The Old Chartist Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDCD A EFEFGFG A HIJIGIG KLKLMLM NONOPOP QRQS S TUTUCUC VWVWXWX S DYDYGYG S ZA2ZA2SA2S S B2SB2SC2SC2 S HD2HD2CD2C S E2 E2F2E2F2 SG2SG2DG2D H2SH2SCSC I2J2I2J2CJ2C K2 K2DK2D| I | A |
| - | |
| Whate'er I be old England is my dam | B |
| So there's my answer to the judges clear | C |
| I'm nothing of a fox nor of a lamb | B |
| I don't know how to bleat nor how to leer | C |
| I'm for the nation | D |
| That's why you see me by the wayside here | C |
| Returning home from transportation | D |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| It's Summer in her bath this morn I think | E |
| I'm fresh as dew and chirpy as the birds | F |
| And just for joy to see old England wink | E |
| Thro' leaves again I could harangue the herds | F |
| Isn't it something | G |
| To speak out like a man when you've got words | F |
| And prove you're not a stupid dumb thing | G |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| They shipp'd me of for it I'm here again | H |
| Old England is my dam whate'er I be | I |
| Says I I'll tramp it home and see the grain | J |
| If you see well you're king of what you see | I |
| Eyesight is having | G |
| If you're not given I said to gluttony | I |
| Such talk to ignorance sounds as raving | G |
| - | |
| IV | - |
| - | |
| You dear old brook that from his Grace's park | K |
| Come bounding on you run near my old town | L |
| My lord can't lock the water nor the lark | K |
| Unless he kills him can my lord keep down | L |
| Up is the song note | M |
| I've tried it too for comfort and renown | L |
| I rather pitch'd upon the wrong note | M |
| - | |
| V | - |
| - | |
| I'm not ashamed Not beaten's still my boast | N |
| Again I'll rouse the people up to strike | O |
| But home's where different politics jar most | N |
| Respectability the women like | O |
| This form or that form | P |
| The Government may be hungry pike | O |
| But don't you mount a Chartist platform | P |
| - | |
| VI | - |
| - | |
| Well well Not beaten spite of them I shout | Q |
| And my estate is suffering for the Cause | R |
| No what is yon brown water rat about | Q |
| Who washes his old poll with busy paws | S |
| What does he mean by't | - |
| It's like defying all our natural laws | S |
| For him to hope that he'll get clean by't | - |
| - | |
| VII | - |
| - | |
| His seat is on a mud bank and his trade | T |
| Is dirt he's quite contemptible and yet | U |
| The fellow's all as anxious as a maid | T |
| To show a decent dress and dry the wet | U |
| Now it's his whisker | C |
| And now his nose and ear he seems to get | U |
| Each moment at the motion brisker | C |
| - | |
| VIII | - |
| - | |
| To see him squat like little chaps at school | V |
| I could let fly a laugh with all my might | W |
| He peers hangs both his fore paws bless that fool | V |
| He's bobbing at his frill now what a sight | W |
| Licking the dish up | X |
| As if he thought to pass from black to white | W |
| Like parson into lawny bishop | X |
| - | |
| IX | S |
| - | |
| The elms and yellow reed flags in the sun | D |
| Look on quite grave the sunlight flecks his side | Y |
| And links of bindweed flowers round him run | D |
| And shine up doubled with him in the tide | Y |
| I'M nearly splitting | G |
| But nature seems like seconding his pride | Y |
| And thinks that his behaviour's fitting | G |
| - | |
| X | S |
| - | |
| That isle o' mud looks baking dry with gold | Z |
| His needle muzzle still works out and in | A2 |
| It really is a wonder to behold | Z |
| And makes me feel the bristles of my chin | A2 |
| Judged by appearance | S |
| I fancy of the two I'm nearer Sin | A2 |
| And might as well commence a clearance | S |
| - | |
| XI | S |
| - | |
| And that's what my fine daughter said she meant | B2 |
| Pray hold your tongue and wear a Sunday face | S |
| Her husband the young linendraper spent | B2 |
| Much argument thereon I'm their disgrace | S |
| Bother the couple | C2 |
| I feel superior to a chap whose place | S |
| Commands him to be neat and supple | C2 |
| - | |
| XII | S |
| - | |
| But if I go and say to my old hen | H |
| I'll mend the gentry's boots and keep discreet | D2 |
| Until they grow TOO violent why then | H |
| A warmer welcome I might chance to meet | D2 |
| Warmer and better | C |
| And if she fancies her old cock is beat | D2 |
| And drops upon her knees so let her | C |
| - | |
| XIII | S |
| - | |
| She suffered for me women you'll observe | - |
| Don't suffer for a Cause but for a man | E2 |
| When I was in the dock she show'd her nerve | - |
| I saw beneath her shawl my old tea can | E2 |
| Trembling she brought it | F2 |
| To screw me for my work she loath'd my plan | E2 |
| And therefore doubly kind I thought it | F2 |
| - | |
| XIV | - |
| - | |
| I've never lost the taste of that same tea | S |
| That liquor on my logic floats like oil | G2 |
| When I state facts and fellows disagree | S |
| For human creatures all are in a coil | G2 |
| All may want pardon | D |
| I see a day when every pot will boil | G2 |
| Harmonious in one great Tea garden | D |
| - | |
| XV | - |
| - | |
| We wait the setting of the Dandy's day | H2 |
| Before that time He's furbishing his dress | S |
| He WILL be ready for it and I say | H2 |
| That yon old dandy rat amid the cress | S |
| Thanks to hard labour | C |
| If cleanliness is next to godliness | S |
| The old fat fellow's heaven's neighbour | C |
| - | |
| XVI | - |
| - | |
| You teach me a fine lesson my old boy | I2 |
| I've looked on my superiors far too long | J2 |
| And small has been my profit as my joy | I2 |
| You've done the right while I've denounced the wrong | J2 |
| Prosper me later | C |
| Like you I will despise the sniggering throng | J2 |
| And please myself and my Creator | C |
| - | |
| XVII | - |
| - | |
| I'll bring the linendraper and his wife | - |
| Some day to see you taking off my hat | K2 |
| Should they ask why I'll answer in my life | - |
| I never found so true a democrat | K2 |
| Base occupation | D |
| Can't rob you of your own esteem old rat | K2 |
| I'll preach you to the British nation | D |
George Meredith
(1)
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