Jump-to-glory Jane Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDD A EEFFGG A HHIIBB JJKKLL EEMMNN OOPQRS TTDDUU VVWWXX U YY ZZ U A2A2UUB2B2 U C2C2D2D2E2E2 U F2F2G2G2EE U ZZUUH2H2 I2I2J2J2K2K2 L2L2M2N2O2O2 IIP2P2UU UUUU Q2Q2R2R2UU U UUUUUU U S2S2UUT2T2 U U2U2G2G2V2V2 U UUBBW2W2 U X2X2UUUU Y2NUUZ2Z2 UUUUA3A3 UUW2W2B3B3 GGC3C3G2S2 D3D3E3E3F3F3 U UUUUUU U EEJ2J2BB U SSFFFF U FFG3G3FF U UUFFD3D3 H3H3 FF UUUUBB FFUI | A |
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A revelation came on Jane | B |
The widow of a labouring swain | B |
And first her body trembled sharp | C |
Then all the woman was a harp | C |
With winds along the strings she heard | D |
Though there was neither tone nor word | D |
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II | A |
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For past our hearing was the air | E |
Beyond our speaking what it bare | E |
And she within herself had sight | F |
Of heaven at work to cleanse outright | F |
To make of her a mansion fit | G |
For angel hosts inside to sit | G |
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III | A |
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They entered and forthwith entranced | H |
Her body braced her members danced | H |
Surprisingly the woman leapt | I |
And countenance composed she kept | I |
As gossip neighbours in the lane | B |
Declared who saw and pitied Jane | B |
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IV | - |
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These knew she had been reading books | J |
The which was witnessed by her looks | J |
Of late she had a mania | K |
For mad folk in America | K |
And said for sure they led the way | L |
But meat and beer were meant to stay | L |
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V | - |
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That she had visited a fair | E |
Had seen a gauzy lady there | E |
Alive with tricks on legs alone | M |
As good as wings was also known | M |
And longwhiles in a sullen mood | N |
Before her jumping Jane would brood | N |
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VI | - |
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A good knee's height they say she sprang | O |
Her arms and feet like those who hang | O |
As if afire the body sped | P |
And neither pair contributed | Q |
She jumped in silence she was thought | R |
A corpse to resurrection caught | S |
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VII | - |
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The villagers were mostly dazed | T |
They jeered they wondered and they praised | T |
'Twas guessed by some she was inspired | D |
And some would have it she had hired | D |
An engine in her petticoats | U |
To turn their wits and win their votes | U |
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VIII | - |
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Her first was Winny Earnes a kind | V |
Of woman not to dance inclined | V |
But she went up entirely won | W |
Ere Jump to glory Jane had done | W |
And once a vixen wild for speech | X |
She found the better way to preach | X |
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IX | U |
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No long time after Jane was seen | Y |
Directing jumps at Daddy Green | Y |
And that old man to watch her fly | - |
Had eyebrows made of arches high | - |
Till homeward he likewise did hop | Z |
Oft calling on himself to stop | Z |
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X | U |
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It was a scene when man and maid | A2 |
Abandoning all other trade | A2 |
And careless of the call to meals | U |
Went jumping at the woman's heels | U |
By dozens they were counted soon | B2 |
Without a sound to tell their tune | B2 |
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XI | U |
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Along the roads they came and crossed | C2 |
The fields and o'er the hills were lost | C2 |
And in the evening reappeared | D2 |
Then short like hobbled horses reared | D2 |
And down upon the grass they plumped | E2 |
Alone their Jane to glory jumped | E2 |
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XII | U |
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At morn they rose to see her spring | F2 |
All going as an engine thing | F2 |
And lighter than the gossamer | G2 |
She led the bobbers following her | G2 |
Past old acquaintances and where | E |
They made the stranger stupid stare | E |
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XIII | U |
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When turnips were a filling crop | Z |
In scorn they jumped a butcher's shop | Z |
Or spite of threats to flog and souse | U |
They jumped for shame a public house | U |
And much their legs were seized with rage | H2 |
If passing by the vicarage | H2 |
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XIV | - |
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The tightness of a hempen rope | I2 |
Their bodies got but laundry soap | I2 |
Not handsomer can rub the skin | J2 |
For token of the washed within | J2 |
Occasionally coughers cast | K2 |
A leg aloft and coughed their last | K2 |
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XV | - |
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The weaker maids and some old men | L2 |
Requiring rafters for the pen | L2 |
On rainy nights were those who fell | M2 |
The rest were quite a miracle | N2 |
Refreshed as you may search all round | O2 |
On Club feast days and cry Not found | O2 |
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XVI | - |
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For these poor innocents that slept | I |
Against the sky soft women wept | I |
For never did they any theft | P2 |
'Twas known when they their camping left | P2 |
And jumped the cold out of their rags | U |
In spirit rich as money bags | U |
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XVII | - |
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They jumped the question jumped reply | - |
And whether to insist deny | - |
Reprove persuade they jumped in ranks | U |
Or singly straight the arms to flanks | U |
And straight the legs with just a knee | U |
For bending in a mild degree | U |
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XVIII | - |
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The villagers might call them mad | Q2 |
An endless holiday they had | Q2 |
Of pleasure in a serious work | R2 |
They taught by leaps where perils lurk | R2 |
And with the lambkins practised sports | U |
For 'scaping Satan's pounds and quarts | U |
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XIX | U |
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It really seemed on certain days | U |
When they bobbed up their Lord to praise | U |
And bobbing up they caught the glance | U |
Of light our secret is to dance | U |
And hold the tongue from hindering peace | U |
To dance out preacher and police | U |
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XX | U |
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Those flies of boys disturbed them sore | S2 |
On Sundays and when daylight wore | S2 |
With withies cut from hedge or copse | U |
They treated them as whipping tops | U |
And flung big stones with cruel aim | T2 |
Yet all the flock jumped on the same | T2 |
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XXI | U |
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For what could persecution do | U2 |
To worry such a blessed crew | U2 |
On whom it was as wind to fire | G2 |
Which set them always jumping higher | G2 |
The parson and the lawyer tried | V2 |
By meek persistency defied | V2 |
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XXII | U |
- | |
But if they bore they could pursue | U |
As well and this the Bishop too | U |
When inner warnings proved him plain | B |
The chase for Jump to glory Jane | B |
She knew it by his being sent | W2 |
To bless the feasting in the tent | W2 |
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XXIII | U |
- | |
Not less than fifty years on end | X2 |
The Squire had been the Bishop's friend | X2 |
And his poor tenants harmless ones | U |
With souls to save fed not on buns | U |
But angry meats she took her place | U |
Outside to show the way to grace | U |
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XXIV | - |
- | |
In apron suit the Bishop stood | Y2 |
The crowding people kindly viewed | N |
A gaunt grey woman he saw rise | U |
On air with most beseeching eyes | U |
And evident as light in dark | Z2 |
It was she set to him for mark | Z2 |
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XXV | - |
- | |
Her highest leap had come with ease | U |
She jumped to reach the Bishop's knees | U |
Compressing tight her arms and lips | U |
She sought to jump the Bishop's hips | U |
Her aim flew at his apron band | A3 |
That he might see and understand | A3 |
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XXVI | - |
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The mild inquiry of his gaze | U |
Was altered to a peaked amaze | U |
At sight of thirty in ascent | W2 |
To gain his notice clearly bent | W2 |
And greatly Jane at heart was vexed | B3 |
By his ploughed look of mind perplexed | B3 |
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XXVII | - |
- | |
In jumps that said Beware the pit | G |
More eloquent than speaking it | G |
That said Avoid the boiled the roast | C3 |
The heated nose on face of ghost | C3 |
Which comes of drinking up and o'er | G2 |
The flesh with me did Jane implore | S2 |
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XXVIII | - |
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She jumped him high as huntsmen go | D3 |
Across the gate she jumped him low | D3 |
To coax him to begin and feel | E3 |
His infant steps returning peel | E3 |
His mortal pride exposing fruit | F3 |
And off with hat and apron suit | F3 |
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XXIX | U |
- | |
We need much patience well she knew | U |
And out and out and through and through | U |
When we would gentlefolk address | U |
However we may seek to bless | U |
At times they hide them like the beasts | U |
From sacred beams and mostly priests | U |
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XXX | U |
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He gave no sign of making bare | E |
Nor she of faintness or despair | E |
Inflamed with hope that she might win | J2 |
If she but coaxed him to begin | J2 |
She used all arts for making fain | B |
The mother with her babe was Jane | B |
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XXXI | U |
- | |
Now stamped the Squire and knowing not | S |
Her business waved her from the spot | S |
Encircled by the men of might | F |
The head of Jane like flickering light | F |
As in a charger they beheld | F |
Ere she was from the park expelled | F |
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XXXII | U |
- | |
Her grief in jumps of earthly weight | F |
Did Jane around communicate | F |
For that the moment when began | G3 |
The holy but mistaken man | G3 |
In view of light to take his lift | F |
They cut him from her charm adrift | F |
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XXXIII | U |
- | |
And he was lost a banished face | U |
For ever from the ways of grace | U |
Unless pinched hard by dreams in fright | F |
They saw the Bishop's wavering sprite | F |
Within her look at come and go | D3 |
Long after he had caused her woe | D3 |
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XXXIV | - |
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Her greying eyes until she sank | H3 |
At Fredsham on the wayside bank | H3 |
Like cinder heaps that whitened lie | - |
From coals that shot the flame to sky | - |
Had glassy vacancies which yearned | F |
For one in memory discerned | F |
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XXXV | - |
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May those who ply the tongue that cheats | U |
And those who rush to beer and meats | U |
And those whose mean ambition aims | U |
At palaces and titled names | U |
Depart in such a cheerful strain | B |
As did our Jump to glory Jane | B |
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XXXVI | - |
- | |
Her end was beautiful one sigh | - |
She jumped a foot when it was nigh | - |
A lily in a linen clout | F |
She looked when they had laid her out | F |
It is | U |
George Meredith
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