The Moose Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACB DEFEGF HIAAJA AAAAAA KLMNON APAAAA AQRSGG ANAAAA TTAUAA DADAVD WAXAAX RYZA2B2Y GAADC2A DAAD2E2D F2AC2RAC2 AC2AG2AA E2AH2AHH AHHI2HH AHXHHX DAJ2AHJ2 HHC2E2QE2 C2UADHA K2HDHHH AL2AAAA AAAAC2A M2DAE2HN2 ADAO2AD HC2B2P2HC2read and tea | A |
home of the long tides | B |
where the bay leaves the sea | A |
twice a day and takes | C |
the herrings long rides | B |
- | |
where if the river | D |
enters or retreats | E |
in a wall of brown foam | F |
depends on if it meets | E |
the bay coming in | G |
the bay not at home | F |
- | |
where silted red | H |
sometimes the sun sets | I |
facing a red sea | A |
and others veins the flats' | A |
lavender rich mud | J |
in burning rivulets | A |
- | |
on red gravelly roads | A |
down rows of sugar maples | A |
past clapboard farmhouses | A |
and neat clapboard churches | A |
bleached ridged as clamshells | A |
past twin silver birches | A |
- | |
through late afternoon | K |
a bus journeys west | L |
the windshield flashing pink | M |
pink glancing off of metal | N |
brushing the dented flank | O |
of blue beat up enamel | N |
- | |
down hollows up rises | A |
and waits patient while | P |
a lone traveller gives | A |
kisses and embraces | A |
to seven relatives | A |
and a collie supervises | A |
- | |
Goodbye to the elms | A |
to the farm to the dog | Q |
The bus starts The light | R |
grows richer the fog | S |
shifting salty thin | G |
comes closing in | G |
- | |
Its cold round crystals | A |
form and slide and settle | N |
in the white hens' feathers | A |
in gray glazed cabbages | A |
on the cabbage roses | A |
and lupins like apostles | A |
- | |
the sweet peas cling | T |
to their wet white string | T |
on the whitewashed fences | A |
bumblebees creep | U |
inside the foxgloves | A |
and evening commences | A |
- | |
One stop at Bass River | D |
Then the Economies | A |
Lower Middle Upper | D |
Five Islands Five Houses | A |
where a woman shakes a tablecloth | V |
out after supper | D |
- | |
A pale flickering Gone | W |
The Tantramar marshes | A |
and the smell of salt hay | X |
An iron bridge trembles | A |
and a loose plank rattles | A |
but doesn't give way | X |
- | |
On the left a red light | R |
swims through the dark | Y |
a ship's port lantern | Z |
Two rubber boots show | A2 |
illuminated solemn | B2 |
A dog gives one bark | Y |
- | |
A woman climbs in | G |
with two market bags | A |
brisk freckled elderly | A |
A grand night Yes sir | D |
all the way to Boston | C2 |
She regards us amicably | A |
- | |
Moonlight as we enter | D |
the New Brunswick woods | A |
hairy scratchy splintery | A |
moonlight and mist | D2 |
caught in them like lamb's wool | E2 |
on bushes in a pasture | D |
- | |
The passengers lie back | F2 |
Snores Some long sighs | A |
A dreamy divagation | C2 |
begins in the night | R |
a gentle auditory | A |
slow hallucination | C2 |
- | |
In the creakings and noises | A |
an old conversation | C2 |
not concerning us | A |
but recognizable somewhere | G2 |
back in the bus | A |
Grandparents' voices | A |
- | |
uninterruptedly | E2 |
talking in Eternity | A |
names being mentioned | H2 |
things cleared up finally | A |
what he said what she said | H |
who got pensioned | H |
- | |
deaths deaths and sicknesses | A |
the year he remarried | H |
the year something happened | H |
She died in childbirth | I2 |
That was the son lost | H |
when the schooner foundered | H |
- | |
He took to drink Yes | A |
She went to the bad | H |
When Amos began to pray | X |
even in the store and | H |
finally the family had | H |
to put him away | X |
- | |
Yes that peculiar | D |
affirmative Yes | A |
A sharp indrawn breath | J2 |
half groan half acceptance | A |
that means Life's like that | H |
We know it also death | J2 |
- | |
Talking the way they talked | H |
in the old featherbed | H |
peacefully on and on | C2 |
dim lamplight in the hall | E2 |
down in the kitchen the dog | Q |
tucked in her shawl | E2 |
- | |
Now it's all right now | C2 |
even to fall asleep | U |
just as on all those nights | A |
Suddenly the bus driver | D |
stops with a jolt | H |
turns off his lights | A |
- | |
A moose has come out of | K2 |
the impenetrable wood | H |
and stands there looms rather | D |
in the middle of the road | H |
It approaches it sniffs at | H |
the bus's hot hood | H |
- | |
Towering antlerless | A |
high as a church | L2 |
homely as a house | A |
or safe as houses | A |
A man's voice assures us | A |
Perfectly harmless | A |
- | |
Some of the passengers | A |
exclaim in whispers | A |
childishly softly | A |
Sure are big creatures | A |
It's awful plain | C2 |
Look It's a she | A |
- | |
Taking her time | M2 |
she looks the bus over | D |
grand otherworldly | A |
Why why do we feel | E2 |
we all feel this sweet | H |
sensation of joy | N2 |
- | |
Curious creatures | A |
says our quiet driver | D |
rolling his r's | A |
Look at that would you | O2 |
Then he shifts gears | A |
For a moment longer | D |
- | |
by craning backward | H |
the moose can be seen | C2 |
on the moonlit macadam | B2 |
then there's a dim | P2 |
smell of moose an acrid | H |
smell of gasoline | C2 |
Elizabeth Bishop
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Moose poem by Elizabeth Bishop
Best Poems of Elizabeth Bishop