The Heddybee-spectre (from The Old Danish) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABC CDEE FFGH IIJJ KKFF LLJJ MMNN OOPP QQRR QHSS| I clomb in haste my dappled steed | A |
| And gallop'd far o'er mount and mead | A |
| And when the day drew nigh its close | B |
| I laid me down to take repose | C |
| - | |
| I laid me down to take repose | C |
| And slumbers sweet fell o'er my brows | D |
| And then methought as there I slept | E |
| From out the ground the dead man leapt | E |
| - | |
| Said he If thou art valiant Knight | F |
| My murder soon will see the light | F |
| For thou wilt ride to Heddybee | G |
| Where live my youthful brothers three | H |
| - | |
| And there too thou wilt surely find | I |
| My father dear and mother kind | I |
| And there sits Kate my much loved wife | J |
| Who with her women took my life | J |
| - | |
| They chok'd me as in bed I lay | K |
| Then wrapp'd me in a truss of hay | K |
| And bore me out at dead of night | F |
| And laid me in this lonely height | F |
| - | |
| The Groom who lately clean'd my stall | L |
| Now struts and vapours through my hall | L |
| Eats gaily with my silver knife | J |
| And sleeps with Kate my much lov'd wife | J |
| - | |
| His place is highest at the board | M |
| But what is most to be deplor'd | M |
| He gives my babes so little bread | N |
| And mocks them now their sire is dead | N |
| - | |
| Clad in my clothes he proudly stalks | O |
| Along the shady forest walks | O |
| And arm'd with bow and hunting spear | P |
| He shoots my birds and stabs my deer | P |
| - | |
| Were I alive to meet him now | Q |
| All underneath the linden bough | Q |
| With no one nigh my wrath to check | R |
| I'd wring his head from off his neck | R |
| - | |
| But hie thee hence to Heddybee | Q |
| Where live my youthful brothers three | H |
| First tell them all then stab the groom | S |
| Allow my wife a milder doom | S |
George Borrow
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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