By The Fireside : King Witlaf's Drinking-horn Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBB CDED FGBG HBCB IJBJ BKLK BEKE BBBB KDLD KEB| Witlaf a king of the Saxons | A |
| Ere yet his last he breathed | B |
| To the merry monks of Croyland | B |
| His drinking horn bequeathed | B |
| - | |
| That whenever they sat at their revels | C |
| And drank from the golden bowl | D |
| They might remember the donor | E |
| And breathe a prayer for his soul | D |
| - | |
| So sat they once at Christmas | F |
| And bade the goblet pass | G |
| In their beards the red wine glistened | B |
| Like dew drops in the grass | G |
| - | |
| They drank to the soul of Witlaf | H |
| They drank to Christ the Lord | B |
| And to each of the Twelve Apostles | C |
| Who had preached his holy word | B |
| - | |
| They drank to the Saints and Martyrs | I |
| Of the dismal days of yore | J |
| And as soon as the horn was empty | B |
| They remembered one Saint more | J |
| - | |
| And the reader droned from the pulpit | B |
| Like the murmur of many bees | K |
| The legend of good Saint Guthlac | L |
| And Saint Basil's homilies | K |
| - | |
| Till the great bells of the convent | B |
| From their prison in the tower | E |
| Guthlac and Bartholomaeus | K |
| Proclaimed the midnight hour | E |
| - | |
| And the Yule log cracked in the chimney | B |
| And the Abbot bowed his head | B |
| And the flamelets flapped and flickered | B |
| But the Abbot was stark and dead | B |
| - | |
| Yet still in his pallid fingers | K |
| He clutched the golden bowl | D |
| In which like a pearl dissolving | L |
| Had sunk and dissolved his soul | D |
| - | |
| But not for this their revels | K |
| The jovial monks forbore | E |
| For they cried 'Fill high the goblet | B |
| We must drink to one Saint more ' | - |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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About By The Fireside : King Witlaf's Drinking-horn
By The Fireside : King Witlaf's Drinking-horn is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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