The Martyr Of Alabama Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGH IJKJ LMNM OPQP RSTS UVWV XYMY ZA2ZA2 DB2C2B2 D2E2F2E2 G2H2WH2 C2I2WI2 J2K2VK2 L2M2QM2 C2N2O2N2 IXF2X P2N2H2N2 ZQ2G2R2 H2S2LS2 TT2U2T2 PXIX WV2F2V2Tim Thompson a little negro boy was asked | A |
to dance for the amusement of some white | B |
toughs He refused saying he was a church | C |
member One of the men knocked him | D |
down with a club and then danced upon his | E |
prostrate form He then shot the boy in the | F |
hip The boy is dead his murderer is still at | G |
large News Item | H |
- | |
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He lifted up his pleading eyes | I |
And scanned each cruel face | J |
Where cold and brutal cowardice | K |
Had left its evil trace | J |
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It was when tender memories | L |
Round Beth'lem's manger lay | M |
And mothers told their little ones | N |
Of Jesu's natal day | M |
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And of the Magi from the East | O |
Who came their gifts to bring | P |
And bow in rev'rence at the feet | Q |
Of Salem's new born King | P |
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And how the herald angels sang | R |
The choral song of peace | S |
That war should close his wrathful lips | T |
And strife and carnage cease | S |
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At such an hour men well may hush | U |
Their discord and their strife | V |
And o'er that manger clasp their hands | W |
With gifts to brighten life | V |
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Alas that in our favored land | X |
That cruelty and crime | Y |
Should cast their shadows o'er a day | M |
The fairest pearl of time | Y |
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A dark browed boy had drawn anear | Z |
A band of savage men | A2 |
Just as a hapless lamb might stray | Z |
Into a tiger's den | A2 |
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Cruel and dull they saw in him | D |
For sport an evil chance | B2 |
And then demanded of the child | C2 |
To give to them a dance | B2 |
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Come dance for us the rough men said | D2 |
I can't the child replied | E2 |
I cannot for the dear Lord's sake | F2 |
Who for my sins once died | E2 |
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Tho' they were strong and he was weak | G2 |
He wouldn't his Lord deny | H2 |
His life lay in their cruel hands | W |
But he for Christ could die | H2 |
- | |
Heard they aright Did that brave child | C2 |
Their mandates dare resist | I2 |
Did he against their stern commands | W |
Have courage to insist | I2 |
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Then recklessly a man arose | J2 |
And dealt a fearful blow | K2 |
He crushed the portals of that life | V |
And laid the brave child low | K2 |
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And trampled on his prostrate form | L2 |
As on a broken toy | M2 |
Then danced with careless brutal feet | Q |
Upon the murdered boy | M2 |
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Christians behold that martyred child | C2 |
His blood cries from the ground | N2 |
Before the sleepless eye of God | O2 |
He shows each gaping wound | N2 |
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Oh Church of Christ arise arise | I |
Lest crimson stain thy hand | X |
When God shall inquisition make | F2 |
For blood shed in the land | X |
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Take sackcloth of the darkest hue | P2 |
And shroud the pulpits round | N2 |
Servants of him who cannot lie | H2 |
Sit mourning on the ground | N2 |
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Let holy horror blanch each brow | Z |
Pale every cheek with fears | Q2 |
And rocks and stones if ye could speak | G2 |
Ye well might melt to tears | R2 |
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Through every fane send forth a cry | H2 |
Of sorrow and regret | S2 |
Nor in an hour of careless ease | L |
Thy brother's wrongs forget | S2 |
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Veil not thine eyes nor close thy lips | T |
Nor speak with bated breath | T2 |
This evil shall not always last | U2 |
The end of it is death | T2 |
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Avert the doom that crime must bring | P |
Upon a guilty land | X |
Strong in the strength that God supplies | I |
For truth and justice stand | X |
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For Christless men with reckless hands | W |
Are sowing round thy path | V2 |
The tempests wild that yet shall break | F2 |
In whirlwinds of God's wrath | V2 |
Frances E. W. Harper
(1)
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