Evangeline: Part The First. Ii. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDAEFGHIJKLMJHNOJP QRS TUVAUAAJWXYGBAZIAIIJ IIIHA2IIF AIPB2IC2AD2IPIHAEE2A IAF2 HIG2PH2EGQUI G2WHI2J2 PK2IIHL2M2 IN2O2 G2K2EIQI AIJJQP2Q2J2G2J IJR2NOW had the season returned when the nights grow colder and longer | A |
And the retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion enters | B |
Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air from the ice bound | C |
Desolate northern bays to the shores of tropical islands | D |
Harvests were gathered in and wild with the winds of September | A |
Wrestled the trees of the forest as Jacob of old with the angel | E |
All the signs foretold a winter long and inclement | F |
Bees with prophetic instinct of want had hoarded their honey | G |
Till the hives overflowed and the Indian hunters asserted | H |
Cold would the winter be for thick was the fur of the foxes | I |
Such was the advent of autumn Then followed that beautiful season | J |
Called by the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of All Saints | K |
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light and the landscape | L |
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood | M |
Peace seemed to reign upon earth and the restless heart of the ocean | J |
Was for a moment consoled All sounds were in harmony blended | H |
Voices of children at play the crowing of cocks in the farm yards | N |
Whir of wings in the drowsy air and the cooing of pigeons | O |
All were subdued and low as the murmurs of love and the great sun | J |
Looked with the eye of love through the golden vapors around him | P |
While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and yellow | Q |
Bright with the sheen of the dew each glittering tree of the forest | R |
Flashed like the plane tree the Persian adorned with mantles and jewels | S |
- | |
Now recommenced the reign of rest and affection and stillness | T |
Day with its burden and heat had departed and twilight descending | U |
Brought back the evening star to the sky and the herds to the homestead | V |
Pawing the ground they came and resting their necks on each other | A |
And with their nostrils distended inhaling the freshness of evening | U |
Foremost bearing the bell Evangeline's beautiful heifer | A |
Proud of her snow white hide and the ribbon that waved from her collar | A |
Quietly paced and slow as if conscious of human affection | J |
Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks from the seaside | W |
Where was their favorite pasture Behind them followed the watch dog | X |
Patient full of importance and grand in the pride of his instinct | Y |
Walking from side to side with a lordly air and superbly | G |
Waving his bushy tail and urging forward the stragglers | B |
Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept their protector | A |
When from the forest at night through the starry silence the wolves howled | Z |
Late with the rising moon returned the wains from the marshes | I |
Laden with briny hay that filled the air with its odor | A |
Cheerily neighed the steeds with dew on their manes and their fetlocks | I |
While aloft on their shoulders the wooden and ponderous saddles | I |
Painted with brilliant dyes and adorned with tassels of crimson | J |
Nodded in bright array like hollyhocks heavy with blossoms | I |
Patiently stood the cows meanwhile and yielded their udders | I |
Unto the milkmaid's hand whilst loud and in regular cadence | I |
Into the sounding pails the foaming streamlets descended | H |
Lowing of cattle and peals of laughter were heard in the farm yard | A2 |
Echoed back by the barns Anon they sank into stillness | I |
Heavily closed with a jarring sound the valves of the barn doors | I |
Rattled the wooden bars and all for a season was silent | F |
- | |
In doors warm by the wide mouthed fireplace idly the farmer | A |
Sat in his elbow chair and watched how the flames and the smoke wreaths | I |
Struggled together like foe in a burning city Behind him | P |
Nodding and mocking along the wall with gestures fantastic | B2 |
Darted his own huge shadow and vanished away into darkness | I |
Faces clumsily carved in oak on the back of his arm chair | C2 |
Laughed in the flickering light and the pewter plates on the dresser | A |
Caught and reflected the flame as shields of armies the sunshine | D2 |
Fragments of song the old man sang and carols of Christmas | I |
Such as at home in the olden time his fathers before him | P |
Sang in their Norman orchards and bright Burgundian vineyards | I |
Close at her father's side was the gentle Evangeline seated | H |
Spinning flax for the loom that stood in the corner behind her | A |
Silent awhile were its treadles at rest was its diligent shuttle | E |
While the monotonous drone of the wheel like the drone of a bagpipe | E2 |
Followed the old man's song and united the fragments together | A |
As in a church when the chant of the choir at intervals ceases | I |
Footfalls are heard in the aisles or words of the priest at the altar | A |
So in each pause of the song with measured motion the clock clicked | F2 |
- | |
Thus as they sat there were footsteps heard and suddenly lifted | H |
Sounded the wooden latch and the door swung back on its hinges | I |
Benedict knew by the hob nailed shoes it was Basil the blacksmith | G2 |
And by her beating heart Evangeline knew who was with him | P |
'Welcome ' the farmer exclaimed as their footsteps paused on the threshold | H2 |
'Welcome Basil my friend Come take thy place on the settle | E |
Close by the chimney side which is always empty without thee | G |
Take from the shelf overhead thy pipe and the box of tobacco | Q |
Never so much thyself art thou as when through the curling | U |
Smoke of the pipe or the forge thy friendly and jovial face gleams | I |
Round and red as the harvest moon through the mist of the marshes ' | - |
Then with a smile of content thus answered Basil the blacksmith | G2 |
Taking with easy air the accustomed seat by the fireside | W |
'Benedict Bellefontaine thou hast ever thy jest and thy ballad | H |
Ever in cheerfullest mood art thou when others are filled with | I2 |
Gloomy forebodings of ill and see only ruin before them | J2 |
Happy art thou as if every day thou hadst picked up a horseshoe ' | - |
Pausing a moment to take the pipe that Evangeline brought him | P |
And with a coal from the embers had lighted he slowly continued | K2 |
'Four days now are passed since the English ships at their anchors | I |
Ride in the Gaspereau's mouth with their cannon pointed against us | I |
What their design may be is unknown but all are commanded | H |
On the morrow to meet in the church where his Majesty's mandate | L2 |
Will be proclaimed as law in the land Alas in the mean time | M2 |
Many surmises of evil alarm the hearts of the people ' | - |
Then made answer the farmer 'Perhaps some friendlier purpose | I |
Brings these ships to our shores Perhaps the harvests in England | N2 |
By untimely rains or untimelier heat have been blighted | O2 |
And from our bursting barns they would feed their cattle and children ' | - |
'Not so thinketh the folk in the village ' said warmly the blacksmith | G2 |
Shaking his head as in doubt then heaving a sigh he continued | K2 |
'Louisburg is not forgotten nor Beau S jour nor Port Royal | E |
Many already have fled to the forest and lurk on its outskirts | I |
Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of to morrow | Q |
Arms have been taken from us and warlike weapons of all kinds | I |
Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge and the scythe of the mower ' | - |
Then with a pleasant smile made answer the jovial farmer | A |
'Safer are we unarmed in the midst of our flocks and our cornfields | I |
Safer within these peaceful dikes besieged by the ocean | J |
Than our fathers in forts besieged by the enemy's cannon | J |
Fear no evil my friend and to night may no shadow of sorrow | Q |
Fall on this house and hearth for this is the night of the contract | P2 |
Built are the house and the barn The merry lads of the village | Q2 |
Strongly have built them and well and breaking the glebe round about them | J2 |
Filled the barn with hay and the house with food for a twelvemonth | G2 |
Ren Leblanc will be here anon with his papers and inkhorn | J |
Shall we not then be glad and rejoice in the joy of our children ' | - |
As apart by the window she stood with her hand in her lover's | I |
Blushing Evangeline heard the words that her father had spoken | J |
And as they died on his lips the worthy notary entered | R2 |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
<< Tales Of A Wayside Inn : Part 1. Interlude Vi. Poem
Tales Of A Wayside Inn : Part 3. Interlude Vii. Poem>>
Write your comment about Evangeline: Part The First. Ii. poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Best Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow