Martin-s Puzzle Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDEDE A FGFGHIHI A JKJKLMLM NONO P Q Q RSRS TUTUQVQV WXWXYZYZ A2QA2QB2C2B2C2 Q D2E2D2E2G G Q F2G2F2G2QH2QH2| I | A |
| - | |
| There she goes up the street with her book in her hand | B |
| And her Good morning Martin Ay lass how d'ye do | C |
| Very well thank you Martin I can't understand | B |
| I might just as well never have cobbled a shoe | C |
| I can't understand it She talks like a song | D |
| Her voice takes your ear like the ring of a glass | E |
| She seems to give gladness while limping along | D |
| Yet sinner ne'er suffer'd like that little lass | E |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| First a fool of a boy ran her down with a cart | F |
| Then her fool of a father a blacksmith by trade | G |
| Why the deuce does he tell us it half broke his heart | F |
| His heart where's the leg of the poor little maid | G |
| Well that's not enough they must push her downstairs | H |
| To make her go crooked but why count the list | I |
| If it's right to suppose that our human affairs | H |
| Are all order'd by heaven there bang goes my fist | I |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| For if angels can look on such sights never mind | J |
| When you're next to blaspheming it's best to be mum | K |
| The parson declares that her woes weren't designed | J |
| But then with the parson it's all kingdom come | K |
| Lose a leg save a soul a convenient text | L |
| I call it Tea doctrine not savouring of God | M |
| When poor little Molly wants 'chastening ' why next | L |
| The Archangel Michael might taste of the rod | M |
| - | |
| IV | - |
| - | |
| But to see the poor darling go limping for miles | N |
| To read books to sick people and just of an age | O |
| When girls learn the meaning of ribands and smiles | N |
| Makes me feel like a squirrel that turns in a cage | O |
| The more I push thinking the more I revolve | - |
| I never get farther and as to her face | P |
| It starts up when near on my puzzle I solve | - |
| And says 'This crush'd body seems such a sad case ' | - |
| - | |
| V | - |
| - | |
| Not that she's for complaining she reads to earn pence | Q |
| And from those who can't pay simple thanks are enough | - |
| Does she leave lamentation for chaps without sense | Q |
| Howsoever she's made up of wonderful stuff | - |
| Ay the soul in her body must be a stout cord | R |
| She sings little hymns at the close of the day | S |
| Though she has but three fingers to lift to the Lord | R |
| And only one leg to kneel down with to pray | S |
| - | |
| VI | - |
| - | |
| What I ask is Why persecute such a poor dear | T |
| If there's Law above all Answer that if you can | U |
| Irreligious I'm not but I look on this sphere | T |
| As a place where a man should just think like a man | U |
| It isn't fair dealing But contrariwise | Q |
| Do bullets in battle the wicked select | V |
| Why then it's all chance work And yet in her eyes | Q |
| She holds a fixed something by which I am checked | V |
| - | |
| VII | - |
| - | |
| Yonder riband of sunshine aslope on the wall | W |
| If you eye it a minute 'll have the same look | X |
| So kind and so merciful God of us all | W |
| It's the very same lesson we get from the Book | X |
| Then is Life but a trial Is that what is meant | Y |
| Some must toil and some perish for others below | Z |
| The injustice to each spreads a common content | Y |
| Ay I've lost it again for it can't be quite so | Z |
| - | |
| VIII | - |
| - | |
| She's the victim of fools that seems nearer the mark | A2 |
| On earth there are engines and numerous fools | Q |
| Why the Lord can permit them we're still in the dark | A2 |
| He does and in some sort of way they're His tools | Q |
| It's a roundabout way with respect let me add | B2 |
| If Molly goes crippled that we may be taught | C2 |
| But perhaps it's the only way though it's so bad | B2 |
| In that case we'll bow down our heads as we ought | C2 |
| - | |
| IX | Q |
| - | |
| But the worst of ME is that when I bow my head | D2 |
| I perceive a thought wriggling away in the dust | E2 |
| And I follow its tracks quite forgetful instead | D2 |
| Of humble acceptance for question I must | E2 |
| Here's a creature made carefully carefully made | G |
| Put together with craft and then stamped on and why | - |
| The answer seems nowhere it's discord that's played | G |
| The sky's a blue dish an implacable sky | - |
| - | |
| X | Q |
| - | |
| Stop a moment I seize an idea from the pit | F2 |
| They tell us that discord though discord alone | G2 |
| Can be harmony when the notes properly fit | F2 |
| Am I judging all things from a single false tone | G2 |
| Is the Universe one immense Organ that rolls | Q |
| From devils to angels I'm blind with the sight | H2 |
| It pours such a splendour on heaps of poor souls | Q |
| I might try at kneeling with Molly to night | H2 |
George Meredith
(1)
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