William And Robin. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCCDDEFGH IJJFFKKLLLLMMNNGO AIILLPPLLLLJJQQRRGOS STU IVVVVVVNNJJVVTUVVVVW WVVXYZZA2A2VVQQFFZZB 2B2C2QFFPPD2D2PPTUHG VVGHC2QE2E2VVWWF2F2WILLIAM | A |
When I meet Peggy in my morning walk | B |
She first salutes the morn then stays to talk | B |
The biggest secret she will not refuse | C |
But freely tells me all the village news | C |
And pleas'd am I can I but haply force | D |
Some new made tale to lengthen the discourse | D |
For O so pleasing is her company | E |
That hours like minutes in her presence fly | F |
I'm happy then nor can her absence e'er | G |
Raise in my heart the least distrust or fear | H |
- | |
ROBIN | I |
When Mary meets me I find nought to say | J |
She hangs her head I turn another way | J |
Sometimes but never till the maid's gone by | F |
Good morning faulters weaken'd by a sigh | F |
Confounded I remain but yet delight | K |
To look back on her till she's out of sight | K |
Then then's the time that absence does torment | L |
I jeer my weakness painfully repent | L |
To think how well I might have then confest | L |
That secret love which makes me so distrest | L |
But when the maiden's vanish'd for a while | M |
Recruited hopes my future hours beguile | M |
I fancy then another time I'll tell | N |
Which if not better will be quite as well | N |
Thus days and weeks and months I've dallied o'er | G |
And am no nearer than I was before | O |
- | |
WILLIAM | A |
Such ways as these I ever strove to shun | I |
Nor was I bashful when I first begun | I |
Freely I offer'd posies to the maid | L |
Which she as freely with her smiles repaid | L |
Yet had I been like you afraid to own | P |
My love her kindness had been still unknown | P |
And now the maiden's kindness to requite | L |
I strive to please her morning noon and night | L |
The garland and the wreath for her I bind | L |
Compos'd of all the fairest I can find | L |
For her I stop the straggler going astray | J |
And watch her sheep when she's not in the way | J |
I fetch them up at night and shift the pen | Q |
And in the morning let them out again | Q |
For her in harvest when the nuts are brown | R |
I take my crook to pull the branches down | R |
And up the trees that dismally hang o'er | G |
The deep black pond where none durst go before | O |
I heedless climb as free from fear as now | S |
And snatch the clusters from the topmost bough | S |
Well pleas'd to risk such dangers that can prove | T |
How much her William does his Peggy love | U |
- | |
ROBIN | I |
I search the meadows and as well as you | V |
I bind up posies and sweet garlands too | V |
And if I unawares can hear exprest | V |
What flower she fancies finer than the rest | V |
Grow where it will I search the fields about | V |
And search for't daily till I find it out | V |
And when I've found it oh what tongue can tell | N |
The fears and doubts which in my bosom swell | N |
The schemes contriving and the plans I lay | J |
How I to her the garland may convey | J |
Are various indeed sometimes I start | V |
Resolv'd to tell the secret of my heart | V |
Vowing to make the gather'd garland prove | T |
How much I languish and how much I love | U |
But soon resolves and vows allay their heat | V |
And timid weakness re assumes her seat | V |
The garland then which I so painful sought | V |
Instantly seems as if 'twere good for nought | V |
Ah gaudy thing I sigh will Mary wear | W |
Such foolish lumber in her auburn hair | W |
Thus doubts and fears each other thought confound | V |
And thus perplex'd I throw it on the ground | V |
Walk from't distrest in pensive silence mourn | X |
Then plan a scheme and back again return | Y |
Once more the garland in my hand I take | Z |
And of the best a smaller posy make | Z |
Resting assur'd that such a nosegay will | A2 |
To gain her favour prove a better still | A2 |
And then my hopeful heart's from grief reviv'd | V |
By this new plan so seeming well contriv'd | V |
So off I go and gain the spot ah then | Q |
I sneak along my heart misgives again | Q |
And as I nearer draw Well now thinks I | F |
I'll not speak to her but pass silent by | F |
Then from my coat that precious gift I take | Z |
Which I beforehand treasur'd for her sake | Z |
And after all my various scheming so | B2 |
The flowers as worthless to the ground I throw | B2 |
And then if getting through the hedge bound plain | C2 |
Having no sense to find the same again | Q |
Her little lambkins raise a piteous cry | F |
Calling for help whether far off or nigh | F |
It matters not can I but hear their moan | P |
Of her's more tender am I than my own | P |
The journey's nought at all no steps I grudge | D2 |
But with great pleasure to their aid I trudge | D2 |
Yet this is never to the maiden known | P |
Nor ever done save only when alone | P |
Fearing from it that other swains should prove | T |
Or she herself the favour to be love | U |
Though in her absence I so fond appear | H |
Yet when she's there I'm careless as it were | G |
Nor can I have the face although my mind | V |
At the same time's most willingly inclin'd | V |
To do the least kind act at all for her | G |
Nor join the tale where she does interfere | H |
If from her looks a smile I e'er obtain | C2 |
I feel o'erjoy'd but never smile again | Q |
And when I hear the swains her beauty praise | E2 |
And try with artful fond alluring ways | E2 |
To snatch the posy from her swelling breast | V |
And loose the ribbon round her slender waist | V |
Then more familiar touch her curling hair | W |
And praise her beauty as beyond compare | W |
At this sad pain around my heart will sting | F2 |
But I ne'er look nor tell a single thing | F2 |
John Clare
(1)
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