A Ballad Of The French Fleet Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A A BCBCDEDE FAFAGHGH IJIKLMLM BNBNAOAP MQMQRDRD STSTUVUV WTWTXMXM| OCTOBER | A |
| - | |
| MR THOMAS PRINCE loquitur | A |
| - | |
| A fleet with flags arrayed | B |
| Sailed from the port of Brest | C |
| And the Admiral's ship displayed | B |
| The signal Steer southwest | C |
| For this Admiral D'Anville | D |
| Had sworn by cross and crown | E |
| To ravage with fire and steel | D |
| Our helpless Boston Town | E |
| - | |
| There were rumors in the street | F |
| In the houses there was fear | A |
| Of the coming of the fleet | F |
| And the danger hovering near | A |
| And while from mouth to mouth | G |
| Spread the tidings of dismay | H |
| I stood in the Old South | G |
| Saying humbly Let us pray | H |
| - | |
| O Lord we would not advise | I |
| But if in thy Providence | J |
| A tempest should arise | I |
| To drive the French fleet hence | K |
| And scatter it far and wide | L |
| Or sink it in the sea | M |
| We should be satisfied | L |
| And thine the glory be | M |
| - | |
| This was the prayer I made | B |
| For my soul was all on flame | N |
| And even as I prayed | B |
| The answering tempest came | N |
| It came with a mighty power | A |
| Shaking the windows and walls | O |
| And tolling the bell in the tower | A |
| As it tolls at funerals | P |
| - | |
| The lightning suddenly | M |
| Unsheathed its flaming sword | Q |
| And I cried Stand still and see | M |
| The salvation of the Lord | Q |
| The heavens were black with cloud | R |
| The sea was white with hail | D |
| And ever more fierce and loud | R |
| Blew the October gale | D |
| - | |
| The fleet it overtook | S |
| And the broad sails in the van | T |
| Like the tents of Cushan shook | S |
| Or the curtains of Midian | T |
| Down on the reeling decks | U |
| Crashed the o'erwhelming seas | V |
| Ah never were there wrecks | U |
| So pitiful as these | V |
| - | |
| Like a potter's vessel broke | W |
| The great ships of the line | T |
| They were carried away as a smoke | W |
| Or sank like lead in the brine | T |
| O Lord before thy path | X |
| They vanished and ceased to be | M |
| When thou didst walk in wrath | X |
| With thine horses through the sea | M |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1)
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