A Ballad With A Serious Conclusion Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBB CDED FFGH ICJC BKLK BMFN BCAC BOFO PBQB RSLS TUVU FBBB WQBX GCYC BZA2Z BB2FB2 BC2CC2 D2E2BE2 AB2F2B2 YG2B2G FB2FB2 GHH2H FB2FB2| Crowd about me little children | A |
| Come and cluster 'round my knee | B |
| While I tell a little story | B |
| That happened once with me | B |
| - | |
| My father he had gone away | C |
| A sailing on the foam | D |
| Leaving me the merest infant | E |
| And my mother dear at home | D |
| - | |
| For my father was a sailor | F |
| And he sailed the ocean o'er | F |
| For full five years ere yet again | G |
| He reached his native shore | H |
| - | |
| And I had grown up rugged | I |
| And healthy day by day | C |
| Though I was but a puny babe | J |
| When father went away | C |
| - | |
| Poor mother she would kiss me | B |
| And look at me and sigh | K |
| So strangely oft I wondered | L |
| And would ask the reason why | K |
| - | |
| And she would answer sadly | B |
| Between her sobs and tears | M |
| You look so like your father | F |
| Far away so many years | N |
| - | |
| And then she would caress me | B |
| And brush my hair away | C |
| And tell me not to question | A |
| But to run about my play | C |
| - | |
| Thus I went playing thoughtfully | B |
| For that my mother said | O |
| YOU LOOK SO LIKE YOUR FATHER | F |
| Kept ringing in my head | O |
| - | |
| So ranging once the golden sands | P |
| That looked out on the sea | B |
| I called aloud My father dear | Q |
| Come back to ma and me | B |
| - | |
| Then I saw a glancing shadow | R |
| On the sand and heard the shriek | S |
| Of a sea gull flying seaward | L |
| And I heard a gruff voice speak | S |
| - | |
| Ay ay my little shipmate | T |
| I thought I heard you hail | U |
| Were you trumpeting that sea gull | V |
| Or do you see a sail | U |
| - | |
| And as rough and gruff a sailor | F |
| As ever sailed the sea | B |
| Was standing near grotesquely | B |
| And leering dreadfully | B |
| - | |
| I replied though I was frightened | W |
| It was my father dear | Q |
| I was calling for across the sea | B |
| I think he didn't hear | X |
| - | |
| And then the sailor leered again | G |
| In such a frightful way | C |
| And made so many faces | Y |
| I was little loath to stay | C |
| - | |
| But he started fiercely toward me | B |
| Then made a sudden halt | Z |
| And roared I think he heard you | A2 |
| And turned a somersault | Z |
| - | |
| Then a wild fear overcame me | B |
| And I flew off like the wind | B2 |
| Shrieking MOTHER and the sailor | F |
| Just a little way behind | B2 |
| - | |
| And then my mother heard me | B |
| And I saw her shade her eyes | C2 |
| Looking toward me from the doorway | C |
| Transfixed with pale surprise | C2 |
| - | |
| For a moment then her features | D2 |
| Glowed with all their wonted charms | E2 |
| As the sailor overtook me | B |
| And I fainted in her arms | E2 |
| - | |
| When I awoke to reason | A |
| I shuddered with affright | B2 |
| Till I felt my mother's presence | F2 |
| With a thrill of wild delight | B2 |
| - | |
| Till amid a shower of kisses | Y |
| Falling glad as summer rain | G2 |
| A muffled thunder rumbled | B2 |
| Is he coming 'round again | G |
| - | |
| Then I shrieked and clung unto her | F |
| While her features flushed and burned | B2 |
| As she told me it was father | F |
| From a foreign land returned | B2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| I said when I was calm again | G |
| And thoughtfully once more | H |
| Had dwelt upon my mother's words | H2 |
| Of just the day before | H |
| - | |
| I DON'T look like my father | F |
| As you told me yesterday | B2 |
| I know I don't or father | F |
| Would have run the other way | B2 |
James Whitcomb Riley
(1)
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A Ballad With A Serious Conclusion is a poem by James Whitcomb Riley. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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