The Song Of Hiawatha Vii: Hiawatha's Sailing Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABAACBDAABCEFGHEACC AFICJFHIHHDBHEBIHFBB JHFBCKBCHBBBFJCJLFJH BCHEBBFBJJCFDBBBCCKB FCMJBJFHJLJKAJHHBHHC BBJBDBGHMMHBHHBFHBBB BBJJAGDJJHHNJBADAJCD| 'Give me of your bark O Birch tree | A |
| Of your yellow bark O Birch tree | A |
| Growing by the rushing river | B |
| Tall and stately in the valley | A |
| I a light canoe will build me | A |
| Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing | C |
| That shall float on the river | B |
| Like a yellow leaf in Autumn | D |
| Like a yellow water lily | A |
| 'Lay aside your cloak O Birch tree | A |
| Lay aside your white skin wrapper | B |
| For the Summer time is coming | C |
| And the sun is warm in heaven | E |
| And you need no white skin wrapper ' | F |
| Thus aloud cried Hiawatha | G |
| In the solitary forest | H |
| By the rushing Taquamenaw | E |
| When the birds were singing gayly | A |
| In the Moon of Leaves were singing | C |
| And the sun from sleep awaking | C |
| Started up and said 'Behold me | A |
| Gheezis the great Sun behold me ' | F |
| And the tree with all its branches | I |
| Rustled in the breeze of morning | C |
| Saying with a sigh of patience | J |
| 'Take my cloak O Hiawatha ' | F |
| With his knife the tree he girdled | H |
| Just beneath its lowest branches | I |
| Just above the roots he cut it | H |
| Till the sap came oozing outward | H |
| Down the trunk from top to bottom | D |
| Sheer he cleft the bark asunder | B |
| With a wooden wedge he raised it | H |
| Stripped it from the trunk unbroken | E |
| 'Give me of your boughs O Cedar | B |
| Of your strong and pliant branches | I |
| My canoe to make more steady | H |
| Make more strong and firm beneath me ' | F |
| Through the summit of the Cedar | B |
| Went a sound a cry of horror | B |
| Went a murmur of resistance | J |
| But it whispered bending downward | H |
| 'Take my boughs O Hiawatha ' | F |
| Down he hewed the boughs of cedar | B |
| Shaped them straightway to a frame work | C |
| Like two bows he formed and shaped them | K |
| Like two bended bows together | B |
| 'Give me of your roots O Tamarack | C |
| Of your fibrous roots O Larch tree | H |
| My canoe to bind together | B |
| So to bind the ends together | B |
| That the water may not enter | B |
| That the river may not wet me ' | F |
| And the Larch with all its fibres | J |
| Shivered in the air of morning | C |
| Touched his forehead with its tassels | J |
| Slid with one long sigh of sorrow | L |
| 'Take them all O Hiawatha ' | F |
| From the earth he tore the fibres | J |
| Tore the tough roots of the Larch tree | H |
| Closely sewed the hark together | B |
| Bound it closely to the frame work | C |
| 'Give me of your balm O Fir tree | H |
| Of your balsam and your resin | E |
| So to close the seams together | B |
| That the water may not enter | B |
| That the river may not wet me ' | F |
| And the Fir tree tall and sombre | B |
| Sobbed through all its robes of darkness | J |
| Rattled like a shore with pebbles | J |
| Answered wailing answered weeping | C |
| 'Take my balm O Hiawatha ' | F |
| And he took the tears of balsam | D |
| Took the resin of the Fir tree | B |
| Smeared therewith each seam and fissure | B |
| Made each crevice safe from water | B |
| 'Give me of your quills O Hedgehog | C |
| All your quills O Kagh the Hedgehog | C |
| I will make a necklace of them | K |
| Make a girdle for my beauty | B |
| And two stars to deck her bosom ' | F |
| From a hollow tree the Hedgehog | C |
| With his sleepy eyes looked at him | M |
| Shot his shining quills like arrows | J |
| Saying with a drowsy murmur | B |
| Through the tangle of his whiskers | J |
| 'Take my quills O Hiawatha ' | F |
| From the ground the quills he gathered | H |
| All the little shining arrows | J |
| Stained them red and blue and yellow | L |
| With the juice of roots and berries | J |
| Into his canoe he wrought them | K |
| Round its waist a shining girdle | A |
| Round its bows a gleaming necklace | J |
| On its breast two stars resplendent | H |
| Thus the Birch Canoe was builded | H |
| In the valley by the river | B |
| In the bosom of the forest | H |
| And the forest's life was in it | H |
| All its mystery and its magic | C |
| All the lightness of the birch tree | B |
| All the toughness of the cedar | B |
| All the larch's supple sinews | J |
| And it floated on the river | B |
| Like a yellow leaf in Autumn | D |
| Like a yellow water lily | B |
| Paddles none had Hiawatha | G |
| Paddles none he had or needed | H |
| For his thoughts as paddles served him | M |
| And his wishes served to guide him | M |
| Swift or slow at will he glided | H |
| Veered to right or left at pleasure | B |
| Then he called aloud to Kwasind | H |
| To his friend the strong man Kwasind | H |
| Saying 'Help me clear this river | B |
| Of its sunken logs and sand bars ' | F |
| Straight into the river Kwasind | H |
| Plunged as if he were an otter | B |
| Dived as if he were a beaver | B |
| Stood up to his waist in water | B |
| To his arm pits in the river | B |
| Swam and scouted in the river | B |
| Tugged at sunken logs and branches | J |
| With his hands he scooped the sand bars | J |
| With his feet the ooze and tangle | A |
| And thus sailed my Hiawatha | G |
| Down the rushing Taquamenaw | D |
| Sailed through all its bends and windings | J |
| Sailed through all its deeps and shallows | J |
| While his friend the strong man Kwasind | H |
| Swam the deeps the shallows waded | H |
| Up and down the river went they | N |
| In and out among its islands | J |
| Cleared its bed of root and sand bar | B |
| Dragged the dead trees from its channel | A |
| Made its passage safe and certain | D |
| Made a pathway for the people | A |
| From its springs among the mountains | J |
| To the waters of Pauwating | C |
| To the bay of Taquamenaw | D |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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The Song Of Hiawatha Vii: Hiawatha's Sailing is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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