Tales Of A Wayside Inn : Part 2. Prelude Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBAACCDDCEEFFE GGGHHGG GGIJJKKIIGLMNGA OGGOPPGQQRRSSGGSTTGU UU VVWTGWGX YYZA2B2A2B2ZC2B2D2B2 D2 E2E2GHE2HGF2F2G G2G2G2GG2G2GAH2AAH2 G2I2AI2G2G2 J2G2G2J2QJ2CCQG2G2G2 G2CCG2G2G2 GGG2G2G2K2G2L2G2L2K2

A cold uninterrupted rainA
That washed each southern window paneA
And made a river of the roadB
A sea of mist that overflowedB
The house the barns the gilded vaneA
And drowned the upland and the plainA
Through which the oak trees broad and highC
Like phantom ships went drifting byC
And hidden behind a watery screenD
The sun unseen or only seenD
As a faint pallor in the skyC
Thus cold and colorless and grayE
The morn of that autumnal dayE
As if reluctant to beginF
Dawned on the silent Sudbury InnF
And all the guests that in it layE
-
Full late they slept They did not hearG
The challenge of Sir ChanticleerG
Who on the empty threshing floorG
Disdainful of the rain outsideH
Was strutting with a martial strideH
As if upon his thigh he woreG
The famous broadsword of the SquireG
And said 'Behold me and admire '-
-
Only the Poet seemed to hearG
In drowse or dream more near and nearG
Across the border land of sleepI
The blowing of a blithesome hornJ
That laughed the dismal day to scornJ
A splash of hoofs and rush of wheelsK
Through sand and mire like stranding keelsK
As from the road with sudden sweepI
The Mail drove up the little steepI
And stopped beside the tavern doorG
A moment stopped and then againL
With crack of whip and bark of dogM
Plunged forward through the sea of fogN
And all was silent as beforeG
All silent save the dripping rainA
-
Then one by one the guests came downO
And greeted with a smile the SquireG
Who sat before the parlor fireG
Reading the paper fresh from townO
First the Sicilian like a birdP
Before his form appeared was heardP
Whistling and singing down the stairG
Then came the Student with a lookQ
As placid as a meadow brookQ
The Theologian still perplexedR
With thoughts of this world and the nextR
The Poet then as one who seemsS
Walking in visions and in dreamsS
Then the Musician like a fairG
Hyperion from whose golden hairG
The radiance of the morning streamsS
And last the aromatic JewT
Of Alicant who as he threwT
The door wide open on the airG
Breathed round about him a perfumeU
Of damask roses in full bloomU
Making a garden of the roomU
-
The breakfast ended each pursuedV
The promptings of his various moodV
Beside the fire in silence smokedW
The taciturn impassive JewT
Lost in a pleasant reveryG
While by his gravity provokedW
His portrait the Sicilian drewG
And wrote beneath it 'EdrehiX
At the Red Horse in Sudbury '-
-
By far the busiest of them allY
The Theologian in the hallY
Was feeding robins in a cageZ
Two corpulent and lazy birdsA2
Vagrants and pilferers at bestB2
If one might trust the hostler's wordsA2
Chief instrument of their arrestB2
Two poets of the Golden AgeZ
Heirs of a boundless heritageC2
Of fields and orchards east and westB2
And sunshine of long summer daysD2
Though outlawed now and dispossessedB2
Such was the Theologian's phraseD2
-
Meanwhile the Student held discourseE2
With the Musician on the sourceE2
Of all the legendary loreG
Among the nations scattered wideH
Like silt and seaweed by the forceE2
And fluctuation of the tideH
The tale repeated o'er and o'erG
With change of place and change of nameF2
Disguised transformed and yet the sameF2
We've heard a hundred times beforeG
-
The Poet at the window musedG2
And saw as in a dream confusedG2
The countenance of the Sun discrownedG2
And haggard with a pale despairG
And saw the cloud rack trail and driftG2
Before it and the trees upliftG2
Their leafless branches and the airG
Filled with the arrows of the rainA
And heard amid the mist belowH2
Like voices of distress and painA
That haunt the thoughts of men insaneA
The fateful cawings of the crowH2
-
Then down the road with mud besprentG2
And drenched with rain from head to hoofI2
The rain drops dripping from his maneA
And tail as from a pent house roofI2
A jaded horse his head down bentG2
Passed slowly limping as he wentG2
-
The young Sicilian who had grownJ2
Impatient longer to abideG2
A prisoner greatly mortifiedG2
To see completely overthrownJ2
His plans for angling in the brookQ
And leaning o'er the bridge of stoneJ2
To watch the speckled trout glide byC
And float through the inverted skyC
Still round and round the baited hookQ
Now paced the room with rapid strideG2
And pausing at the Poet's sideG2
Looked forth and saw the wretched steedG2
And said 'Alas for human greedG2
That with cold hand and stony eyeC
Thus turns an old friend out to dieC
Or beg his food from gate to gateG2
This brings a tale into my mindG2
Which if you are not disinclinedG2
To listen I will now relate '-
-
All gave assent all wished to hearG
Not without many a jest and jeerG
The story of a spavined steedG2
And even the Student with the restG2
Put in his pleasant little jestG2
Out of Malherbe that PegasusK2
Is but a horse that with all speedG2
Bears poets to the hospitalL2
While the Sicilian self possessedG2
After a moment's intervalL2
Began his simple story thusK2

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



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