Sir Galahad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABC DEBFGHIJ KLMBCFNOPQIRC STUVWXJCYZJA2B2C2D2E 2F2HG2QH2I2EJ2K2 F2F2UL2MBC M2N2O2N2P2 O2F2UB P2P2 Q2P2N2D NP2QR2S2CT2U2V2VQR2W 2X2VRUY2LJZ2Z2A3 B3C3D3R2E3F3 G3H3SI3L2B2J3K3M L3M3N3O3P3Q3G3E3R3H3 SS3M3A3M3QDM3 K3VHQT3U3U3U3VV3W3UV KU3NX3U3Y3Z3N2VN2S3U 3U3Q U3N2KKU G3A4FCS3KU3DB4B4C4D4 U3VB4E4E3 N2B4N2N2VVU3U3N2B4 F4Y2U3B4CU3N2B4G4B4U 3B4U3UU3U DH4U3I4U3J4 U3E3CMB4U3U3 B3B

I met Hosea Job on Randolph StreetA
Who said to me I'm going for the trainB
I want you with meC
-
And it happened thenD
My mind was hard as muscles of the backE
Grow hard resisting cold or shock or strainB
And need the osteopath to be made suppleF
To give the nerves and streams of life a chanceG
Hosea Job was just the osteopathH
To loose relax my mood And so I saidI
All right and wentJ
-
Hosea was a manK
Whom nothing touched of danger or of harmL
His life was just a rare bit dream where some oneM
Seems like to fall before a truck or trainB
Instead he walks across them Or you seeC
Shadows of falling things great buildings toppleF
Pianos skid like bulls from hellish cornersN
And chase the oblivious fool who stands and smilesO
The buildings slant and sway like monstrous searchlightsP
But never touch him And the mad pianoQ
Comes up to him puts down its angry headI
Runs out a friendly tongue and licks his handR
And lows a symphonyC
-
By which I meanS
Hosea had some money and would signT
A bond or note for any man who asked himU
He'd rent a house and leave it rent anotherV
Then rent a farm move out from town and inW
He'd have the leases of superfluous placesX
Cancelled some how was never sued for rentJ
One time he had a fancy he would seeC
South Africa took ship with a load of mulesY
First telegraphing home from New OrleansZ
He'd be back in the Spring Likewise he wentJ
To Klondike with the rush I think he ownedA2
More kinds of mining stock than there were minesB2
He had more quaint peculiar men for friendsC2
Than one could think were living He believedD2
In every doctrine in its time that promisedE2
Salvation for the world He took no thoughtF2
For life or for to morrow or for healthH
Slept with his windows closed ate what he wishedG2
And if he cut his finger let it goQ
I offered him peroxide once he laughedH2
And when I asked him if his soul was savedI2
He only said I see things I lie backE
And take it easy Nothing can go wrongJ2
In any serious senseK2
-
So many thoughtF2
Hosea was a nut and others thoughtF2
That I was just a nut for liking himU
And what would any man of business sayL2
If he knew that I didn't ask a questionM
But simply went with him to take the trainB
That day he asked meC
-
And the train had goneM2
Five miles or so when I said Where you goingN2
Hosea answered and it made me startO2
Hosea answered simply We are goingN2
To see Sir GalahadP2
-
It made me startO2
To hear Hosea say this for I thoughtF2
He was now really off But I looked at himU
And saw his eyes were saneB
-
Sir GalahadP2
Who is Sir GalahadP2
-
Hosea answeredQ2
I'm going up to see Sir GalahadP2
And sound him out about re enteringN2
The game and run for governor againD
-
So then I knew he was the man our fathersN
Worked with and knew and called Sir GalahadP2
Now in retirement fifteen years or soQ
Well I was twenty five when he was famousR2
Sir Galahad was forty then and nowS2
Must be some fifty five while I am fortyC
So flashed across my thought the matter of timeT2
And ages So I thought of all he didU2
Of how he went from faith to faith in politicsV2
And ran for every office up to governorV
And ran for governor four times or soQ
And never was elected to an officeR2
He drew more bills to remedy injusticeW2
Improve the courts relieve the poor reformX2
Administration than the legislatureV
Could read much less digest or understandR
The people beat him and the leaders flogged himU
They shut the door against his face untilY2
He had no place to go except a farmL
Among the stony hills and there he wentJ
And thither we were going to see the knightZ2
And call him from his solitude to the fightZ2
Against injustice greedA3
-
So we got offB3
The train at Alden just a little villageC3
Of fifty houses lying beneath the sprawlD3
Of hills and hills And here there was a stillnessR2
Made lonelier by an anvil ringing byE3
A plow man's voice at intervalsF3
-
Here HoseaG3
Engaged a horse and buggy and we droveH3
And wound about a crooked road betweenS
Great hills that stood together like the backsI3
Of elephants in a herd where boulders layL2
As thick as hail in places Ruined pinesB2
Stood like burnt matches There was one which stuckJ3
Against a single cloud so white it seemedK3
A bursted bale of cottonM
-
We reached the summitL3
And drove along past orchards past a fieldM3
Level and green kept like a garden richN3
Against the coming harvest Here we metO3
A scarecrow man driving a scarecrow horseP3
Hitched to a wobbly wagon And we stoppedQ3
The scarecrow stopped The scarecrow and HoseaG3
Talked much of people and of farming IE3
Sat listening and I gathered from the talkR3
And what Hosea told me as we droveH3
That once this field so level and so greenS
The scarecrow owned He had cleaned out the stumpsS3
And tried to farm it failed and lost the fieldM3
But raged to lose it thought he might succeedA3
In further time Now having lost the fieldM3
So many years ago could be a scarecrowQ
And drive a scarecrow horse yet laugh againD
And have no care the sorrow healedM3
-
It seemedK3
The clearing of the stumps was scarce a starterV
Toward a field of profit For in truthH
The soil possessed a secret which the scarecrowQ
Never went deep enough to learn aboutT3
His problem was all stumps Not solving thatU3
He sold it to a farmer who out slavedU3
The busiest bee but only half succeededU3
He tried to raise potatoes made a failureV
He planted it in beans had half a cropV3
He sowed wheat once and reaped a stack of strawW3
The secret of the soil eluded himU
And here Hosea laughed This fellow's failureV
Was just the thing that gave another manK
The secret of the soil For he had studiedU3
The properties of soils and fertilizersN
And when he heard the field had failed to raiseX3
Potatoes beans and wheat he simply saidU3
There are other things to raise the question isY3
Whether the soil is suited to the thingsZ3
He tried to raise or whether it needs buildingN2
To raise the things he tried to raise or whetherV
It must be builded up for anythingN2
At least he said the field is clear of stumpsS3
Pass on your field he said If I lose outU3
I'll pass it on The field is his he saidU3
Who can make something growQ
-
And so this fieldU3
Of waving wheat along which we were drivingN2
Was just the very field the scarecrow manK
Had failed to master as that other manK
Had failed to master after himU
-
HoseaG3
Kept talking of this field as we drove onA4
That field he said is economicalF
Of men compared with many fields You seeC
It only used two men To grub the stumpsS3
Took all the scarecrow's strength That other manK
Ran off to Oklahoma from this fieldU3
I have known fields that ate a dozen menD
In country such as this The field remainsB4
And laughs and waits for some one who divinesB4
The secret of the field Some farmers liveC4
To prove what can't be done and narrow downD4
The guess of what is possible It's rightU3
A certain crop should prosper and anotherV
Should fail and when a farmer tries to raiseB4
A crop before it's time he wastes himselfE4
And wastes the field to tryE3
-
We now were climbingN2
To higher hills and rockier fields HoseaB4
Had fallen into silence I was thinkingN2
About Sir Galahad was wonderingN2
Which man he was the scarecrow or the farmerV
Who didn't know the seed to sow or whetherV
He might still prove the farmer raising wheatU3
Now we were come to give him back the fieldU3
With all the stumps grubbed out the secret lyingN2
Revealed and ready for the appointed handsB4
-
We passed an orchard growing on a knollF4
And saw a barn perked on a rocky hillY2
And near the barn a house Hosea saidU3
This is Sir Galahad's We tied the horseB4
And we were in the silence of the countryC
At mid day on a day in June No birdU3
Was singing fowl was cackling cow was lowingN2
No dog was barking All was summer stillnessB4
We crossed a back yard past a windlass wellG4
Dodged under clothes lines through a place of chipsB4
Walked in a path along the house I saidU3
Sir Galahad is ploughing or perhapsB4
Is mending fences cutting weeds It seemedU3
Too bad to come so far and not to find himU
We'll find him said Hosea Let us sitU3
Under that tree and wait for himU
-
And thenD
We turned the corner of the house and thereH4
Under a tree an old man sat his headU3
Bowed down upon his breast locked fast in sleepI4
And by his feet a dog half blind and fatU3
Lay dozing too inert to rise and barkJ4
-
Hosea gripped my arm Be still he saidU3
Let's ask him where Sir Galahad is said IE3
And then Hosea whispered God forgive meC
I had forgotten you too have forgottenM
The man is old he's very old The yearsB4
Go by unnoticed Come Sir GalahadU3
Should sleep and not be wakedU3
-
We tip toed offB3
And hurried back to Alden for the trainB

Edgar Lee Masters



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