Isaac And Archibald Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCCD EFGHIJFFKLKM NKOPQRSKKFTUVWLBQXKY KKZA2TB2GC2D2 E2FF2G2TG2H2KCKLFKKI 2J2KKK2KL2SM2N2LO2P2 KQ2R2S2KKKTKT2U2V2K M2OW2X2KY2N2KKZ2KKJ2 EH2A3KBBKKBKB3CKC3 H2KE2D3BFOE3KF3G3H3I 3BKJ3D2K2B2HK3LKE3L3 GTM3NB2 D2JFKN3FKFKKO3P3Q3KR 3S3KKE3KN2FZKE2K RB3T3FKSF2M2B2KU3KLK KKPKKE2NV3W3KX3Y3MZ3 F3KCKT2HKKI3A4R2B4C4 D4E4F4QKG4KQ3KSH4I4K J4TF2OA3IJ2KKB3BKKKO 3KK4L4KQM4KM4KM4M4KK N4KQ2O4M4M4A3M4BM4M4 KA2M4VM4KKP4KQ4M4N2O 2R4G2M4M4K4K4KM4M4KM 4M4A3KG2KCM4KM4KA3M4 M4KS4Q4QKUKQ2 P4KKLIM4KM4M4M4OB3M4 KK2M4E2S3 M4M4KT4OM4M4VM4U4Q4M 4M4NM4KV4V4KKM4M4KM4 M4M4M4KNKM4M4KM4M4KW 4X4V4M4 KKCCKBM4E2M4H2 KKKKV4M4M4M4V4E2M4P2 KY4M4CQ4KZ4KK2V4V4BM 4VKM4VM4KX4 KVCM4EM4M4BC

To Mrs Henry Richards	A
	-
Isaac and Archibald were two old men	B
I knew them and I may have laughed at them	C
A little but I must have honored them	C
For they were old and they were good to me	D
	-
I do not think of either of them now	E
Without remembering infallibly	F
A journey that I made one afternoon	G
With Isaac to find out what Archibald	H
Was doing with his oats It was high time	I
Those oats were cut said Isaac and he feared	J
That Archibald well he could never feel	F
Quite sure of Archibald Accordingly	F
The good old man invited me that is	K
Permitted me to go along with him	L
And I with a small boy's adhesiveness	K
To competent old age got up and went	M
	-
I do not know that I cared overmuch	N
For Archibald's or anybody's oats	K
But Archibald was quite another thing	O
And Isaac yet another and the world	P
Was wide and there was gladness everywhere	Q
We walked together down the River Road	R
With all the warmth and wonder of the land	S
Around us and the wayside flash of leaves	K
And Isaac said the day was glorious	K
But somewhere at the end of the first mile	F
I found that I was figuring to find	T
How long those ancient legs of his would keep	U
The pace that he had set for them The sun	V
Was hot and I was ready to sweat blood	W
But Isaac for aught I could make of him	L
Was cool to his hat band So I said then	B
With a dry gasp of affable despair	Q
Something about the scorching days we have	X
In August without knowing it sometimes	K
But Isaac said the day was like a dream	Y
And praised the Lord and talked about the breeze	K
I made a fair confession of the breeze	K
And crowded casually on his thought	Z
The nearness of a profitable nook	A2
That I could see First I was half inclined	T
To caution him that he was growing old	B2
But something that was not compassion soon	G
Made plain the folly of all subterfuge	C2
Isaac was old but not so old as that	D2
	-
So I proposed without an overture	E2
That we be seated in the shade a while	F
And Isaac made no murmur Soon the talk	F2
Was turned on Archibald and I began	G2
To feel some premonitions of a kind	T
That only childhood knows for the old man	G2
Had looked at me and clutched me with his eye	H2
And asked if I had ever noticed things	K
I told him that I could not think of them	C
And I knew then by the frown that left his face	K
Unsatisfied that I had injured him	L
My good young friend he said you cannot feel	F
What I have seen so long You have the eyes	K
Oh yes but you have not the other things	K
The sight within that never will deceive	I2
You do not know you have no right to know	J2
The twilight warning of experience	K
The singular idea of loneliness	K
These are not yours But they have long been mine	K2
And they have shown me now for seven years	K
That Archibald is changing It is not	L2
So much that he should come to his last hand	S
And leave the game and go the old way down	M2
But I have known him in and out so long	N2
And I have seen so much of good in him	L
That other men have shared and have not seen	O2
And I have gone so far through thick and thin	P2
Through cold and fire with him that now it brings	K
To this old heart of mine an ache that you	Q2
Have not yet lived enough to know about	R2
But even unto you and your boy's faith	S2
Your freedom and your untried confidence	K
A time will come to find out what it means	K
To know that you are losing what was yours	K
To know that you are being left behind	T
And then the long contempt of innocence	K
God bless you boy don't think the worse of it	T2
Because an old man chatters in the shade	U2
Will all be like a story you have read	V2
In childhood and remembered for the pictures	K
	-
And when the best friend of your life goes down	M2
When first you know in him the slackening	O
That comes and coming always tells the end	W2
Now in a common word that would have passed	X2
Uncaught from any other lips than his	K
Now in some trivial act of every day	Y2
Done as he might have done it all along	N2
But for a twinging little difference	K
That nips you like a squirrel's teeth oh yes	K
Then you will understand it well enough	Z2
But oftener it comes in other ways	K
It comes without your knowing when it comes	K
You know that he is changing and you know	J2
That he is going just as I know now	E
That Archibald is going and that I	H2
Am staying Look at me my boy	A3
And when the time shall come for you to see	K
That I must follow after him try then	B
To think of me to bring me back again	B
Just as I was to day Think of the place	K
Where we are sitting now and think of me	K
Think of old Isaac as you knew him then	B
When you set out with him in August once	K
To see old Archibald The words come back	B3
Almost as Isaac must have uttered them	C
And there comes with them a dry memory	K
Of something in my throat that would not move	C3
	-
If you had asked me then to tell just why	H2
I made so much of Isaac and the things	K
He said I should have gone far for an answer	E2
For I knew it was not sorrow that I felt	D3
Whatever I may have wished it or tried then	B
To make myself believe My mouth was full	F
Of words and they would have been comforting	O
To Isaac spite of my twelve years I think	E3
But there was not in me the willingness	K
To speak them out Therefore I watched the ground	F3
And I was wondering what made the Lord	G3
Create a thing so nervous as an ant	H3
When Isaac with commendable unrest	I3
Ordained that we should take the road again	B
For it was yet three miles to Archibald's	K
And one to the first pump I felt relieved	J3
All over when the old man told me that	D2
I felt that he had stilled a fear of mine	K2
That those extremities of heat and cold	B2
Which he had long gone through with Archibald	H
Had made the man impervious to both	K3
But Isaac had a desert somewhere in him	L
And at the pump he thanked God for all things	K
That He had put on earth for men to drink	E3
And he drank well so well that I proposed	L3
That we go slowly lest I learn too soon	G
The bitterness of being left behind	T
And all those other things That was a joke	M3
To Isaac and it pleased him very much	N
And that pleased me for I was twelve years old	B2
	-
At the end of an hour's walking after that	D2
The cottage of old Archibald appeared	J
Little and white and high on a smooth round hill	F
It stood with hackmatacks and apple trees	K
Before it and a big barn roof beyond	N3
And over the place trees house fields and all	F
Hovered an air of still simplicity	K
And a fragrance of old summers the old style	F
That lives the while it passes I dare say	K
That I was lightly conscious of all this	K
When Isaac of a sudden stopped himself	O3
And for the long first quarter of a minute	P3
Gazed with incredulous eyes forgetful quite	Q3
Of breezes and of me and of all else	K
Under the scorching sun but a smooth cut field	R3
Faint yellow in the distance I was young	S3
But there were a few things that I could see	K
And this was one of them Well well said he	K
And Archibald will be surprised I think	E3
Said I But all my childhood subtlety	K
Was lost on Isaac for he strode along	N2
Like something out of Homer powerful	F
And awful on the wayside so I thought	Z
Also I thought how good it was to be	K
So near the end of my short legged endeavor	E2
To keep the pace with Isaac for five miles	K
	-
Hardly had we turned in from the main road	R
When Archibald with one hand on his back	B3
And the other clutching his huge headed cane	T3
Came limping down to meet us Well well well	F
Said he and then he looked at my red face	K
All streaked with dust and sweat and shook my hand	S
And said it must have been a right smart walk	F2
That we had had that day from Tilbury Town	M2
Magnificent said Isaac and he told	B2
About the beautiful west wind there was	K
Which cooled and clarified the atmosphere	U3
You must have made it with your legs I guess	K
Said Archibald and Isaac humored him	L
With one of those infrequent smiles of his	K
Which he kept in reserve apparently	K
For Archibald alone But why said he	K
Should Providence have cider in the world	P
If not for such an afternoon as this	K
And Archibald with a soft light in his eyes	K
Replied that if he chose to go down cellar	E2
There he would find eight barrels one of which	N
Was newly tapped he said and to his taste	V3
An honor to the fruit Isaac approved	W3
Most heartily of that and guided us	K
Forthwith as if his venerable feet	X3
Were measuring the turf in his own door yard	Y3
Straight to the open rollway Down we went	M
Out of the fiery sunshine to the gloom	Z3
Grateful and half sepulchral where we found	F3
The barrels like eight potent sentinels	K
Close ranged along the wall From one of them	C
A bright pine spile stuck out alluringly	K
And on the black flat stone just under it	T2
Glimmered a late spilled proof that Archibald	H
Had spoken from unfeigned experience	K
There was a fluted antique water glass	K
Close by and in it prisoned or at rest	I3
There was a cricket of the brown soft sort	A4
That feeds on darkness Isaac turned him out	R2
And touched him with his thumb to make him jump	B4
And then composedly pulled out the plug	C4
With such a practised hand that scarce a drop	D4
Did even touch his fingers Then he drank	E4
And smacked his lips with a slow patronage	F4
And looked along the line of barrels there	Q
With a pride that may have been forgetfulness	K
That they were Archibald's and not his own	G4
I never twist a spigot nowadays	K
He said and raised the glass up to the light	Q3
But I thank God for orchards And that glass	K
Was filled repeatedly for the same hand	S
Before I thought it worth while to discern	H4
Again that I was young and that old age	I4
With all his woes had some advantages	K
Now Archibald said Isaac when we stood	J4
Outside again I have it in my mind	T
That I shall take a sort of little walk	F2
To stretch my legs and see what you are doing	O
You stay and rest your back and tell the boy	A3
A story Tell him all about the time	I
In Stafford's cabin forty years ago	J2
When four of us were snowed up for ten days	K
With only one dried haddock Tell him all	K
About it and be wary of your back	B3
Now I will go along I looked up then	B
At Archibald and as I looked I saw	K
Just how his nostrils widened once or twice	K
And then grew narrow I can hear today	K
The way the old man chuckled to himself	O3
Not wholesomely not wholly to convince	K
Another of his mirth as I can hear	K4
The lonely sigh that followed But at length	L4
He said The orchard now's the place for us	K
We may find something like an apple there	Q
And we shall have the shade at any rate	M4
So there we went and there we laid ourselves	K
Where the sun could not reach us and I champed	M4
A dozen of worm blighted astrakhans	K
While Archibald said nothing merely told	M4
The tale of Stafford's cabin which was good	M4
Though master chilly after his own phrase	K
Even for a day like that But other thoughts	K
Were moving in his mind imperative	N4
And writhing to be spoken I could see	K
The glimmer of them in a glance or two	Q2
Cautious or else unconscious that he gave	O4
Over his shoulder Stafford and the rest	M4
But that's an old song now and Archibald	M4
And Isaac are old men Remember boy	A3
That we are old Whatever we have gained	M4
Or lost or thrown away we are old men	B
You look before you and we look behind	M4
And we are playing life out in the shadow	M4
But that's not all of it The sunshine lights	K
A good road yet before us if we look	A2
And we are doing that when least we know it	M4
For both of us are children of the sun	V
Like you and like the weed there at your feet	M4
The shadow calls us and it frightens us	K
We think but there's a light behind the stars	K
And we old fellows who have dared to live	P4
We see it and we see the other things	K
The other things Yes I have seen it come	Q4
These eight years and these ten years and I know	M4
Now that it cannot be for very long	N2
That Isaac will be Isaac You have seen	O2
Young as you are you must have seen the strange	R4
Uncomfortable habit of the man	G2
He'll take my nerves and tie them in a knot	M4
Sometimes and that's not Isaac I know that	M4
And I know what it is I get it here	K4
A little in my knees and Isaac here	K4
The old man shook his head regretfully	K
And laid his knuckles three times on his forehead	M4
That's what it is Isaac is not quite right	M4
You see it but you don't know what it means	K
The thousand little differences no	M4
You do not know them and it's well you don't	M4
You'll know them soon enough God bless you boy	A3
You'll know them but not all of them not all	K
So think of them as little as you can	G2
There's nothing in them for you or for me	K
But I am old and I must think of them	C
I'm in the shadow but I don't forget	M4
The light my boy the light behind the stars	K
Remember that remember that I said it	M4
And when the time that you think far away	K
Shall come for you to say it say it boy	A3
Let there be no confusion or distrust	M4
In you no snarling of a life half lived	M4
Nor any cursing over broken things	K
That your complaint has been the ruin of	S4
Live to see clearly and the light will come	Q4
To you and as you need it But there there	Q
I'm going it again as Isaac says	K
And I'll stop now before you go to sleep	U
Only be sure that you growl cautiously	K
And always where the shadow may not reach you	Q2
	-
Never shall I forget long as I live	P4
The quaint thin crack in Archibald's voice	K
The lonely twinkle in his little eyes	K
Or the way it made me feel to be with him	L
I know I lay and looked for a long time	I
Down through the orchard and across the road	M4
Across the river and the sun scorched hills	K
That ceased in a blue forest where the world	M4
Ceased with it Now and then my fancy caught	M4
A flying glimpse of a good life beyond	M4
Something of ships and sunlight streets and singing	O
Troy falling and the ages coming back	B3
And ages coming forward Archibald	M4
And Isaac were good fellows in old clothes	K
And Agamemnon was a friend of mine	K2
Ulysses coming home again to shoot	M4
With bows and feathered arrows made another	E2
And all was as it should be I was young	S3
	-
So I lay dreaming of what things I would	M4
Calm and incorrigibly satisfied	M4
With apples and romance and ignorance	K
And the still smoke from Archibald's clay pipe	T4
There was a stillness over everything	O
As if the spirit of heat had laid its hand	M4
Upon the world and hushed it and I felt	M4
Within the mightiness of the white sun	V
That smote the land around us and wrought out	M4
A fragrance from the trees a vital warmth	U4
And fullness for the time that was to come	Q4
And a glory for the world beyond the forest	M4
The present and the future and the past	M4
Isaac and Archibald the burning bush	N
The Trojans and the walls of Jericho	M4
Were beautifully fused and all went well	K
Till Archibald began to fret for Isaac	V4
And said it was a master day for sunstroke	V4
That was enough to make a mummy smile	K
I thought and I remained hilarious	K
In face of all precedence and respect	M4
Till Isaac who had come to us unheard	M4
Found he had no tobacco looked at me	K
Peculiarly and asked of Archibald	M4
What ailed the boy to make him chirrup so	M4
From that he told us what a blessed world	M4
The Lord had given us But Archibald	M4
He added with a sweet severity	K
That made me think of peach skins and goose flesh	N
I'm half afraid you cut those oats of yours	K
A day or two before they were well set	M4
They were set well enough said Archibald	M4
And I remarked the process of his nose	K
Before the words came out But never mind	M4
Your neighbor's oats you stay here in the shade	M4
And rest yourself while I go find the cards	K
We'll have a little game of seven up	W4
And let the boy keep count We'll have the game	X4
Assuredly said Isaac and I think	V4
That I will have a drop of cider also	M4
	-
They marched away together towards the house	K
And left me to my childish ruminations	K
Upon the ways of men I followed them	C
Down cellar with my fancy and then left them	C
For a fairer vision of all things at once	K
That was anon to be destroyed again	B
By the sound of voices and of heavy feet	M4
One of the sounds of life that I remember	E2
Though I forget so many that rang first	M4
As if they were thrown down to me from Sinai	H2
	-
So I remember even to this day	K
Just how they sounded how they placed themselves	K
And how the game went on while I made marks	K
And crossed them out and meanwhile made some Trojans	K
Likewise I made Ulysses after Isaac	V4
And a little after Flaxman Archibald	M4
Was injured when he found himself left out	M4
But he had no heroics and I said so	M4
I told him that his white beard was too long	V4
And too straight down to be like things in Homer	E2
Quite so said Isaac Low said Archibald	M4
And he threw down a deuce with a deep grin	P2
That showed his yellow teeth and made me happy	K
So they played on till a bell rang from the door	Y4
And Archibald said Supper After that	M4
The old men smoked while I sat watching them	C
And wondered with all comfort what might come	Q4
To me and what might never come to me	K
And when the time came for the long walk home	Z4
With Isaac in the twilight I could see	K
The forest and the sunset and the sky line	K2
No matter where it was that I was looking	V4
The flame beyond the boundary the music	V4
The foam and the white ships and two old men	B
Were things that would not leave me And that night	M4
There came to me a dream a shining one	V
With two old angels in it They had wings	K
And they were sitting where a silver light	M4
Suffused them face to face The wings of one	V
Began to palpitate as I approached	M4
But I was yet unseen when a dry voice	K
Cried thinly with unpatronizing triumph
I've got you Isaac high low jack and the game	X4
	-
Isaac and Archibald have gone their way	K
To the silence of the loved and well forgotten	V
I knew them and I may have laughed at them	C
But there's a laughing that has honor in it	M4
And I have no regret for light words now	E
Rather I think sometimes they may have made	M4
Their sport of me but they would not do that	M4
They were too old for that They were old men	B
And I may laugh at them because I knew them	C

Edwin Arlington Robinson

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