Evangeline: Part The First. Iii. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFBGHAIAJKJAEEKL MJLNBOKANMONBKPNJQOK JJEKQJPKAJJKJOJKRNML KO EJOAKEJAEOSOJJOAOOOK KAK OTJUKAOJKAOKJAVWJAAX OJOKJJKKOBENT like a laboring oar that toils in the surf of the ocean | A |
Bent but not broken by age was the form of the notary public | B |
Shocks of yellow hair like the silken floss of the maize hung | C |
Over his shoulders his forehead was high and glasses with horn bows | D |
Sat astride on his nose with a look of wisdom supernal | E |
Father of twenty children was he and more than a hundred | F |
Children's children rode on his knee and heard his great watch tick | B |
Four long years in the times of the war had he languished a captive | G |
Suffering much in an old French fort as the friend of the English | H |
Now though warier grown without all guile or suspicion | A |
Ripe in wisdom was he but patient and simple and childlike | I |
He was beloved by all and most of all by the children | A |
For he told them tales of the Loup garou in the forest | J |
And of the goblin that came in the night to water the horses | K |
And of the white L tiche the ghost of a child who unchristened | J |
Died and was doomed to haunt unseen the chambers of children | A |
And how on Christmas eve the oxen talked in the stable | E |
And how the fever was cured by a spider shut up in a nutshell | E |
And of the marvellous powers of four leaved clover and horsehoes | K |
With whatsoever else was writ in the lore of the village | L |
Then up rose from his seat by the fireside Basil the blacksmith | M |
Knocked from his pipe the ashes and slowly extending his right hand | J |
'Father Leblanc ' he exclaimed 'thou hast heard the talk in the village | L |
And perchance canst tell us some news of these ships and their errand ' | N |
Then with modest demeanor made answer the notary public | B |
'Gossip enough have I heard in sooth yet am never the wiser | O |
And what their errand may be I know not better than others | K |
Yet am I not of those who imagine some evil intention | A |
Brings them here for we are at peace and why then molest us ' | N |
'God's name ' shouted the hasty and somewhat irascible blacksmith | M |
'Must we in all things look for the how and the why and the wherefore | O |
Daily injustice is done and might is the right of the strongest ' | N |
But without heeding his warmth continued the notary public | B |
'Man is unjust but God is just and finally justice | K |
Triumphs and well I remember a story that often consoled me | P |
When as a captive I lay in the old French fort at Port Royal ' | N |
This was the old man's favorite tale and he loved to repeat it | J |
When his neighbors complained that any injustice was done them | Q |
'Once in an ancient city whose name I no longer remember | O |
Raised aloft on a column a brazen statue of Justice | K |
Stood in the public square upholding the scales in its left hand | J |
And in its right a sword as an emblem that justice presided | J |
Over the laws of the land and the hearts and homes of the people | E |
Even the birds had built their nests in the scales of the balance | K |
Having no fear of the sword that flashed in the sunshine above them | Q |
But in the course of time the laws of the land were corrupted | J |
Might took the place of right and the weak were oppressed and the mighty | P |
Ruled with an iron rod Then it chanced in a nobleman's palace | K |
That a necklace of pearls was lost and erelong a suspicion | A |
Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the household | J |
She after form of trial condemned to die on the scaffold | J |
Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of Justice | K |
As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit ascended | J |
Lo o'er the city a tempest rose and the bolts of the thunder | O |
Smote the statue of bronze and hurled in wrath from its left hand | J |
Down on the pavement below the clattering scales of the balance | K |
And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of a magpie | R |
Into whose clay built walls the necklace of pearls was inwoven ' | N |
Silenced but not convinced when the story was ended the blacksmith | M |
Stood like a man who fain would speak but findeth no language | L |
All his thoughts were congealed into lines on his face as the vapors | K |
Freeze in fantastic shapes on the window panes in the winter | O |
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Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the table | E |
Filled till it overflowed the pewter tankard with home brewed | J |
Nut brown ale that was famed for its strength in the village of Grand Pr | O |
While from his pocket the notary drew his papers and inkhorn | A |
Wrote with a steady hand the date and the age of the parties | K |
Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of sheep and in cattle | E |
Orderly all things proceeded and duly and well were completed | J |
And the great seal of the law was set like a sun on the margin | A |
Then from his leathern pouch the farmer threw on the table | E |
Three times the old man's fee in solid pieces of silver | O |
And the notary rising and blessing the bride and the bridegroom | S |
Lifted aloft the tankard of ale and drank to their welfare | O |
Wiping the foam from his lip he solemnly bowed and departed | J |
While in silence the others sat and mused by the fireside | J |
Till Evangeline brought the draught board out of its corner | O |
Soon was the game begun In friendly contention the old men | A |
Laughed at each lucky hit or unsuccessful manoeuver | O |
Laughed when a man was crowned or a breach was made in the king row | O |
Meanwhile apart in the twilight gloom of a window's embrasure | O |
Sat the lovers and whispered together beholding the moon rise | K |
Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of the meadows | K |
Silently one by one in the infinite meadows of heaven | A |
Blossomed the lovely stars the forget me nots of the angels | K |
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Thus passed the evening away Anon the bell from the belfry | O |
Rang out the hour of nine the village curfew and straightway | T |
Rose the guests and departed and silence reigned in the household | J |
Many a farewell word and sweet good night on the door step | U |
Lingered long in Evangeline's heart and filled it with gladness | K |
Carefully then were covered the embers that glowed on the hearth stone | A |
And on the oaken stairs resounded the tread of the farmer | O |
Soon with a soundless step the foot of Evangeline followed | J |
Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the darkness | K |
Lighted less by the lamp than the shining face of the maiden | A |
Silent she passed the hall and entered the door of her chamber | O |
Simple that chamber was with its curtains of white and its clothes press | K |
Ample and high on whose spacious shelves were carefully folded | J |
Linen and woollen stuffs by the hand of Evangeline woven | A |
This was the precious dower she would bring to her husband in marriage | V |
Better than flocks and herds being proofs of her skill as a housewife | W |
Soon she extinguished her lamp for the mellow and radiant moonlight | J |
Streamed through the windows and lighted the room till the heart of the maiden | A |
Swelled and obeyed its power like the tremulous tides of the ocean | A |
Ah she was fair exceeding fair to behold as she stood with | X |
Naked snow white feet on the gleaming floor of her chamber | O |
Little she dreamed that below among the trees of the orchard | J |
Waited her lover and watched for the gleam of her lamp and her shadow | O |
Yet were her thoughts of him and at times a feeling of sadness | K |
Passed o'er her soul as the sailing shade of clouds in the moonlight | J |
Flitted across the floor and darkened the room for a moment | J |
And as she gazed from the window she saw serenely the moon pass | K |
Forth from the folds of a cloud and one star follow her footsteps | K |
As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered with Hagar | O |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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