The Shell Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CDEE FFGG DCHH IIJJ KKLL LLDD CDLL MMANA LLDD OODD| O little whisp'ring murm'ring shell say cans't thou tell to me | A |
| Good news of any stately ship that sails upon the sea | A |
| I press my ear O little shell against thy rosy lips | B |
| Cans't tell me tales of those who go down to the sea in ships | B |
| - | |
| What not a word Ah hearken shell I've shut the cottage door | C |
| There's scarce a sound to drown thy voice so silent is the moor | D |
| A bell may tinkle far away upon its purple rise | E |
| A bee may buz among the heath a lavrock cleave the skies | E |
| - | |
| But if you only breathe the name I name upon my knees | F |
| Ah surely I should catch the word above such sounds as these | F |
| And Grannie's needles click no more the ball of yarn is done | G |
| And she's asleep outside the door where shines the merry sun | G |
| - | |
| One night while Grannie slept I dreamed he came across the moor | D |
| And stood so handsome brown and tall beside the open door | C |
| I thought I turned to pick a rose that by the sill had blown | H |
| He liked a rose and when I looked O shell I was alone | H |
| - | |
| Across the moor there dwells a wife she spaed my fortune true | I |
| And said I'd plight my troth with one who ware a jacket blue | I |
| That morn before my Grannie woke just when the lapwing stirred | J |
| I sped across the misty rise and sought the old wife's word | J |
| - | |
| With her it was the milking time and while she milk'd the goat | K |
| I ask'd her then to spae my dream my heart was in my throat | K |
| But that was just because the way had been so steep and long | L |
| And not because I had the fear that anything was wrong | L |
| - | |
| Ye'll meet ye'll meet was all she said Ye'll meet when it is mirk | L |
| I gave her tippence that I meant for Sabbath day and kirk | L |
| And then I hastened back again it seemed that never sure | D |
| The happy sun delay'd so long to gild the purple moor | D |
| - | |
| That's six months back and every night I sit beside the door | C |
| And while I knit I keep my gaze upon the mirky moor | D |
| I keep old Collie by my side he's sure to spring and bark | L |
| When Ronald comes across the moor to meet me in the dark | L |
| - | |
| I know the old wife spaed me true for did she not fore tell | M |
| I'd break a ring with Ronald Grey beside the Hidden Well | M |
| It came to pass at shearing time before he went to sea | A |
| We're nighbours' bairns how could she know that Ronald cared | N |
| for me | A |
| - | |
| So night by night I watch for him by day I sing and work | L |
| And try to never mind the latch he's coming in the dark | L |
| Yet as the days and weeks and months go slipping slowly thro' | D |
| I wonder if the wise old wife has spaed my fortune true | D |
| - | |
| Ah not a word about his ship Well well I'll lay thee by | O |
| I see a heron from the marsh go sailing in the sky | O |
| The purple moor is like a dream a star is twinkling clear | D |
| Perhaps the meeting that she spaed is drawing very near | D |
Isabella Valancy Crawford
(1)
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