The Spooniad Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Edgar Lee Masters

The Spooniad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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The late Mr Jonathan Swift Somers laureate of Spoon	A
River planned The Spooniad as an epic in twenty four books	B
but unfortunately did not live to complete even the first	C
book The fragment was found among his papers by William	D
Marion Reedy and was for the first time published in Reedy's	B
Mirror of Decemberth	E
	-
Of John Cabanis' wrath and of the strife	F
Of hostile parties and his dire defeat	G
Who led the common people in the cause	B
Of freedom for Spoon River and the fall	H
Of Rhodes' bank that brought unnumbered woes	B
And loss to many with engendered hate	I
That flamed into the torch in Anarch hands	B
To burn the court house on whose blackened wreck	J
A fairer temple rose and Progress stood	K
Sing muse that lit the Chian's face with smiles	B
Who saw the ant like Greeks and Trojans crawl	H
About Scamander over walls pursued	L
Or else pursuing and the funeral pyres	B
And sacred hecatombs and first because	B
Of Helen who with Paris fled to Troy	M
As soul mate and the wrath of Peleus' son	N
Decreed to lose Chryseis lovely spoil	O
Of war and dearest concubine	P
Say first	C
Thou son of night called Momus from whose eyes	B
No secret hides and Thalia smiling one	N
What bred 'twixt Thomas Rhodes and John Cabanis	B
The deadly strife His daughter Flossie she	Q
Returning from her wandering with a troop	R
Of strolling players walked the village streets	B
Her bracelets tinkling and with sparkling rings	B
And words of serpent wisdom and a smile	S
Of cunning in her eyes Then Thomas Rhodes	B
Who ruled the church and ruled the bank as well	T
Made known his disapproval of the maid	U
And all Spoon River whispered and the eyes	B
Of all the church frowned on her till she knew	V
They feared her and condemned	W
But them to flout	X
She gave a dance to viols and to flutes	B
Brought from Peoria and many youths	B
But lately made regenerate through the prayers	B
Of zealous preachers and of earnest souls	B
Danced merrily and sought her in the dance	B
Who wore a dress so low of neck that eyes	B
Down straying might survey the snowy swale	T
Till it was lost in whiteness	B
With the dance	B
The village changed to merriment from gloom	Y
The milliner Mrs Williams could not fill	T
Her orders for new hats and every seamstress	B
Plied busy needles making gowns old trunks	B
And chests were opened for their store of laces	B
And rings and trinkets were brought out of hiding	Z
And all the youths fastidious grew of dress	B
Notes passed and many a fair one's door at eve	A2
Knew a bouquet and strolling lovers thronged	B2
About the hills that overlooked the river	C2
Then since the mercy seats more empty showed	D2
One of God's chosen lifted up his voice	B
The woman of Babylon is among us rise	B
Ye sons of light and drive the wanton forth	E
So John Cabanis left the church and left	E2
The hosts of law and order with his eyes	B
By anger cleared and him the liberal cause	B
Acclaimed as nominee to the mayoralty	Q
To vanquish A D Blood	F2
But as the war	G2
Waged bitterly for votes and rumors flew	T
About the bank and of the heavy loans	B
Which Rhodes' son had made to prop his loss	B
In wheat and many drew their coin and left	E2
The bank of Rhodes more hollow with the talk	H2
Among the liberals of another bank	I2
Soon to be chartered lo the bubble burst	C
'Mid cries and curses but the liberals laughed	J2
And in the hall of Nicholas Bindle held	K2
Wise converse and inspiriting debate	I
	-
High on a stage that overlooked the chairs	B
Where dozens sat and where a pop eyed daub	L2
Of Shakespeare very like the hired man	M2
Of Christian Dallmann brow and pointed beard	N2
Upon a drab proscenium outward stared	O2
Sat Harmon Whitney to that eminence	B
By merit raised in ribaldry and guile	T
And to the assembled rebels thus he spake	P2
Whether to lie supine and let a clique	Q2
Cold blooded scheming hungry singing psalms	B
Devour our substance wreck our banks and drain	R2
Our little hoards for hazards on the price	B
Of wheat or pork or yet to cower beneath	E
The shadow of a spire upreared to curb	S2
A breed of lackeys and to serve the bank	I2
Coadjutor in greed that is the question	N
Shall we have music and the jocund dance	B
Or tolling bells Or shall young romance roam	T2
These hills about the river flowering now	U2
To April's tears or shall they sit at home	T2
Or play croquet where Thomas Rhodes may see	Q
I ask you If the blood of youth runs o'er	C2
And riots 'gainst this regimen of gloom	Y
Shall we submit to have these youths and maids	B
Branded as libertines and wantons	B
Ere	V2
His words were done a woman's voice called No	W2
Then rose a sound of moving chairs as when	X2
The numerous swine o'er run the replenished troughs	B
And every head was turned as when a flock	Y2
Of geese back turning to the hunter's tread	Z2
Rise up with flapping wings then rang the hall	T
With riotous laughter for with battered hat	A3
Tilted upon her saucy head and fist	B3
Raised in defiance Daisy Fraser stood	K
Headlong she had been hurled from out the hall	T
Save Wendell Bloyd who spoke for woman's rights	B
Prevented and the bellowing voice of Burchard	C3
Then 'mid applause she hastened toward the stage	D3
And flung both gold and silver to the cause	B
And swiftly left the hall	T
Meantime upstood	C3
A giant figure bearded like the son	N
Of Alcmene deep chested round of paunch	Q
And spoke in thunder Over there behold	C3
A man who for the truth withstood his wife	F
Such is our spirit when that A D Blood	C3
Compelled me to remove Dom Pedro	W2
Quick	E3
Before Jim Brown could finish Jefferson Howard	C3
Obtained the floor and spake Ill suits the time	F3
For clownish words and trivial is our cause	B
If naught's at stake but John Cabanis' wrath	E
He who was erstwhile of the other side	C3
And came to us for vengeance More's at stake	P2
Than triumph for New England or Virginia	G3
And whether rum be sold or for two years	B
As in the past two years this town be dry	H3
Matters but little Oh yes revenue	T
For sidewalks sewers that is well enough	I3
I wish to God this fight were now inspired	C3
By other passion than to salve the pride	C3
Of John Cabanis or his daughter Why	H3
Can never contests of great moment spring	Z
From worthy things not little Still if men	X2
Must always act so and if rum must be	Q
The symbol and the medium to release	B
From life's denial and from slavery	Q
Then give me rum	D
Exultant cries arose	B
Then as George Trimble had o'ercome his fear	J3
And vacillation and begun to speak	Q2
The door creaked and the idiot Willie Metcalf	K3
Breathless and hatless whiter than a sheet	C3
Entered and cried The marshal's on his way	L3
To arrest you all And if you only knew	T
Who's coming here to morrow I was listening	Z
Beneath the window where the other side	C3
Are making plans	B
So to a smaller room	Y
To hear the idiot's secret some withdrew	T
Selected by the Chair the Chair himself	M3
And Jefferson Howard Benjamin Pantier	T
And Wendell Bloyd George Trimble Adam Weirauch	Q
Imanuel Ehrenhardt Seth Compton Godwin James	B
And Enoch Dunlap Hiram Scates Roy Butler	T
Carl Hamblin Roger Heston Ernest Hyde	C3
And Penniwit the artist Kinsey Keene	N3
And E C Culbertson and Franklin Jones	B
Benjamin Fraser son of Benjamin Pantier	T
By Daisy Fraser some of lesser note	C3
And secretly conferred	C3
But in the hall	T
Disorder reigned and when the marshal came	O3
And found it so he marched the hoodlums out	C3
And locked them up	P3
	-
Meanwhile within a room	Y
Back in the basement of the church with Blood	C3
Counseled the wisest heads Judge Somers first	C3
Deep learned in life and next him Elliott Hawkins	B
And Lambert Hutchins next him Thomas Rhodes	B
And Editor Whedon next him Garrison Standard	C3
A traitor to the liberals who with lip	Q3
Upcurled in scorn and with a bitter sneer	T
Such strife about an insult to a woman	N
A girl of eighteen Christian Dallman too	T
And others unrecorded Some there were	T
Who frowned not on the cup but loathed the rule	T
Democracy achieved thereby the freedom	D
And lust of life it symbolized	C3
	-
Now morn with snowy fingers up the sky	H3
Flung like an orange at a festival	T
The ruddy sun when from their hasty beds	B
Poured forth the hostile forces and the streets	B
Resounded to the rattle of the wheels	B
That drove this way and that to gather in	R3
The tardy voters and the cries of chieftains	B
Who manned the battle But at ten o'clock	Y2
The liberals bellowed fraud and at the polls	B
The rival candidates growled and came to blows	B
Then proved the idiot's tale of yester eve	A2
A word of warning Suddenly on the streets	B
Walked hog eyed Allen terror of the hills	B
That looked on Bernadotte ten miles removed	C3
No man of this degenerate day could lift	C3
The boulders which he threw and when he spoke	S3
The windows rattled and beneath his brows	B
Thatched like a shed with bristling hair of black	T3
His small eyes glistened like a maddened boar	T
And as he walked the boards creaked as he walked	C3
A song of menace rumbled Thus he came	O3
The champion of A D Blood commissioned	C3
To terrify the liberals Many fled	C3
As when a hawk soars o'er the chicken yard	C3
He passed the polls and with a playful hand	C3
Touched Brown the giant and he fell against	C3
As though he were a child the wall so strong	U3
Was hog eyed Allen But the liberals smiled	C3
For soon as hog eyed Allen reached the walk	H2
Close on his steps paced Bengal Mike brought in	R3
By Kinsey Keene the subtle witted one	N
To match the hog eyed Allen He was scarce	B
Three fourths the other's bulk but steel his arms	B
And with a tiger's heart Two men he killed	C3
And many wounded in the days before	T
And no one feared	C3
But when the hog eyed one	N
Saw Bengal Mike his countenance grew dark	V3
The bristles o'er his red eyes twitched with rage	D3
The song he rumbled lowered Round and round	C3
The court house paced he followed stealthily	T
By Bengal Mike who jeered him every step	W3
Come elephant and fight Come hog eyed coward	C3
Come face about and fight me lumbering sneak	Q2
Come beefy bully hit me if you can	M2
Take out your gun you duffer give me reason	N
To draw and kill you Take your billy out	C3
I'll crack your boar's head with a piece of brick	E3
But never a word the hog eyed one returned	C3
But trod about the court house followed both	E
By troops of boys and watched by all the men	X2
All day they walked the square But when Apollo	T
Stood with reluctant look above the hills	B
As fain to see the end and all the votes	B
Were cast and closed the polls before the door	T
Of Trainor's drug store Bengal Mike in tones	B
That echoed through the village bawled the taunt	C3
Who was your mother hog eyed In a trice	B
As when a wild boar turns upon the hound	C3
That through the brakes upon an August day	L3
Has gashed him with its teeth the hog eyed one	N
Rushed with his giant arms on Bengal Mike	X3
And grabbed him by the throat Then rose to heaven	N
The frightened cries of boys and yells of men	X2
Forth rushing to the street And Bengal Mike	X3
Moved this way and now that drew in his head	C3
As if his neck to shorten and bent down	Y3
To break the death grip of the hog eyed one	N
'Twixt guttural wrath and fast expiring strength	E
Striking his fists against the invulnerable chest	C3
Of hog eyed Allen Then when some came in	R3
To part them others stayed them and the fight	C3
Spread among dozens many valiant souls	B
Went down from clubs and bricks	B
	-
But tell me Muse	B
What god or goddess rescued Bengal Mike	X3
With one last mighty struggle did he grasp	Z3
The murderous hands and turning kick his foe	T
Then as if struck by lightning vanished all	T
The strength from hog eyed Allen at his side	C3
Sank limp those giant arms and o'er his face	B
Dread pallor and the sweat of anguish spread	C3
And those great knees invincible but late	C3
Shook to his weight And quickly as the lion	N
Leaps on its wounded prey did Bengal Mike	X3
Smite with a rock the temple of his foe	T
And down he sank and darkness o'er his eyes	B
Passed like a cloud	C3
	-
As when the woodman fells	B
Some giant oak upon a summer's day	L3
And all the songsters of the forest shrill	T
And one great hawk that has his nestling young	A4
Amid the topmost branches croaks as crash	Q
The leafy branches through the tangled boughs	B
Of brother oaks so fell the hog eyed one	N
Amid the lamentations of the friends	B
Of A D Blood	C3
Just then four lusty men	X2
Bore the town marshall on whose iron face	B
The purple pall of death already lay	L3
To Trainor's drug store shot by Jack McGuire	T
And cries went up of Lynch him and the sound	C3
Of running feet from every side was heard	C3
Bent on the	G3