The Combat Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAAB CDCED FGFFH IJIIJ KLKKL MNMMN OHPPH QGQQH RSRRS TUTTU| It was not meant for human eyes | A |
| That combat on the shabby patch | B |
| Of clods and trampled turf that lies | A |
| Somewhere beneath the sodden skies | A |
| For eye of toad or adder to catch | B |
| - | |
| And having seen it I accuse | C |
| The crested animal in his pride | D |
| Arrayed in all the royal hues | C |
| Which hide the claws he well can use | E |
| To tear the heart out of the side | D |
| - | |
| Body of leopard eagle's head | F |
| And whetted beak and lion's mane | G |
| And frost grey hedge of feathers spread | F |
| Behind he seemed of all things bred | F |
| I shall not see his like again | H |
| - | |
| As for his enemy there came in | I |
| A soft round beast as brown as clay | J |
| All rent and patched his wretched skin | I |
| A battered bag he might have been | I |
| Some old used thing to throw away | J |
| - | |
| Yet he awaited face to face | K |
| The furious beast and the swift attack | L |
| Soon over and done That was no place | K |
| Or time for chivalry or for grace | K |
| The fury had him on his back | L |
| - | |
| And two small paws like hands flew out | M |
| To right and left as the trees stood by | N |
| One would have said beyond a doubt | M |
| That was the very end of the bout | M |
| But that the creature would not die | N |
| - | |
| For ere the death stroke he was gone | O |
| Writhed whirled into his den | H |
| Safe somehow there The fight was done | P |
| And he had lost who had all but won | P |
| But oh his deadly fury then | H |
| - | |
| A while the place lay blank forlorn | Q |
| Drowsing as in relief from pain | G |
| The cricket chirped the grating thorn | Q |
| Stirred and a little sound was born | Q |
| The champions took their posts again | H |
| - | |
| And all began The stealthy paw | R |
| Slashed out and in Could nothing save | S |
| These rags and tatters from the claw | R |
| Nothing And yet I never saw | R |
| A beast so helpless and so brave | S |
| - | |
| And now while the trees stand watching still | T |
| The unequal battle rages there | U |
| The killing beast that cannot kill | T |
| Swells and swells in his fury till | T |
| You'd almost think it was despair | U |
Edwin Muir
(1)
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