He Mourned His Master Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDCEFGF C HIJIKLDM NOPOPQPQ ILRLSTST ULILVOVW XYZYA2GA2G PYB2YGTGT PQPQC2AC2A PD2PD2PE2PE2 F2E2PE2E2E2E2E2 PIIINE2NE2 PTE2TG2TCT PCPCE2PE2P E2TH2TI2CIC J2PJ2PE2YYY E2IPIE2PE2P E2ATAE2PPP TPE2PE2IE2I K2L2E2L2E2PM2P VIVIINTRODUCTION | A |
The theme is ancient as the hills | B |
With all their prehistoric glory | C |
But yet of Corney and his friend | D |
We ve often longed to tell the story | C |
And should we jar the reader s ear | E |
Or fail to please his eye observant | F |
We only trust that he ll forgive | G |
The bush muse and your humble servant | F |
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THE STORY | C |
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Old Corney built in Deadman s Gap | H |
A hut where mountain shades grow denser | I |
And there he lived for many years | J |
A timber getter and a fencer | I |
And no one knew if he d a soul | K |
Above long sprees or split rail fences | L |
Unless indeed it was his friend | D |
Who always kept his confidences | M |
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There was a saw pit in the range | N |
Twas owned by three and they were brothers | O |
And visitors to Corney s hut | P |
Twas seldom visited by others | O |
They came because as they averred | P |
Old Corney licked a gent infernal | Q |
His yarns if I might trust their word | P |
Would made the fortune of a journal | Q |
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In short the splitter was a cure | I |
Who brightened up their lives dull courses | L |
And so on Sunday afternoons | R |
At Corney s hut they d hang their horses | L |
They d have a game of cards and smoke | S |
And sometimes sing which was a rum thing | T |
Unless in spite of legal folk | S |
The splitter kept a drop of something | T |
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If as twas said he was a swell | U |
Before he sought these sombre ranges | L |
Twixt mother s arms and coffin gear | I |
He must have seen a world of changes | L |
But from his lips would never fall | V |
A hint of home or friends or brothers | O |
And if he told his tale at all | V |
He must have told it as another s | W |
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Though he was good at telling yarns | X |
At listening he excelled not less so | Y |
And greatly helped the bushman s tales | Z |
With yes exactly so or jes so | Y |
In short the hut became a club | A2 |
Like our Assembly Legislative | G |
Combining smokeroom hall and pub | A2 |
Political and recreative | G |
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Old Corney lived and Corney died | P |
As we will too on some to morrow | Y |
But not as Corney died we hope | B2 |
Of heart disease and rum and sorrow | Y |
We hope to lead a married life | G |
At times the cup of comfort quaffing | T |
And when we leave this world of strife | G |
We trust that we may die of laughing | T |
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One New Year s Eve they found him dead | P |
For rum had made his life unstable | Q |
They found him stretched upon his bed | P |
And also found upon the table | Q |
The coloured portrait of a girl | C2 |
Blue eyes of course The hair was golden | A |
A faded letter and a curl | C2 |
And well we said the theme was olden | A |
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The splitter had for days been dead | P |
And cold before the sawyers found him | D2 |
And none had witnessed how he died | P |
Except the friend who whimpered round him | D2 |
A noble friend and of a kind | P |
Who stay when other friends forsake us | E2 |
And he at last was left behind | P |
To greet the rough bush undertakers | E2 |
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This was a season when the bush | F2 |
Was somewhat ruled by time and distance | E2 |
And bushmen came and tried the world | P |
And gave it best without assistance | E2 |
Then one might die of heart disease | E2 |
And still be spared the inquest horrors | E2 |
And when the splitter lay at ease | E2 |
So also did his sins and sorrows | E2 |
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Ole Corey s dead the bushmen said | P |
He s gone at last an ne er a blunder | I |
And so they brought a horse and dray | I |
And tools to tuck the old cove under | I |
The funeral wended through the range | N |
And slowly round its rugged corners | E2 |
The reader will not think it strange | N |
That Corney s friend was chief of mourners | E2 |
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He must have thought the bushmen hard | P |
And of his misery unheeding | T |
Because they shunned his anxious eyes | E2 |
That seemed for explanation pleading | T |
At intervals his tongue would wipe | G2 |
The jaws that seemed with anguish quaking | T |
As some strong hand impatiently | C |
Might chide the tears for prison breaking | T |
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They reached by rugged ways at last | P |
A desolate bush cemetery | C |
Where now our tale is of the past | P |
A thriving town its dead doth bury | C |
And where the bones of pioneers | E2 |
Are found and thrown aside unheeded | P |
For later sleepers blessed with tears | E2 |
Of many friends the graves are needed | P |
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The funeral reached the bushmen s graves | E2 |
Where these old pioneers were sleeping | T |
And now while down the granite ridge | H2 |
The shadow of the peak was creeping | T |
They dug a grave beneath a gum | I2 |
And lowered the dead as gently may be | C |
As Corney s mother long before | I |
Had laid him down to hush a baby | C |
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A bushman read the words to which | J2 |
The others reverently listened | P |
Some bearded lips were seen to twitch | J2 |
Some shaded eyes with moisture glistened | P |
Perhaps this weakness was because | E2 |
Their work reminded them in sorrow | Y |
Of other burials long ago | Y |
When friends turned in to wait the morrow | Y |
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The boys had brought the splitter s tools | E2 |
And now they split and put together | I |
Four panels such as Corney made | P |
To stand the stress of western weather | I |
Perhaps this second weakness rose | E2 |
From some good reason undetected | P |
They may have thought of other graves | E2 |
Of dearer friends they left neglected | P |
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Old Corney s dead he paid his bills | E2 |
These words upon the tree were graven | A |
And oft a swagman down in luck | T |
At Corey s mansion found a haven | A |
If this an explanation needs | E2 |
We greatly fear we can t afford it | P |
Unless they thought of other dead | P |
Whose virtues they had not recorded | P |
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The day had crossed the homeward track | T |
And as the bushmen turned to tread it | P |
They thought and spoke of many things | E2 |
Remembered now to Corney s credit | P |
And strange to say above their heads | E2 |
The kookaburra burst with laughter | I |
Perhaps he thought of other friends | E2 |
Whose virtues they remembered after | I |
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But now the bushmen hurried on | K2 |
Lest darkness in the range should find them | L2 |
And strange to say they never saw | E2 |
That Corney s friend had stayed behind them | L2 |
If one had thrown a backward glance | E2 |
Along the rugged path they wended | P |
He might have seen a darker form | M2 |
Upon the damp cold mound extended | P |
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But soon their forms had vanished all | V |
And night came down the ranges faster | I |
And no one saw the shadows fall | V |
Upon the dog that mourned his master | I |
Henry Lawson
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