A Prodigal Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDBCEDFEGGH IJKLMJMLNMMNOPThe brown enormous odor he lived by | A |
was too close with its breathing and thick hair | B |
for him to judge The floor was rotten the sty | A |
was plastered halfway up with glass smooth dung | C |
Light lashed self righteous above moving snouts | D |
the pigs' eyes followed him a cheerful stare | B |
even to the sow that always ate her young | C |
till sickening he leaned to scratch her head | E |
But sometimes mornings after drinking bouts | D |
he hid the pints behind the two by fours | F |
the sunrise glazed the barnyard mud with red | E |
the burning puddles seemed to reassure | G |
And then he thought he almost might endure | G |
his exile yet another year or more | H |
- | |
But evenings the first star came to warn | I |
The farmer whom he worked for came at dark | J |
to shut the cows and horses in the barn | K |
beneath their overhanging clouds of hay | L |
with pitchforks faint forked lightnings catching light | M |
safe and companionable as in the Ark | J |
The pigs stuck out their little feet and snored | M |
The lantern like the sun going away | L |
laid on the mud a pacing aureole | N |
Carrying a bucket along a slimy board | M |
he felt the bats' uncertain staggering flight | M |
his shuddering insights beyond his control | N |
touching him But it took him a long time | O |
finally to make up his mind to go home | P |
Elizabeth Bishop
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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