The Old Bark School Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEFE GHIH JKGK LMGM GNON PQRQ STUT VWXW YZGZ A2B2GB2| It was built of bark and poles and the floor was full of holes | A |
| Where each leak in rainy weather made a pool | B |
| And the walls were mostly cracks lined with calico and sacks | C |
| There was little need for windows in the school | B |
| - | |
| Then we rode to school and back by the rugged gully track | D |
| On the old grey horse that carried three or four | E |
| And he looked so very wise that he lit the master's eyes | F |
| Every time he put his head in at the door | E |
| - | |
| He had run with Cobb and Co that grey leader let him go | G |
| There were men as knowed the brand upon his hide | H |
| And as knowed it on the course Funeral service Good old horse | I |
| When we burnt him in the gully where he died | H |
| - | |
| And the master thought the same 'Twas from Ireland that he came | J |
| Where the tanks are full all summer and the feed is simply grand | K |
| And the joker then in vogue said his lessons wid a brogue | G |
| 'Twas unconscious imitation let the reader understand | K |
| - | |
| And we learnt the world in scraps from some ancient dingy maps | L |
| Long discarded by the public schools in town | M |
| And as nearly every book dated back to Captain Cook | G |
| Our geography was somewhat upside down | M |
| - | |
| It was in the book and so well at that we'd let it go | G |
| For we never would believe that print could lie | N |
| And we all learnt pretty soon that when we came out at noon | O |
| The sun is in the south part of the sky | N |
| - | |
| And Ireland that was known from the coast line to Athlone | P |
| We got little information re the land that gave us birth | Q |
| Save that Captain Cook was killed and was very likely grilled | R |
| And the natives of New Holland are the lowest race on earth | Q |
| - | |
| And a woodcut in its place of the same degraded race | S |
| Seemed a lot more like a camel than the blackfellows that we knew | T |
| Jimmy Bullock with the rest scratched his head and gave it best | U |
| But his faith was sadly shaken by a bobtailed kangaroo | T |
| - | |
| But the old bark school is gone and the spot it stood upon | V |
| Is a cattle camp in winter where the curlew's cry is heard | W |
| There's a brick school on the flat but a schoolmate teaches that | X |
| For about the time they built it our old master was transferred | W |
| - | |
| But the bark school comes again with exchanges 'cross the plain | Y |
| With the Out Back Advertiser and my fancy roams at large | Z |
| When I read of passing stock of a western mob or flock | G |
| With James Bullock Grey or Henry Dale in charge | Z |
| - | |
| And I think how Jimmy went from the old bark school content | A2 |
| With his eddication finished with his pack horse after him | B2 |
| And perhaps if I were back I would take the self same track | G |
| For I wish my learning ended when the Master finished Jim | B2 |
Henry Lawson
(1)
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