Hiawatha And The Pearl-feather Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDDEFGAFHDIJHKCDLB CAMBMMBBAEBFNAGOKKKK LNCCFAABCBKBLPFNFDKB FLAAAKKKKBBQRKALKFAA BSTLANKFUVFBKLFFBANA BWBKKKAXYZKXVAFKAVVA KKKFCFLCBAVAKVAAKVVK A2KKALAVABVAVQVBFACB VAKFVKVLBCSCVB2BVFKF KC2KACVVVLAVCD2BKALV FCVVVKBBVABLCVKVBVFV AKVCCVVBBBCAKVVCK

On the shores of Gitche GumeeA
Of the shining Big Sea WaterB
Stood Nokomis the old womanC
Pointing with her finger westwardD
O'er the water pointing westwardD
To the purple clouds of sunsetE
Fiercely the red sun descendingF
Burned his way along the heavensG
Set the sky on fire behind himA
As war parties when retreatingF
Burn the prairies on their war trailH
And the moon the Night sun eastwardD
Suddenly starting from his ambushI
Followed fast those bloody footprintsJ
Followed in that fiery war trailH
With its glare upon his featuresK
And Nokomis the old womanC
Pointing with her finger westwardD
Spake these words to HiawathaL
Yonder dwells the great Pearl FeatherB
Megissogwon the MagicianC
Manito of Wealth and WampumA
Guarded by his fiery serpentsM
Guarded by the black pitch waterB
You can see his fiery serpentsM
The Kenabeek the great serpentsM
Coiling playing in the waterB
You can see the black pitch waterB
Stretching far away beyond themA
To the purple clouds of sunsetE
He it was who slew my fatherB
By his wicked wiles and cunningF
When he from the moon descendedN
When he came on earth to seek meA
He the mightiest of MagiciansG
Sends the fever from the marshesO
Sends the pestilential vaporsK
Sends the poisonous exhalationsK
Sends the white fog from the fen landsK
Sends disease and death among usK
Take your bow O HiawathaL
Take your arrows jasper headedN
Take your war club PuggawaugunC
And your mittens MinjekahwunC
And your birch canoe for sailingF
And the oil of Mishe NahmaA
So to smear its sides that swiftlyA
You may pass the black pitch waterB
Slay this merciless magicianC
Save the people from the feverB
That he breathes across the fen landsK
And avenge my father's murderB
Straightway then my HiawathaL
Armed himself with all his war gearP
Launched his birch canoe for sailingF
With his palm its sides he pattedN
Said with glee Cheemaun my darlingF
O my Birch canoe leap forwardD
Where you see the fiery serpentsK
Where you see the black pitch waterB
Forward leaped Cheemaun exultingF
And the noble HiawathaL
Sang his war song wild and wofulA
And above him the war eagleA
The Keneu the great war eagleA
Master of all fowls with feathersK
Screamed and hurtled through the heavensK
Soon he reached the fiery serpentsK
The Kenabeek the great serpentsK
Lying huge upon the waterB
Sparkling rippling in the waterB
Lying coiled across the passageQ
With their blazing crests upliftedR
Breathing fiery fogs and vaporsK
So that none could pass beyond themA
But the fearless HiawathaL
Cried aloud and spake in this wiseK
Let me pass my way KenabeekF
Let me go upon my journeyA
And they answered hissing fiercelyA
With their fiery breath made answerB
Back go back O ShaugodayaS
Back to old Nokomis Faint heartT
Then the angry HiawathaL
Raised his mighty bow of ash treeA
Seized his arrows jasper headedN
Shot them fast among the serpentsK
Every twanging of the bow stringF
Was a war cry and a death cryU
Every whizzing of an arrowV
Was a death song of KenabeekF
Weltering in the bloody waterB
Dead lay all the fiery serpentsK
And among them HiawathaL
Harmless sailed and cried exultingF
Onward O Cheemaun my darlingF
Onward to the black pitch waterB
Then he took the oil of NahmaA
And the bows and sides anointedN
Smeared them well with oil that swiftlyA
He might pass the black pitch waterB
All night long he sailed upon itW
Sailed upon that sluggish waterB
Covered with its mould of agesK
Black with rotting water rushesK
Rank with flags and leaves of liliesK
Stagnant lifeless dreary dismalA
Lighted by the shimmering moonlightX
And by will o' the wisps illuminedY
Fires by ghosts of dead men kindledZ
In their weary night encampmentsK
All the air was white with moonlightX
All the water black with shadowV
And around him the SuggemaA
The mosquito sang his war songF
And the fire flies Wah wah tayseeK
Waved their torches to mislead himA
And the bull frog the DahindaV
Thrust his head into the moonlightV
Fixed his yellow eyes upon himA
Sobbed and sank beneath the surfaceK
And anon a thousand whistlesK
Answered over all the fen landsK
And the heron the Shuh shuh gahF
Far off on the reedy marginC
Heralded the hero's comingF
Westward thus fared HiawathaL
Toward the realm of MegissogwonC
Toward the land of the Pearl FeatherB
Till the level moon stared at himA
In his face stared pale and haggardV
Till the sun was hot behind himA
Till it burned upon his shouldersK
And before him on the uplandV
He could see the Shining WigwamA
Of the Manito of WampumA
Of the mightiest of MagiciansK
Then once more Cheemaun he pattedV
To his birch canoe said OnwardV
And it stirred in all its fibresK
And with one great bound of triumphA2
Leaped across the water liliesK
Leaped through tangled flags and rushesK
And upon the beach beyond themA
Dry shod landed HiawathaL
Straight he took his bow of ash treeA
On the sand one end he restedV
With his knee he pressed the middleA
Stretched the faithful bow string tighterB
Took an arrow jasperheadedV
Shot it at the Shining WigwamA
Sent it singing as a heraldV
As a bearer of his messageQ
Of his challenge loud and loftyV
Come forth from your lodge Pearl FeatherB
Hiawatha waits your comingF
Straightway from the Shining WigwamA
Came the mighty MegissogwonC
Tall of stature broad of shoulderB
Dark and terrible in aspectV
Clad from head to foot in wampumA
Armed with all his warlike weaponsK
Painted like the sky of morningF
Streaked with crimson blue and yellowV
Crested with great eagle feathersK
Streaming upward streaming outwardV
Well I know you HiawathaL
Cried he in a voice of thunderB
In a tone of loud derisionC
Hasten back O ShaugodayaS
Hasten back among the womenC
Back to old Nokomis Faint heartV
I will slay you as you stand thereB2
As of old I slew her fatherB
But my Hiawatha answeredV
Nothing daunted fearing nothingF
Big words do not smite like war clubsK
Boastful breath is not a bow stringF
Taunts are not so sharp as arrowsK
Deeds are better things than words areC2
Actions mightier than boastingsK
Then began the greatest battleA
That the sun had ever looked onC
That the war birds ever witnessedV
All a Summer's day it lastedV
From the sunrise to the sunsetV
For the shafts of HiawathaL
Harmless hit the shirt of wampumA
Harmless fell the blows he dealt itV
With his mittens MinjekahwunC
Harmless fell the heavy war clubD2
It could dash the rocks asunderB
But it could not break the meshesK
Of that magic shirt of wampumA
Till at sunset HiawathaL
Leaning on his bow of ash treeV
Wounded weary and despondingF
With his mighty war club brokenC
With his mittens torn and tatteredV
And three useless arrows onlyV
Paused to rest beneath a pine treeV
From whose branches trailed the mossesK
And whose trunk was coated overB
With the Dead man's Moccasin leatherB
With the fungus white and yellowV
Suddenly from the boughs above himA
Sang the Mama the woodpeckerB
Aim your arrows HiawathaL
At the head of MegissogwonC
Strike the tuft of hair upon itV
At their roots the long black tressesK
There alone can he be woundedV
Winged with feathers tipped with jasperB
Swift flew Hiawatha's arrowV
Just as Megissogwon stoopingF
Raised a heavy stone to throw itV
Full upon the crown it struck himA
At the roots of his long tressesK
And he reeled and staggered forwardV
Plunging like a wounded bisonC
Yes like Pezhekee the bisonC
When the snow is on the prairieV
Swifter flew the second arrowV
In the pathway of the otherB
Piercing deeper than the otherB
Wounding sorer than the otherB
And the knees of MegissogwonC
Shook like windy reeds beneath himA
Bent and trembled like the rushesK
But the third and latest arrowV
Swiftest flew and wounded sorestV
And the mighty MegissogwonC
SawK

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



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