Mostly Slavonic Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB CCDDEEFF GGHHEEEIJ KKLLMMFF NNOOBBPPEE BBQQ RSTT UUUVWXXNNCCFFYYY EE ZZZFFFF EEEEFFFYY AY A2A2FFYYZZFFFF B2B2FFC2C2BBYYYYYYYY FFNNCCCC D2D2D2FFA2A2FF AE2 YF2

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Peter MichaelovB
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It was Peter the Barbarian put an apron in his bagC
And rolled up the honoured bundle that Australians call a swagC
And he tramped from Darkest Russia that it might be dark no moreD
Dreaming of a port and shipping as no monarch dreamed beforeD
Of a home and education and of children staunch and trueE
Like my father in the fifties and his name was Peter tooE
He could build a ship or fiddle out of wood or bark or hideF
Sail one round the world and play the other one at eventideF
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Russia s Peter not my father went to Holland in disguiseG
Where he laboured as a shipwright underneath those gloomy skiesG
Later on he went to England which the Kaiser now condemnsH
Where he studied as a ship smith by old Deptford on the ThamesH
And no doubt he knew the rope walk and the rope s end too he knewE
Learned to build a ship and sail it learned the business through and throughE
And I d like to say my father mastered navigation tooE
He was born across in Norway educated fairly wellI
And he grafted in a ship yard by the Port of ArundelJ
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Peter Michaelov not Larsen his work was by no means doneK
For he learned to make a ploughshare and he learned to make a gunK
Russian soldiers must have clothing so he laboured at the loomsL
And he studied after hours building forts and building boomsL
He would talk with all and sundry merchants and adventurersM
Whaling men from Nova Scotia and with ancient marinersM
Studied military systems of which Austria s was the bestF
Hospitals and even bedlams class distinctions and the restF
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There was nothing he neglected that was useful to be knownN
And he even studied Wowsers who had no creed of his ownN
And lest all that he accomplished should as miracles appearO
It must always be remembered he d a secret Fund for BeerO
When he tramped to toil and exile he was only twenty fiveB
With a greater grander object than had any man aliveB
And perhaps the lad was bullied and was sad for all we knowP
Though it isn t very likely that he d take a second blowP
He had brains amongst the brainless and what that thing means I knewE
For before I found my kingdom I had slaved in workshops tooE
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But they never dreamed the brainless boors that used to sneer and scoffB
That the dreamy lad beside them known as Dutchy MickyloffB
Was a genius and a poet and a Man no matter whichQ
Was the Czar of all the Russias Peter MichaelovichQ
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Sweden struck ere he was ready filled the land with blood and tearsR
But he broke the power of Sweden though it took him nine long yearsS
For he had to train his army He was great in training menT
And no foreign foe in Russia have had easy times since thenT
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Then the Port as we must have one His a work of mighty drainsU
Ours of irrigation channels or it should be on the plainsU
So he brought from many countries strong adventures with brainsU
It was marshes to horizons it was pestilential bogsV
It was stoneless it was treeless so he brought Norwegian logsW
Twas a land without a people twas a land without a lawX
But the lonely Gulf of Finland heard the axe and heard the sawX
He compelled the population to that desert land and loneN
Shifted them by tens of thousands as we ll have to shift our ownN
He imported stone and mortar he supplied the labouring gangC
Brought his masons from all Russia let the other towns go hangC
Brought his carpenters from Venice they knew how to make a portF
Till he heard the church bells ringing in the town of PetersfortF
Brought his shipbuilders from Holland built his navy feverishlyY
Till the Swedish fleet was shattered and the Baltic routes were freeY
And his Port was on the Neva and his Ships were on the seaY
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Petrograd upon the Neva and the Man who saw it throughE
Stately Canberra on the Cotter and the men who build it tooE
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Russian Peter was inhuman so the wise historians sayZ
What s the use of being human in a land like ours to dayZ
Till a race of stronger people wipe the Sickly Whites awayZ
Let them have it who will have it those who do not understandF
Peter lived and died a savage but he civilized the landF
And as it is at present so twas always in the pastF
Twas his nearest and his dearest that broke Peter s heart at lastF
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He was more than half a heathen if historians are trueE
But he used to whack his missus as a Christian ought to doE
And he should have done it sooner but that trouble isn t newE
We d have saved a lot of bother had we whacked our women tooE
Peter more than whacked his subjects ere the change was brought aboutF
And in some form or another we shall have to use the knoutF
If we wish to build a nation else we ll have to do withoutF
And be wretched slaves and exiles homeless in the Southern SeaY
When an Asiatic Nation hath rough hewn our destinyY
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IIA
The BrandenburgersY
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Things have been mixed up in Europe till there s nothing in a nameA2
So it doesn t really matter whence the Brandenburgers cameA2
But they did no pioneering as our fathers did of oldF
Only bullied robbed and murdered till they bought the land with goldF
And they settled down in Prussia to the bane of GermanyY
With a spike upon the helmet where three brazen balls should beY
And they swaggered swigged and swindled and by bullying held swayZ
And they blindly inter married till they re madmen to this dayZ
And the lovely nights in Munich are as memories of the deadF
Night is filled with nameless terrors day is filled with constant dreadF
But Bavaria the peaceful ere the lurid star is setF
She shall lead her neighbours on to pluck the Prussian Eagles yetF
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We ll pass over little Denmark as the brave historians canB2
Austria suffered at Sadowa France was sorry at SedanB2
And for England s acquiescence in the crime she suffers tooF
Meanwhile Denmark drained her marshes planted grain and battled throughF
We who never knew what war is who had gold without the painC2
Never locked a western river that might save a western plainC2
You may say the Danes were pirates and so leave them on the shelfB
Given youth and men and money I would pirate some myselfB
Why should I be so excited for another nation s painsY
I am prejudiced and angry for my forefathers were DanesY
What have I to do with nations Or the battle s lurid starsY
I am Henry son of Peter who was Peter son of LarsY
Lars the son of Nils But never mind from whence our lineage springsY
Yes my forefathers wore helmets but their helmets wore the wingsY
There s a feather for your bonnet there is unction for your soulsY
And the wings bore us to England and Australia and the PolesY
What did we for little Denmark Well we sent our thousands throughF
But without the guns or money what could Scandinavia doF
It is true of some Australians by the sea or sandwaste loneN
That they hold their father s country rather dearer than their ownN
But the track is plain before them and they know who blazed the trackC
To the work our Foreign Fathers did in Early Days Out BackC
As a mate can do no mean thing in the bushman s creed and songC
So a fellow s father s country seems to me can do no wrongC
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Where was I The Wrong of Denmark or the chastening of her soulD2
And perhaps her rulers got it where twas needed on the wholeD2
Twas the gentlemen of Poland crushed the spirit of the PoleD2
Till he didn t care which nation he was knouted by and servedF
So the gentlemen of Poland got wiped out as they deservedF
Freedom shrieked where was no freedom and perhaps she shrieked for shameA2
But let Kosciusko slumber we ve immortalised his nameA2
By the poets and the tenors have our tender souls been wrenchedF
And on many a suffering Christian Polish Jews have been avengedF
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IIIA
The Blue DanubeE2
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Where the skies are blue in winter by the Adriatic SeaY
And the summer skies aF2

Henry Lawson



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