew was gone | B |
We clomb the hill where Lanson's Keep | E |
Fronts Dartmoor's distant ridge | F |
Thence trotted South walk'd down the steep | E |
That slants to Gresson Bridge | F |
And paused awhile where Tamar waits | G |
In many a shining coil | H |
And teeming Devon separates | G |
From Cornwall's sorry soil | H |
- | |
- | |
II | A |
Our English skies contain'd that Spring | I |
A Caribbean sun | B |
The singing birds forgot to sing | I |
The rivulets to run | B |
For three noons past the skies had frown'd | J |
Obscured with blighting shades | K |
That only mock'd the thirsty ground | J |
And unrejoicing glades | K |
To day before the noon was nigh | A |
Bright skirted vapours grew | L |
And on the sky hung languidly | H |
The sky was languid too | L |
Our horses dropp'd their necks and nosed | M |
The dusty wayside grass | N |
Whilst we beneath still boughs reposed | M |
And watch'd the water pass | N |
We spoke of plighted Bertha Frank | O |
Shot pebbles in the stream | P |
And I lay by him on the bank | O |
But dreamt no lover's dream | P |
She was a blythe and bashful maid | M |
Much blushing in her glee | H |
Yet gracing all she did and said | M |
With sweet sufficiency | H |
Is Blanche as fair ask'd I who yearn'd | M |
To feel my life complete | M |
To taste unselfish pleasures earn'd | M |
By service strict and sweet | M |
Well some say fairer she'll surprise | Q |
Your heart with crimson lips | R |
Fat underlids that hold bright eyes | Q |
In laughing half eclipse | R |
Alluring locks done up with taste | M |
Behind her dainty ears | S |
And manners full of wayward haste | M |
Tho' facile as the deer's | S |
- | |
- | |
III | A |
You paint a leaflet here and there | C |
And not the blossom tell | H |
What mysteries of good and fair | C |
These blazon'd letters spell | H |
- | |
- | |
IV | A |
Her mouth and teeth by Cupid's bow | T |
Are letters spelling 'kiss ' | - |
And witchingly withdrawn below | H |
Twin worlds of baby bliss | S |
Her waist so soft and small may mean | B |
'O when will some one come | U |
To make me catch my breath between | B |
His finger and his thumb ' | - |
- | |
- | |
V | A |
My life 'twas like a land of dreams | S |
Where nothing noble throve | A |
Dull seem'd it as to maiden seems | S |
The verse that's not of love | A |
See where sigh'd I the water dim | V |
Repeats with leaden hue | L |
The fervid sun the cloud's hot rim | V |
The gap of dazzling blue | L |
Quoth Frank I do and hence foresee | A |
And all too plainly scan | B |
Some sentimental homily | A |
On Duty Death or Man | B |
'Tis this said I our senses mar | W |
Ev'n so sweet Nature's face | S |
Unless by love revived they are | W |
Or lit by heavenly grace | S |
Below the hazel talks the rill | H |
My heart speaks not again | B |
The solemn cloud the stately hill | H |
I look on each in vain | B |
Sure he for whom no Power shall strike | X |
This darkness into day | M |
- | |
Is damn'd said Frank who morall'd like | X |
The Fool in an old Play | M |
That's true cried I yet as the worm | Y |
That sickens ere it change | Z |
Or as the pup that nears the term | Y |
At which pups have the mange | Z |
Pooh Come Man let us on he said | M |
For now the storm is nigh | A |
And whilst we rode quaint sense we read | M |
Within the changing sky | A |
Above us bent a prophet wild | M |
Pointing to hidden harm | A2 |
Beyond a magic woman smiled | M |
And wove some wondrous charm | A2 |
Past that a censer jetted smoke | B2 |
Black convolutions roll'd | M |
Sunwards and caught the light and broke | B2 |
In crowns of shining gold | M |
- | |
- | |
VI | A |
The gaps of blue shrank fast in span | B |
The long forgotten breeze | S |
By lazy starts and fits began | B |
To stir the higher trees | S |
At noon we came to Tavistock | B2 |
And sunshine still was there | C |
But gloomy Dartmoor seem'd to mock | B2 |
Its weak and yellow glare | C |
The swallows in the wrathful light | M |
Were pitching up and down | B |
A string of rooks made rapid flight | M |
Due southward o'er the town | B |
Where baiting at the Tiger Inn | B |
We talk'd by windows wide | M |
Of Blanche and all my unseen kin | B |
Who did our coming bide | M |
- | |
- | |
VII | A |
- | |
The heavy sign board swung and shriek'd | M |
In dark air whirl'd the vane | B |
Blinds flapp'd dust rose and straining creak'd | M |
The shaken window pane | B |
And just o'erhead a huge cloud flung | B2 |
For earnest of its stores | S |
A few calm drops that struck among | B2 |
The light leaved sycamores | S |
Hot to be gone Frank rose and eyed | M |
Dark cloud and swinging branch | C2 |
But less long'd he to greet his Bride | M |
Than I to look on Blanche | C2 |
Her name pair'd still with praise at home | D2 |
Would make my pulses start | M |
The hills between us were become | U |
A weight upon my heart | M |
Behold I cried the storm comes not | M |
The northern heavens grow fair | C |
Look South said Frank 'tis one wide blot | M |
Of thunder threatening air | C |
The string of rooks had travell'd on | B |
Against the southern shroud | M |
And like some snaky skeleton | B |
Lay twisted in the cloud | M |
No storm to day said I for see | S |
Yon black thing travels south | E2 |
We follow'd soon our spirits free | S |
Our bodies slaked from drouth | E2 |
I rode in silence Frank with tongue | B2 |
Made lax by too much port | M |
Soliloquising said or sung | B2 |
After this tipsy sort | M |
- | |
Yea nerves they are the Devil's mesh | F2 |
And pups begin quite blind | M |
And health is ofttimes in the flesh | F2 |
And measles in the mind | M |
Foolish and fair was Joan without | M |
Foolish and foul within | B |
High as a hunted pig his snout | M |
She carried a foolish chin | B |
The Boy beheld and brisk rose he | S |
At this badly painted fly | A |
That boys less wise than fish will be | S |
Makes many a man to sigh | A |
- | |
- | |
VIII | A |
On on we toil'd amidst the blaze | S |
From Dartmoor's ridges bare | C |
Beneath the hush'd and scorching haze | S |
And through the twinkling air | C |
Along the endless mountain side | M |
That seem'd with us to move | A |
Past dreary mine mouths far and wide | M |
Huge dross heap wheel and groove | A |
Dark towns by disembowell'd hills | S |
Where swarthy tribes abode | M |
Who in hard rocks with harder wills | S |
Pursued the crooked lode | M |
Up heights that seem'd against us match'd | M |
Until from table land | M |
Before the teasing midge was hatch'd | M |
We hail'd the southern strand | M |
Then pleasantly on level ground | M |
And through the lighter air | C |
We paced along and breathed around | M |
A merry minded pair | C |
A western night of even cloud | M |
Suck'd in the sultry disk | B2 |
Bright racks look'd on a fiery crowd | M |
To seamen boding risk | B2 |
The late crow wing'd his silent way | M |
Across the shadowy East | M |
The gnat danced out his little day | M |
His ceaseless singing ceased | M |
Along the dim horizon round | M |
Fled faint electric fires | S |
Blue glow worms lit the fresher ground | M |
By moisture harbouring briers | S |
Far northward twinkled lonely lights | S |
The peopled vales among | B2 |
In front between the gaping heights | S |
The mystic ocean hung | B2 |
- | |
- | |
IX | S |
Our weary spirits flagg'd beneath | E2 |
The still and loaded air | C |
We left behind the fre r heath | E2 |
A moody minded pair | C |
With senses slack and sick of mirth | E2 |
Tho' near the happy goal | H |
I murmur'd fearing nought on earth | E2 |
Could quite content the soul | H |
Suppose your love prove such a light | M |
As yonder glow worm's lamp | G2 |
That gleams at distance strong and bright | M |
Approach'd burns weak and damp | G2 |
Perchance by much of bliss aroused | M |
Your heart will pant for more | H2 |
And then the worm of want lies housed | M |
Within the sweet fruit's core | H2 |
Far worse if led by fancy blind | M |
But undeceiv'd by use | S |
I dream yawn'd Frank and wake to find | M |
My Goddess a green goose | S |
- | |
Vain vain said I is worldly weal | H |
We faint within the heart | M |
For good which all we see and feel | H |
Foreshadows but in part | M |
Frank answer'd What you faint for win | B |
Faint not but forward press | S |
Heav'n proffers all 'twere grievous sin | B |
To live content in less | S |
The Sun rolls by us every day | M |
And it and all things speak | B2 |
To the sinking heart of man and say | M |
'Tis wicked to be weak | B2 |
We would not hear the hated sound | M |
But by the Lord we must | M |
If not the heavy world goes round | M |
And grinds us into dust | M |
With each a moral in his mouth | E2 |
We rein'd our sweating nags | S |
Where quiet Ocean on the South | E2 |
Kiss'd Edgecumb's ruddy crags | S |
- | |
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II | A |
I | A |
So subtly love within me wrought | M |
So excellent she seem'd | M |
Daily of Blanche was all my thought | M |
Nightly of Blanche I dream'd | M |
And this was all my wish and all | H |
The | E2 |
Coventry Patmore
(1)
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