As Red Men Die Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDEE FFGGHHIIJ KLLMMNNN OOPP IIQQRC PPSSTTGGUV WWXX YYZZA2A2U B2B2| Captive Is there a hell to him like this | A |
| A taunt more galling than the Huron's hiss | A |
| He proud and scornful he who laughed at law | B |
| He scion of the deadly Iroquois | C |
| He the bloodthirsty he the Mohawk chief | D |
| He who despises pain and sneers at grief | D |
| Here in the hated Huron's vicious clutch | E |
| That even captive he disdains to touch | E |
| - | |
| Captive Butnever conquered Mohawk brave | F |
| Stoops not to be to anyman a slave | F |
| Least to the puny tribe his soul abhors | G |
| The tribe whose wigwams sprinkle Simcoe's shores | G |
| With scowling brow he stands and courage high | H |
| Watching with haughty and defiant eye | H |
| His captors as they council o'er his fate | I |
| Or strive his boldness to intimidate | I |
| Then fling they unto him the choice | J |
| - | |
| Wilt thou walk o'er the bed of fire that waits thee now | K |
| Walk with uncovered feet upon the coals | L |
| Until thou reach the ghostly Land of Souls | L |
| And with thy Mohawk death song please our ear | M |
| Or wilt thou with the women rest thee here | M |
| His eyes flash like an eagle's and his hands | N |
| Clench at the insult Like a god he stands | N |
| Prepare the fire he scornfully demands | N |
| - | |
| He knoweth not that this same jeering band | O |
| Will bite the dust will lick the Mohawk's hand | O |
| Will kneel and cower at the Mohawk's feet | P |
| Will shrink when Mohawk war drums wildly beat | P |
| - | |
| HIs death will be avenged with hideous hate | I |
| By Iroquois swift to annihilate | I |
| His vile detested captors that now flaunt | Q |
| Their war clubs in his face with sneer and taunt | Q |
| Not thinking soon that reeeking red and raw | R |
| Their scalps will deck the belts of Iroquois | C |
| - | |
| The path of coals outstretches white with heat | P |
| A forest fir's length ready for his feet | P |
| Unflinching as a rock he steps along | S |
| The burning mass and sings his wild war song | S |
| Sings as he sang when once he used to roam | T |
| Throughout the forests of his southern home | T |
| Where down the Genesee the water roars | G |
| Where gentle Mohawk purls between its shores | G |
| Songs that of exploit and of prowess tell | U |
| Songs of the Iroquois invincible | V |
| - | |
| Up the long trail of fire he boasting goes | W |
| Dancing a war dance to defy his foes | W |
| His flesh is scorched his muscles burn and shrink | X |
| But still he dances to death's awful brink | X |
| - | |
| The eagle plume that crests his haughty head | Y |
| Will never droop until his heart be dead | Y |
| Slower and slower yet his footsep swings | Z |
| Wilder and wilder still his death song rings | Z |
| Fiercer and fiercer thro' the forest bounds | A2 |
| His voice that leaps to Happier Hunting Grounds | A2 |
| One savage yell | U |
| - | |
| Then loyal to his race | B2 |
| He bends to death butnever to disgrace | B2 |
Emily Pauline Johnson
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about As Red Men Die poem by Emily Pauline Johnson
Best Poems of Emily Pauline Johnson