Brother And Sister Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBD EFEF GHGH IJ A KLKL MNMN GOGP QQ A RSRS TUTU VWVW GG X YGYG ZWZW A2GA2G B2B2 X MC2MC2 GD2GD2 GXGX GG X GE2GE2 WBWB F2G2F2G2 XX W GGGG H2GH2G GGGG I2I2 W KXJ2X B2K2B2K2 GL2GL2 GG F2 M2NM2N WGW GF2GF2 XX F2 NN2NN2 O2P2O2P2 GNGN Q2Q2 X R2GS2G BT2BT2 U2F2U2F2 V2V2

IA
-
I cannot choose but think upon the timeB
When our two lives grew like two buds that kissC
At lightest thrill from the bee's swinging chimeB
Because the one so near the other isD
-
He was the elder and a little manE
Of forty inches bound to show no dreadF
And I the girl that puppy like now ranE
Now lagged behind my brother's larger treadF
-
I held him wise and when he talked to meG
Of snakes and birds and which God loved the bestH
I thought his knowledge marked the boundaryG
Where men grew blind though angels knew the restH
-
If he said 'Hush ' I tried to hold my breathI
Wherever he said 'Come ' I stepped in faithJ
-
IIA
-
Long years have left their writing on my browK
But yet the freshness and the dew fed beamL
Of those young mornings are about me nowK
When we two wandered toward the far off streamL
-
With rod and line Our basket held a storeM
Baked for us only and I thought with joyN
That I should have my share though he had moreM
Because he was the elder and a boyN
-
The firmaments of daisies since to meG
Have had those mornings in their opening eyesO
The bunch d cowslip's pale transparencyG
Carries that sunshine of sweet memoriesP
-
And wild rose branches take their finest scentQ
From those blest hours of infantine contentQ
-
IIIA
-
Our mother bade us keep the trodden waysR
Stroked down my tippet set my brother's frillS
Then with the benediction of her gazeR
Clung to us lessening and pursued us stillS
-
Across the homestead to the rookery elmsT
Whose tall old trunks had each a grassy moundU
So rich for us we counted them as realmsT
With varied products here were earth nuts foundU
-
And here the Lady fingers in deep shadeV
Here sloping toward the Moat the rushes grewW
The large to split for pith the small to braidV
While over all the dark rooks cawing flewW
-
And made a happy strange solemnityG
A deep toned chant from life unknown to meG
-
IVX
-
Our meadow path had memorable spotsY
One where it bridged a tiny rivuletG
Deep hid by tangled blue Forget me notsY
And all along the waving grasses metG
-
My little palm or nodded to my cheekZ
When flowers with upturned faces gazing drewW
My wonder downward seeming all to speakZ
With eyes of souls that dumbly heard and knewW
-
Then came the copse where wild things rushed unseenA2
And black scathed grass betrayed the past abodeG
Of mystic gypsies who still lurked betweenA2
Me and each hidden distance of the roadG
-
A gypsy once had startled me at playB2
Blotting with her dark smile my sunny dayB2
-
VX
-
Thus rambling we were schooled in deepest loreM
And learned the meanings that give words a soulC2
The fear the love the primal passionate storeM
Whose shaping impulses make manhood wholeC2
-
Those hours were seed to all my after goodG
My infant gladness through eye ear and touchD2
Took easily as warmth a various foodG
To nourish the sweet skill of loving muchD2
-
For who in age shall roam the earth and findG
Reasons for loving that will strike out loveX
With sudden rod from the hard year pressed mindG
Were reasons sown as thick as stars aboveX
-
'Tis love must see them as the eye sees lightG
Day is but Number to the darkened sightG
-
VIX
-
Our brown canal was endless to my thoughtG
And on its banks I sat in dreamy peaceE2
Unknowing how the good I loved was wroughtG
Untroubled by the fear that it would ceaseE2
-
Slowly the barges floated into viewW
Rounding a grassy hill to me sublimeB
With some Unknown beyond it whither flewW
The parting cuckoo toward a fresh spring timeB
-
The wide arched bridge the scented elder flowersF2
The wondrous watery rings that died too soonG2
The echoes of the quarry the still hoursF2
With white robe sweeping on the shadeless noonG2
-
Were but my growing self are part of meX
My present Past my root of pietyX
-
VIIW
-
Those long days measured by my little feetG
Had chronicles which yield me many a textG
Where irony still finds an image meetG
Of full grown judgments in this world perplextG
-
One day my brother left me in high chargeH2
To mind the rod while he went seeking baitG
And bade me when I saw a nearing bargeH2
Snatch out the line lest he should come too lateG
-
Proud of the task I watched with all my mightG
For one whole minute till my eyes grew wideG
Till sky and earth took on a strange new lightG
And seemed a dream world floating on some tideG
-
A fair pavilioned boat for me aloneI2
Bearing me onward through the vast unknownI2
-
VIIIW
-
But sudden came the barge's pitch black prowK
Nearer and angrier came my brother's cryX
And all my soul was quivering fear when loJ2
Upon the imperilled line suspended highX
-
A silver perch My guilt that won the preyB2
Now turned to merit had a guerdon richK2
Of songs and praises and made merry playB2
Until my triumph reached its highest pitchK2
-
When all at home were told the wondrous featG
And how the little sister had fished wellL2
In secret though my fortune tasted sweetG
I wondered why this happiness befellL2
-
'The little lass had luck ' the gardener saidG
And so I learned luck was with glory wedG
-
IXF2
-
We had the self same world enlarged for eachM2
By loving difference of girl and boyN
The fruit that hung on high beyond my reachM2
He plucked for me and oft he must employN
-
A measuring glance to guide my tiny shoeW
Where lay firm stepping stones or call to mindG
'This thing I like my sister may not doW
For she is little and I must be kind '-
-
Thus boyish Will the nobler mastery learnedG
Where inward vision over impulse reignsF2
Widening its life with separate life discernedG
A Like unlike a Self that self restrainsF2
-
His years with others must the sweeter beX
For those brief days he spent in loving meX
-
XF2
-
His sorrow was my sorrow and his joyN
Sent little leaps and laughs through all my frameN2
My doll seemed lifeless and no girlish toyN
Had any reason when my brother cameN2
-
I knelt with him at marbles marked his flingO2
Cut the ringed stem and make the apple dropP2
Or watched him winding close the spiral stringO2
That looped the orbits of the humming topP2
-
Grasped by such fellowship my vagrant thoughtG
Ceased with dream fruit dream wishes to fulfilN
My a ry picturing fantasy was taughtG
Subjection to the harder truer skillN
-
That seeks with deeds to grave a thought tracked lineQ2
And by 'What is ' 'What will be' to defineQ2
-
XIX
-
School parted us we never found againR2
That childish world where our two spirits mingledG
Like scents from varying roses that remainS2
One sweetness nor can evermore be singledG
-
Yet the twin habit of that early timeB
Lingered for long about the heart and tongueT2
We had been natives of one happy climeB
And its dear accent to our utterance clungT2
-
Till the dire years whose awful name is ChangeU2
Had grasped our souls still yearning in divorceF2
And pitiless shaped them in two forms that rangeU2
Two elements which sever their life's courseF2
-
But were another childhood world my shareV2
I would be born a little sister thereV2

George Eliot



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