Evangeline: A Tale Of Acadie Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCADE FDAADGHDI JDEI K AILHJAAALACGMNAOPQAA DAADRASTIMOJASAAAA AIUMAAAAVAAVDVWRXAYA VDHC HVVZVAVVA2AVAXYHDAVA AD VVXDVVAB2MVCYC2D2AXV D2VThis is the forest primeval The murmuring pines and the hemlocks | A |
Bearded with moss and in garments green indistinct in the twilight | B |
Stand like Druids of eld with voices sad and prophetic | C |
Stand like harpers hoar with beards that rest on their bosoms | A |
Loud from its rocky caverns the deep voiced neighboring ocean | D |
Speaks and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest | E |
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This is the forest primeval but where are the hearts that beneath it | F |
Leaped like the roe when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman | D |
Where is the thatch roofed village the home of Acadian farmers | A |
Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands | A |
Darkened by shadows of earth but reflecting an image of heaven | D |
Waste are those pleasant farms and the farmers forever departed | G |
Scattered like dust and leaves when the mighty blasts of October | H |
Seize them and whirl them aloft and sprinkle them far o'er the ocean | D |
Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand Pre | I |
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Ye who believe in affection that hopes and endures and is patient | J |
Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman's devotion | D |
List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest | E |
List to a Tale of Love in Acadie home of the happy | I |
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PART THE FIRST | K |
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I | - |
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In the Acadian land on the shores of the Basin of Minas | A |
Distant secluded still the little village of Grand Pre | I |
Lay in the fruitful valley Vast meadows stretched to the eastward | L |
Giving the village its name and pasture to flocks without number | H |
Dikes that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor incessant | J |
Shut out the turbulent tides but at stated seasons the flood gates | A |
Opened and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er the meadows | A |
West and south there were fields of flax and orchards and cornfields | A |
Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain and away to the northward | L |
Blomidon rose and the forests old and aloft on the mountains | A |
Sea fogs pitched their tents and mists from the mighty Atlantic | C |
Looked on the happy valley but ne'er from their station descended | G |
There in the midst of its farms reposed the Acadian village | M |
Strongly built were the houses with frames of oak and of hemlock | N |
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henries | A |
Thatched were the roofs with dormer windows and gables projecting | O |
Over the basement below protected and shaded the doorway | P |
There in the tranquil evenings of summer when brightly the sunset | Q |
Lighted the village street and gilded the vanes on the chimneys | A |
Matrons and maidens sat in snow white caps and in kirtles | A |
Scarlet and blue and green with distaffs spinning the golden | D |
Flax for the gossiping looms whose noisy shuttles within doors | A |
Mingled their sound with the whir of the wheels and the songs of the maidens | A |
Solemnly down the street came the parish priest and the children | D |
Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended to bless them | R |
Reverend walked he among them and up rose matrons and maidens | A |
Hailing his slow approach with words of affectionate welcome | S |
Then came the laborers home from the field and serenely the sun sank | T |
Down to his rest and twilight prevailed Anon from the belfry | I |
Softly the Angelus sounded and over the roofs of the village | M |
Columns of pale blue smoke like clouds of incense ascending | O |
Rose from a hundred hearths the homes of peace and contentment | J |
Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers | A |
Dwelt in the love of God and of man Alike were they free from | S |
Fear that reigns with the tyrant and envy the vice of republics | A |
Neither locks had they to their doors nor bars to their windows | A |
But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of their owners | A |
There the richest was poor and the poorest lived in abundance | A |
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Somewhat apart from the village and nearer the Basin of Minas | A |
Benedict Bellefontaine the wealthiest farmer of Grand Pre | I |
Dwelt on his goodly acres and with him directing his household | U |
Gentle Evangeline lived his child and the pride of the village | M |
Stalworth and stately in form was the man of seventy winters | A |
Hearty and hale was he an oak that is covered with snow flakes | A |
White as the snow were his locks and his cheeks as brown as the oak leaves | A |
Fair was she to behold that maiden of seventeen summers | A |
Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the wayside | V |
Black yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her tresses | A |
Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed in the meadows | A |
When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at noontide | V |
Flagons of home brewed ale ah fair in sooth was the maiden | D |
Fairer was she when on Sunday morn while the bell from its turret | V |
Sprinkled with holy sounds the air as the priest with his hyssop | W |
Sprinkles the congregation and scatters blessings upon them | R |
Down the long street she passed with her chaplet of beads and her missal | X |
Wearing her Norman cap and her kirtle of blue and the ear rings | A |
Brought in the olden time from France and since as an heirloom | Y |
Handed down from mother to child through long generations | A |
But a celestial brightness a more ethereal beauty | V |
Shone on her face and encircled her form when after confession | D |
Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction upon her | H |
When she had passed it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music | C |
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Firmly builded with rafters of oak the house of the farmer | H |
Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea and a shady | V |
Sycamore grew by the door with a woodbine wreathing around it | V |
Rudely carved was the porch with seats beneath and a footpath | Z |
Led through an orchard wide and disappeared in the meadow | V |
Under the sycamore tree were hives overhung by a penthouse | A |
Such as the traveller sees in regions remote by the roadside | V |
Built o'er a box for the poor or the blessed image of Mary | V |
Farther down on the slope of the hill was the well with its moss grown | A2 |
Bucket fastened with iron and near it a trough for the horses | A |
Shielding the house from storms on the north were the barns and the farm yard | V |
There stood the broad wheeled wains and the antique ploughs and the harrows | A |
There were the folds for the sheep and there in his feathered seraglio | X |
Strutted the lordly turkey and crowed the cock with the selfsame | Y |
Voice that in ages of old had startled the penitent Peter | H |
Bursting with hay were the barns themselves a village In each one | D |
Far o'er the gable projected a roof of thatch and a staircase | A |
Under the sheltering eaves led up to the odorous corn loft | V |
There too the dove cot stood with its meek and innocent inmates | A |
Murmuring ever of love while above in the variant breezes | A |
Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of mutation | D |
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Thus at peace with God and the world the farmer of Grand Pre | V |
Lived on his sunny farm and Evangeline governed his household | V |
Many a youth as he knelt in the church and opened his missal | X |
Fixed his eyes upon her as the saint of his deepest devotion | D |
Happy was he who might touch her hand or the hem of her garment | V |
Many a suitor came to her door by the darkness befriended | V |
And as he knocked and waited to hear the sound of her footsteps | A |
Knew not which beat the louder his heart or the knocker of iron | B2 |
Or at the joyous feast of the Patron Saint of the village | M |
Bolder grew and pressed her hand in the dance as he whispered | V |
Hurried words of love that seemed a part of the music | C |
But among all who came young Gabriel only was welcome | Y |
Gabriel Lajeunesse the son of Basil the blacksmith | C2 |
Who was a mighty man in the village and honored of all men | D2 |
For since the birth of time throughout all ages and nations | A |
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the people | X |
Basil was Benedict's friend Their children from earliest childhood | V |
Grew up together as brother and sister and Father Felician | D2 |
Priest and pedagogue both in the village had | V |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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