Before I Knocked Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABACAD AEAFAC AGAHAI AJAKAL AMANAO APAQAR ASATAU AVAB

Before I knocked and flesh let enterA
With liquid hands tapped on the wombB
I who was as shapeless as the waterA
That shaped the Jordan near my homeC
Was brother to Mnetha's daughterA
And sister to the fathering wormD
-
I who was deaf to spring and summerA
Who knew not sun nor moon by nameE
Felt thud beneath my flesh's armourA
As yet was in a molten formF
The leaden stars the rainy hammerA
Swung by my father from his domeC
-
I knew the message of the winterA
The darted hail the childish snowG
And the wind was my sister suitorA
Wind in me leaped the hellborn dewH
My veins flowed with the Eastern weatherA
Ungotten I knew night and dayI
-
As yet ungotten I did sufferA
The rack of dreams my lily bonesJ
Did twist into a living cipherA
And flesh was snipped to cross the linesK
Of gallow crosses on the liverA
And brambles in the wringing brainsL
-
My throat knew thirst before the structureA
Of skin and vein around the wellM
Where words and water make a mixtureA
Unfailing till the blood runs foulN
My heart knew love my belly hungerA
I smelt the maggot in my stoolO
-
And time cast forth my mortal creatureA
To drift or drown upon the seasP
Acquainted with the salt adventureA
Of tides that never touch the shoresQ
I who was rich was made the richerA
By sipping at the vine of daysR
-
I born of flesh and ghost was neitherA
A ghost nor man but mortal ghostS
And I was struck down by death's featherA
I was a mortal to the lastT
Long breath that carried to my fatherA
The message of his dying christU
-
You who bow down at cross and altarA
Remember me and pity HimV
Who took my flesh and bone for armourA
And doublecrossed my mother's wombB

Dylan Thomas



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