The Quiet Lodger Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCCDD EAEEFFG HIHIAEJK LELEMNAA OBKBPPAA QRQSTTEE UTUEAAVW BXBXYYZZ A2B2A2B2C2D2EE QOQOA2 AA| The man that rooms next door to me | A |
| Two weeks ago this very night | B |
| He took possession quietly | A |
| As any other lodger might | B |
| But why the room next mine should so | C |
| Attract him I was vexed to know | C |
| Because his quietude in fine | D |
| Was far superior to mine | D |
| - | |
| 'Now I like quiet truth to tell | E |
| A tranquil life is sweet to me | A |
| But this ' I sneered 'suits me too well | E |
| He shuts his door so noiselessly | E |
| And glides about so very mute | F |
| In each mysterious pursuit | F |
| His silence is oppressive and | G |
| Too deep for me to understand ' | - |
| - | |
| Sometimes forgetting book or pen | H |
| I've found my head in breathless poise | I |
| Lifted and dropped in shame again | H |
| Hearing some alien ghost of noise | I |
| Some smothered sound that seemed to be | A |
| A trunk lid dropped unguardedly | E |
| Or the crisp writhings of some quire | J |
| Of manuscript thrust in the fire | K |
| - | |
| Then I have climbed and closed in vain | L |
| My transom opening in the hall | E |
| Or close against the window pane | L |
| Have pressed my fevered face but all | E |
| The day or night without held not | M |
| A sight or sound or counter thought | N |
| To set my mind one instant free | A |
| Of this man's silent mastery | A |
| - | |
| And often I have paced the floor | O |
| With muttering anger far at night | B |
| Hearing and cursing o'er and o'er | K |
| The muffled noises and the light | B |
| And tireless movements of this guest | P |
| Whose silence raged above my rest | P |
| Hoarser than howling storms at sea | A |
| The man that rooms next door to me | A |
| - | |
| But twice or thrice upon the stair | Q |
| I've seen his face most strangely wan | R |
| Each time upon me unaware | Q |
| He came smooth'd past me and was gone | S |
| So like a whisper he went by | T |
| I listened after ear and eye | T |
| Nor could my chafing fancy tell | E |
| The meaning of one syllable | E |
| - | |
| Last night I caught him face to face | U |
| He entering his room and I | T |
| Glaring from mine He paused a space | U |
| And met my scowl all shrinkingly | E |
| But with full gentleness The key | A |
| Turned in his door and I could see | A |
| It tremblingly withdrawn and put | V |
| Inside and then the door was shut | W |
| - | |
| Then silence Silence why last night | B |
| The silence was tumultuous | X |
| And thundered on till broad daylight | B |
| O never has it stunned me thus | X |
| It rolls and moans and mumbles yet | Y |
| Ah God how loud may silence get | Y |
| When man mocks at a brother man | Z |
| Who answers but as silence can | Z |
| - | |
| The silence grew and grew and grew | A2 |
| Till at high noon to day 'twas heard | B2 |
| Throughout the house and men flocked through | A2 |
| The echoing halls with faces blurred | B2 |
| With pallor gloom and fear and awe | C2 |
| And shuddering at what they saw | D2 |
| The quiet lodger as he lay | E |
| Stark of the life he cast away | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| So strange to night those voices there | Q |
| Where all so quiet was before | O |
| They say the face has not a care | Q |
| Nor sorrow in it any more | O |
| His latest scrawl 'Forgive me You | A2 |
| Who prayed 'they know not what they do '' | - |
| My tears wilt never let me see | A |
| This man that rooms next door to me | A |
James Whitcomb Riley
(1)
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About The Quiet Lodger
The Quiet Lodger 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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