The Puritan's Ballad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CACA DEDE FGFG HIHJ KLML NONO PQPQ RARA ASAS TSUS VWVW XYX AZA A2B2A2B2 C2AC2A ABAB| My love came up from Barnegat | A |
| The sea was in his eyes | B |
| He trod as softly as a cat | A |
| And told me terrible lies | B |
| - | |
| His hair was yellow as new cut pine | C |
| In shavings curled and feathered | A |
| I thought how silver it would shine | C |
| By cruel winters weathered | A |
| - | |
| But he was in his twentieth year | D |
| Ths time I'm speaking of | E |
| We were head over heels in love with fear | D |
| And half a feared of love | E |
| - | |
| My hair was piled in a copper crown | F |
| A devilish living thing | G |
| And the tortise shell pins fell down fell down | F |
| When that snake uncoiled to spring | G |
| - | |
| His feet were used to treading a gale | H |
| And balancing thereon | I |
| His face was as brown as a foreign sail | H |
| Threadbare against the sun | J |
| - | |
| His arms were thick as hickory logs | K |
| Whittled to little wrists | L |
| Strong as the teeth of a terrier dog | M |
| Were the fingers of his fists | L |
| - | |
| Within his arms I feared to sink | N |
| Where lions shook their manes | O |
| And dragons drawn in azure ink | N |
| Lept quickened by his veins | O |
| - | |
| Dreadful his strength and length of limb | P |
| As the sea to foundering ships | Q |
| I dipped my hands in love for him | P |
| No deeper than the tips | Q |
| - | |
| But our palms were welded by a flame | R |
| The moment we came to part | A |
| And on his knuckles I read my name | R |
| Enscrolled with a heart | A |
| - | |
| And something made our wills to bend | A |
| As wild as trees blown over | S |
| We were no longer friend and friend | A |
| But only lover and lover | S |
| - | |
| In seven weeks or seventy years | T |
| God grant it may be sooner | S |
| I'll make a hankerchief for you | U |
| From the sails of my captain's schooner | S |
| - | |
| We'll wear our loves like wedding rings | V |
| Long polished to our touch | W |
| We shall be busy with other things | V |
| And they cannot bother us much | W |
| - | |
| When you are skimming the wrinkled cream | X |
| And your ring clinks on the pan | Y |
| You'll say to yourself in a pensive dream | X |
| 'How wonderful a man ' | - |
| - | |
| When I am slitting a fish's head | A |
| And my ring clanks on the knife | Z |
| I'll say with thanks as a prayer is said | A |
| 'How beautiful a wife ' | - |
| - | |
| And I shall fold my decorous paws | A2 |
| In velvet smooth and deep | B2 |
| Like a kitten that covers up its claws | A2 |
| To sleep and sleep and sleep | B2 |
| - | |
| Like a little blue pigeon you shall bow | C2 |
| Your bright alarming crest | A |
| In the crook of my arm you'll lay your brow | C2 |
| To rest and rest and rest | A |
| - | |
| Will he never come back from Barnegat | A |
| With thunder in his eyes | B |
| Treading as soft as a tiger cat | A |
| To tell me terrible lies | B |
Elinor Morton Wylie
(1)
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About The Puritan's Ballad
The Puritan's Ballad is a poem by Elinor Morton Wylie. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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