The Cuckoo Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJKJLMLN OPOPQRSR| The cuckoo like a hawk in flight | A |
| With narrow pointed wings | B |
| Whews o'er our heads soon out of sight | A |
| And as she flies she sings | B |
| And darting down the hedgerow side | C |
| She scares the little bird | D |
| Who leaves the nest it cannot hide | C |
| While plaintive notes are heard | D |
| - | |
| I've watched it on an old oak tree | E |
| Sing half an hour away | F |
| Until its quick eye noticed me | E |
| And then it whewed away | F |
| Its mouth when open shone as red | G |
| As hips upon the brier | H |
| Like stock doves seemed its winged head | G |
| But striving to get higher | H |
| - | |
| It heard me rustle and above leaves | I |
| Soon did its flight pursue | J |
| Still waking summer's melodies | K |
| And singing as it flew | J |
| So quick it flies from wood to wood | L |
| 'Tis miles off 'ere you think it gone | M |
| I've thought when I have listening stood | L |
| Full twenty sang when only one | N |
| - | |
| When summer from the forest starts | O |
| Its melody with silence lies | P |
| And like a bird from foreign parts | O |
| It cannot sing for all it tries | P |
| 'Cuck cuck' it cries and mocking boys | Q |
| Crie 'Cuck' and then it stutters more | R |
| Till quick forgot its own sweet voice | S |
| It seems to know itself no more | R |
John Clare
(1)
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