The Ballad Of The Drover Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGF HIJIKLML NOAOCLML PQRQSOCO EBTBFUCU CVAVTWX YZAZCA2YC YB2GB2C2BPD D2B2D2B2RE2TE2 F2G2SG2FFFF KDH2BI2J2FJ2Across the stony ridges | A |
Across the rolling plain | B |
Young Harry Dale the drover | C |
Comes riding home again | D |
And well his stock horse bears him | E |
And light of heart is he | F |
And stoutly his old pack horse | G |
Is trotting by his knee | F |
- | |
Up Queensland way with cattle | H |
He travelled regions vast | I |
And many months have vanished | J |
Since home folk saw him last | I |
He hums a song of someone | K |
He hopes to marry soon | L |
And hobble chains and camp ware | M |
Keep jingling to the tune | L |
- | |
Beyond the hazy dado | N |
Against the lower skies | O |
And yon blue line of ranges | A |
The homestead station lies | O |
And thitherward the drover | C |
Jogs through the lazy noon | L |
While hobble chains and camp ware | M |
Are jingling to a tune | L |
- | |
An hour has filled the heavens | P |
With storm clouds inky black | Q |
At times the lightning trickles | R |
Around the drover's track | Q |
But Harry pushes onward | S |
His horses' strength he tries | O |
In hope to reach the river | C |
Before the flood shall rise | O |
- | |
The thunder from above him | E |
Goes rolling o'er the plain | B |
And down on thirsty pastures | T |
In torrents falls the rain | B |
And every creek and gully | F |
Sends forth its little flood | U |
Till the river runs a banker | C |
All stained with yellow mud | U |
- | |
Now Harry speaks to Rover | C |
The best dog on the plains | V |
And to his hardy horses | A |
And strokes their shaggy manes | V |
We've breasted bigger rivers | T |
When floods were at their height | W |
Nor shall this gutter stop us | X |
From getting home to night ' | - |
- | |
The thunder growls a warning | Y |
The ghastly lightnings gleam | Z |
As the drover turns his horses | A |
To swim the fatal stream | Z |
But oh the flood runs stronger | C |
Than e'er it ran before | A2 |
The saddle horse is failing | Y |
And only half way o'er | C |
- | |
When flashes next the lightning | Y |
The flood's grey breast is blank | B2 |
And a cattle dog and pack horse | G |
Are struggling up the bank | B2 |
But in the lonely homestead | C2 |
The girl will wait in vain | B |
He'll never pass the stations | P |
In charge of stock again | D |
- | |
The faithful dog a moment | D2 |
Sits panting on the bank | B2 |
And then swims through the current | D2 |
To where his master sank | B2 |
And round and round in circles | R |
He fights with failing strength | E2 |
Till borne down by the waters | T |
The old dog sinks at length | E2 |
- | |
Across the flooded lowlands | F2 |
And slopes of sodden loam | G2 |
The pack horse struggles onward | S |
To take dumb tidings home | G2 |
And mud stained wet and weary | F |
Through ranges dark goes he | F |
While hobble chains and tinware | F |
Are sounding eerily | F |
- | |
- | |
- | |
The floods are in the ocean | K |
The stream is clear again | D |
And now a verdant carpet | H2 |
Is stretched across the plain | B |
But someone's eyes are saddened | I2 |
And someone's heart still bleeds | J2 |
In sorrow for the drover | F |
Who sleeps among the reeds | J2 |
Henry Lawson
(1)
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