Old King Cole Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCE FGFGHIJI KLKLMNMN OPQPRHRH STSTUIUI VUVWUUUU UAUAUQUQ WXWXYZYZ A2B2A2B2WUWU UC2UC2D2E2D2E2

In Tilbury Town did Old King ColeA
A wise old age anticipateB
Desiring with his pipe and bowlA
No Khan's extravagant estateB
No crown annoyed his honest headC
No fiddlers three were called or neededD
For two disastrous heirs insteadC
Made music more than ever three didE
-
Bereft of her with whom his lifeF
Was harmony without a flawG
He took no other for a wifeF
Nor sighed for any that he sawG
And if he doubted his two sonsH
And heirs Alexis and EvanderI
He might have been as doubtful onceJ
Of Robert Burns and AlexanderI
-
Alexis in his early youthK
Began to steal from old and youngL
Likewise Evander and the truthK
Was like a bad taste on his tongueL
Born thieves and liars their affairM
Seemed only to be tarred with evilN
The most insufferable pairM
Of scamps that ever cheered the devilN
-
The world went on their fame went onO
And they went on from bad to worseP
Till goaded hot with nothing doneQ
And each accoutred with a curseP
The friends of Old King Cole by twosR
And fours and sevens and elevensH
Pronounced unalterable viewsR
Of doings that were not of heaven'sH
-
And having learned again wherebyS
Their baleful zeal had come aboutT
King Cole met many a wrathful eyeS
So kindly that its wrath went outT
Or partly out Say what they wouldU
He seemed the more to court their candorI
But never told what kind of goodU
Was in Alexis and EvanderI
-
And Old King Cole with many a puffV
That haloed his urbanityU
Would smoke till he had smoked enoughV
And listen most attentivelyW
He beamed as with an inward lightU
That had the Lord's assurance in itU
And once a man was there all nightU
Expecting something every minuteU
-
But whether from too little thoughtU
Or too much fealty to the bowlA
A dim reward was all he gotU
For sitting up with Old King ColeA
Though mine the father mused aloudU
Are not the sons I would have chosenQ
Shall I less evilly endowedU
By their infirmity be frozenQ
-
They'll have a bad end I'll agreeW
But I was never born to groanX
For I can see what I can seeW
And I'm accordingly aloneX
With open heart and open doorY
I love my friends I like my neighborsZ
But if I try to tell you moreY
Your doubts will overmatch my laborsZ
-
This pipe would never make me calmA2
This bowl my grief would never drownB2
For grief like mine there is no balmA2
In Gilead or in Tilbury TownB2
And if I see what I can seeW
I know not any way to blind itU
Nor more if any way may beW
For you to grope or fly to find itU
-
There may be room for ruin yetU
And ashes for a wasted loveC2
Or like One whom you may forgetU
I may have meat you know not ofC2
And if I'd rather live than weepD2
Meanwhile do you find that surprisingE2
Why bless my soul the man's asleepD2
That's good The sun will soon be risingE2

Edwin Arlington Robinson



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