When Old Jack Died Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCCBBCCBDEFDGF A HIIHHIIHHJHHJH A KHHKKHHKLMHLMHI | A |
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When old Jack died we staid from school they said | B |
At home we needn't go that day and none | C |
Of us ate any breakfast only one | C |
And that was Papa and his eyes were red | B |
When he came round where we were by the shed | B |
Where Jack was lying half way in the sun | C |
And half way in the shade When we begun | C |
To cry out loud Pa turned and dropped his head | B |
And went away and Mamma she went back | D |
Into the kitchen Then for a long while | E |
All to ourselves like we stood there and cried | F |
We thought so many good things of Old Jack | D |
And funny things although we didn't smile We | G |
couldn't only cry when Old Jack died | F |
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II | A |
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When Old Jack died it seemed a human friend | H |
Had suddenly gone from us that some face | I |
That we had loved to fondle and embrace | I |
From babyhood no more would condescend | H |
To smile on us forever We might bend | H |
With tearful eyes above him interlace | I |
Our chubby fingers o'er him romp and race | I |
Plead with him call and coax aye we might send | H |
The old halloo up for him whistle hist | H |
If sobs had let us or as wildly vain | J |
Snapped thumbs called 'speak ' and he had not replied | H |
We might have gone down on our knees and kissed | H |
The tousled ears and yet they must remain | J |
Deaf motionless we knew when Old Jack died | H |
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III | A |
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When Old Jack died it seemed to us some way | K |
That all the other dogs in town were pained | H |
With our bereavement and some that were chained | H |
Even unslipped their collars on that day | K |
To visit Jack in state as though to pay | K |
A last sad tribute there while neighbors craned | H |
Their heads above the high board fence and deigned | H |
To sigh 'Poor dog ' remembering how they | K |
Had cuffed him when alive perchance because | L |
For love of them he leaped to lick their hands | M |
Now that he could not were they satisfied | H |
We children thought that as we crossed his paws | L |
And o'er his grave 'way down the bottom lands | M |
Wrote 'Our First Love Lies Here ' when Old Jack died | H |
James Whitcomb Riley
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