Margaret By The Mere Side Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCC DCDCEE FGFGHH IJIJKK LMNMOO PQPQBB RSRSCC TQTQUU VBVBWW XWXWUU FWFWFW BYBYZZ FWFWQQ WFWQA2A2 WB2WC2QQ WDWDD2D2 E2WE2WVV QWQWFF KQKQFF QFQFFF WWWWWW F2QF2QWW QFQWWW YWYWQQ FFFFG2G2 KH2KH2WW QI2QI2H2H2 G2J2G2J2WW K2L2K2L2KK I2M2I2M2QQ WWWWWW YN2YN2AM WWWWE2E2 WG2WG2FF FFFWO2O2 P2WP2WWW YWYWWW WH2WH2H2H2 Q2MQAWW R2ZR2ZKK WWWWP2P2 H2QH2QFF WQWQAA S2FS2FQQ H2FH2FWW YWYWWW T2H2T2H2WW WWWWH2H2 WWWWQQ WAWMKK U2P2V2P2FW H2DH2DWW QYQYQQ DQDQWW QAQMQQ

Lying imbedded in the green champaign	A
That gives no shadow to thy silvery face	B
Open to all the heavens and all their train	A
The marshalled clouds that cross with stately pace	B
No steadfast hills on thee reflected rest	C
Nor waver with the dimpling of thy breast	C
	-
O silent Mere about whose marges spring	D
Thick bulrushes to hide the reed bird's nest	C
Where the shy ousel dips her glossy wing	D
And balanced in the water takes her rest	C
While under bending leaves all gem arrayed	E
Blue dragon flies sit panting in the shade	E
	-
Warm stilly place the sundew loves thee well	F
And the green sward comes creeping to thy brink	G
And golden saxifrage and pimpernel	F
Lean down to thee their perfumed heads to drink	G
And heavy with the weight of bees doth bend	H
White clover and beneath thy wave descend	H
	-
While the sweet scent of bean fields floated wide	I
On a long eddy of the lightsome air	J
Over the level mead to thy lone side	I
Doth lose itself among thy zephyrs rare	J
With wafts from hawthorn bowers and new cut hay	K
And blooming orchards lying far away	K
	-
Thou hast thy Sabbaths when a deeper calm	L
Descends upon thee quiet Mere and then	M
There is a sound of bells a far off psalm	N
From gray church towers that swims across the fen	M
And the light sigh where grass and waters meet	O
Is thy meek welcome to the visit sweet	O
	-
Thou hast thy lovers Though the angler's rod	P
Dimple thy surface seldom though the oar	Q
Fill not with silvery globes thy fringing sod	P
Nor send long ripples to thy lonely shore	Q
Though few as in a glass have cared to trace	B
The smile of nature moving on thy face	B
	-
Thou hast thy lovers truly 'Mid the cold	R
Of northern tarns the wild fowl dream of thee	S
And keeping thee in mind their wings unfold	R
And shape their course high soaring till they see	S
Down in the world like molten silver rest	C
Their goal and screaming plunge them in thy breast	C
	-
Fair Margaret who sittest all day long	T
On the gray stone beneath the sycamore	Q
The bowering tree with branches lithe and strong	T
The only one to grace the level shore	Q
Why dost thou wait for whom with patient cheer	U
Gaze yet so wistfully adown the Mere	U
	-
Thou canst not tell thou dost not know alas	V
Long watchings leave behind them little trace	B
And yet how sweetly must the mornings pass	V
That bring that dreamy calmness to thy face	B
How quickly must the evenings come that find	W
Thee still regret to leave the Mere behind	W
	-
Thy cheek is resting on thy hand thine eyes	X
Are like twin violets but half unclosed	W
And quiet as the deeps in yonder skies	X
Never more peacefully in love reposed	W
A mother's gaze upon her offspring dear	U
Than thine upon the long far stretching Mere	U
	-
Sweet innocent Thy yellow hair floats low	F
In rippling undulations on thy breast	W
Then stealing down the parted love locks flow	F
Bathed in a sunbeam on thy knees to rest	W
And touch those idle hands that folded lie	F
Having from sport and toil a like immunity	W
	-
Through thy life's dream with what a touching grace	B
Childhood attends thee nearly woman grown	Y
Her dimples linger yet upon thy face	B
Like dews upon a lily this day blown	Y
Thy sighs are born of peace unruffled deep	Z
So the babe sighs on mother's breast asleep	Z
	-
It sighs and wakes but thou thy dream is all	F
And thou wert born for it and it for thee	W
Morn doth not take thy heart nor evenfall	F
Charm out its sorrowful fidelity	W
Nor noon beguile thee from the pastoral shore	Q
And thy long watch beneath the sycamore	Q
	-
No down the Mere as far as eye can see	W
Where its long reaches fade into the sky	F
Thy constant gaze fair child rests lovingly	W
But neither thou nor any can descry	Q
Aught but the grassy banks the rustling sedge	A2
And flocks of wild fowl splashing at their edge	A2
	-
And yet 'tis not with expectation hushed	W
That thy mute rosy mouth doth pouting close	B2
No fluttering hope to thy young heart e'er rushed	W
Nor disappointment troubled its repose	C2
All satisfied with gazing evermore	Q
Along the sunny Mere and reedy shore	Q
	-
The brooding wren flies pertly near thy seat	W
Thou wilt not move to mark her glancing wing	D
The timid sheep browse close before thy feet	W
And heedless at thy side do thrushes sing	D
So long amongst them thou hast spent thy days	D2
They know that harmless hand thou wilt not raise	D2
	-
Thou wilt not lift it up not e'en to take	E2
The foxglove bells that nourish in the shade	W
And put them in thy bosom not to make	E2
A posy of wild hyacinth inlaid	W
Like bright mosaic in the mossy grass	V
With freckled orchis and pale sassafras	V
	-
Gaze on take in the voices of the Mere	Q
The break of shallow water at thy feet	W
Its plash among long weeds and grasses sere	Q
And its weird sobbing hollow music meet	W
For ears like thine listen and take thy till	F
And dream on it by night when all is still	F
	-
Full sixteen years have slowly passed away	K
Young Margaret since thy fond mother here	Q
Came down a six month's wife one April day	K
To see her husband's boat go down the Mere	Q
And track its course till lost in distance blue	F
In mellow light it faded from her view	F
	-
It faded and she never saw it more	Q
Nor any human eye oh grief oh woe	F
It faded and returned not to the shore	Q
But far above it still the waters flow	F
And none beheld it sink and none could tell	F
Where coldly slept the form she loved so well	F
	-
But that sad day unknowing of her fate	W
She homeward turn'd her still reluctant feet	W
And at her wheel she spun till dark and late	W
The evening fell the time when they should meet	W
Till the stars paled that at deep midnight burned	W
And morning dawned and he was not returned	W
	-
And the bright sun came up she thought too soon	F2
And shed his ruddy light along the Mere	Q
And day wore on too quickly and at noon	F2
She came and wept beside the waters clear	Q
How could he be so late and then hope fled	W
And disappointment darkened into dread	W
	-
He NEVER came and she with weepings sore	Q
Peered in the water nags unceasingly	F
Through all the undulations of the shore	Q
Looking for that which most she feared to see	W
And then she took home sorrow to her heart	W
And brooded over its cold cruel smart	W
	-
And after desolate she sat alone	Y
And mourned refusing to be comforted	W
On the gray stone the moss embroidered stone	Y
With the great sycamore above her head	W
Till after many days a broken oar	Q
Hard by her seat was drifted to the shore	Q
	-
It came a token of his fate the whole	F
The sum of her misfortune to reveal	F
As if sent up in pity to her soul	F
The tidings of her widowhood to seal	F
And put away the pining hope forlorn	G2
That made her grief more bitter to be borne	G2
	-
And she was patient through the weary day	K
She toiled though none was there her work to bless	H2
And did not wear the sullen months away	K
Nor call on death to end her wretchedness	H2
But lest the grief should overflow her breast	W
She toiled as heretofore and would not rest	W
	-
But her work done what time the evening star	Q
Rose over the cool water then she came	I2
To the gray stone and saw its light from far	Q
Drop down the misty Mere white lengths of flame	I2
And wondered whether there might be the place	H2
Where the soft ripple wandered o'er HIS face	H2
	-
Unfortunate In solitude forlorn	G2
She dwelt and thought upon her husband's grave	J2
Till when the days grew short a child was born	G2
To the dead father underneath the wave	J2
And it brought back a remnant of delight	W
A little sunshine to its mother's sight	W
	-
A little wonder to her heart grown numb	K2
And a sweet yearning pitiful and keen	L2
She took it as from that poor father come	K2
Her and the misery to stand between	L2
Her little maiden babe who day by day	K
Sucked at her breast and charmed her woes away	K
	-
But years flew on the child was still the same	I2
Nor human language she had learned to speak	M2
Her lips were mute and seasons went and came	I2
And brought fresh beauty to her tender cheek	M2
And all the day upon the sunny shore	Q
She sat and mused beneath the sycamore	Q
	-
Strange sympathy she watched and wearied not	W
Haply unconscious what it was she sought	W
Her mother's tale she easily forgot	W
And if she listened no warm tears it brought	W
Though surely in the yearnings of her heart	W
The unknown voyager must have had his part	W
	-
Unknown to her like all she saw unknown	Y
All sights were fresh as when they first began	N2
All sounds were new each murmur and each tone	Y
And cause and consequence she could not scan	N2
Forgot that night brought darkness in its train	A
Nor reasoned that the day would come again	M
	-
There is a happiness in past regret	W
And echoes of the harshest sound are sweet	W
The mother's soul was struck with grief and yet	W
Repeated in her child 'twas not unmeet	W
That echo like the grief a tone should take	E2
Painless but ever pensive for her sake	E2
	-
For her dear sake whose patient soul was linked	W
By ties so many to the babe unborn	G2
Whose hope by slow degrees become extinct	W
For evermore had left her child forlorn	G2
Yet left no consciousness of want or woe	F
Nor wonder vague that these things should be so	F
	-
Truly her joys were limited and few	F
But they sufficed a life to satisfy	F
That neither fret nor dim foreboding knew	F
But breathed the air in a great harmony	W
With its own place and part and was at one	O2
With all it knew of earth and moon and sun	O2
	-
For all of them were worked into the dream	P2
The husky sighs of wheat fields in it wrought	W
All the land miles belonged to it the stream	P2
That fed the Mere ran through it like a thought	W
It was a passion of peace and loved to wait	W
'Neath boughs with fair green light illuminate	W
	-
To wait with her alone always alone	Y
For any that drew near she heeded not	W
Wanting them little as the lily grown	Y
Apart from others in a shady plot	W
Wants fellow lilies of like fair degree	W
In her still glen to bear her company	W
	-
Always alone and yet there was a child	W
Who loved this child and from his turret towers	H2
Across the lea would roam to where in isled	W
And fenced in rapturous silence went her hours	H2
And with slow footsteps drawn anear the place	H2
Where mute she sat would ponder on her face	H2
	-
And wonder at her with a childish awe	Q2
And come again to look and yet again	M
Till the sweet rippling of the Mere would draw	Q
His longing to itself while in her train	A
The water hen come forth would bring her brood	W
From slumbering in the rushy solitude	W
	-
Or to their young would curlews call and clang	R2
Their homeless young that down the furrows creep	Z
Or the wind hover in the blue would hang	R2
Still as a rock set in the watery deep	Z
Then from her presence he would break away	K
Unmarked ungreeted yet from day to day	K
	-
But older grown the Mere he haunted yet	W
And a strange joy from its sweet wildness caught	W
Whilst careless sat alone maid Margaret	W
And shut the gates of silence on her thought	W
All through spring mornings gemmed with melted rime	P2
All through hay harvest and through gleaning time	P2
	-
O pleasure for itself that boyhood makes	H2
O happiness to roam the sighing shore	Q
Plough up with elfin craft the water flakes	H2
And track the nested rail with cautious oar	Q
Then floating lie and look with wonder new	F
Straight up in the great dome of light and blue	F
	-
O pleasure yet they took him from the wold	W
The reedy Mere and all his pastime there	Q
The place where he was born and would grow old	W
If God his life so many years should spare	Q
From the loved haunts of childhood and the plain	A
And pasture lands of his own broad domain	A
	-
And he came down when wheat was in the sheaf	S2
And with her fruit the apple branch bent low	F
While yet in August glory hung the leaf	S2
And flowerless aftermath began to grow	F
He came from his gray turrets to the shore	Q
And sought the maid beneath the sycamore	Q
	-
He sought her not because her tender eyes	H2
Would brighten at his coming for he knew	F
Full seldom any thought of him would rise	H2
In her fair breast when he had passed from view	F
But for his own love's sake that unbeguiled	W
Drew him in spirit to the silent child	W
	-
For boyhood in its better hour is prone	Y
To reverence what it hath not understood	W
And he had thought some heavenly meaning shone	Y
From her clear eyes that made their watchings good	W
While a great peacefulness of shade was shed	W
Like oil of consecration on her head	W
	-
A fishing wallet from his shoulder slung	T2
With bounding foot he reached the mossy place	H2
A little moment gently o'er her hung	T2
Put back her hair and looked upon her face	H2
Then fain from that deep dream to wake her yet	W
He Margaret low murmured Margaret	W
	-
Look at me once before I leave the land	W
For I am going going Margaret	W
And then she sighed and lifting up her hand	W
Laid it along his young fresh cheek and set	W
Upon his face those blue twin deeps her eyes	H2
And moved it back from her in troubled wise	H2
	-
Because he came between her and her fate	W
The Mere She sighed again as one oppressed	W
The waters shining clear with delicate	W
Reflections wavered on her blameless breast	W
And through the branches dropt like flickerings fair	Q
And played upon her hands and on her hair	Q
	-
And he withdrawn a little space to see	W
Murmured in tender ruth that was not pain	A
Farewell I go but sometimes think of me	W
Maid Margaret and there came by again	M
A whispering in the reed beds and the sway	K
Of waters then he turned and went his way	K
	-
And wilt thou think on him now he is gone	U2
No thou wilt gaze though thy young eyes grow dim	P2
And thy soft cheek become all pale and wan	V2
Still thou wilt gaze and spend no thought on him	P2
There is no sweetness in his laugh for thee No	F
beauty in his fresh heart's gayety	W
	-
But wherefore linger in deserted haunts	H2
Why of the past as if yet present sing	D
The yellow iris on the margin flaunts	H2
With hyacinth the banks are blue in spring	D
And under dappled clouds the lark afloat	W
Pours all the April tide from her sweet throat	W
	-
But Margaret ah thou art there no more	Q
And thick dank moss creeps over thy gray stone	Y
Thy path is lost that skirted the low shore	Q
With willow grass and speedwell overgrown	Y
Thine eye has closed for ever and thine ear	Q
Drinks in no more the music of the Mere	Q
	-
The boy shall come shall come again in spring	D
Well pleased that pastoral solitude to share	Q
And some kind offering in his hand will bring	D
To cast into thy lap O maid most fair	Q
Some clasping gem about thy neck to rest	W
Or heave and glimmer on thy guileless breast	W
	-
And he shall wonder why thou art not here	Q
The solitude with smiles to entertain	A
And gaze along the reaches of the Mere	Q
But he shall never see thy face again	M
Shall never see upon the reedy shore	Q
Maid Margaret beneath her sycamore	Q

Jean Ingelow

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