Among The Hills Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPOQRP STUVWXQEYZA2B2C2P D2E2F2G2H2PI2J2K2B2L 2PM2N2PO2P2K2B2Q2R2S 2PT2U2V2V2PW2X2V2Y2V 2Z2A3E2B3C3D3E3F3V2P PPB3V2PV2V2V2PV2G3H3 D2K2I3B3V2V2V2V2V2V2 PJ3PB3H3E3K3PNWF3V2L 3M3N3V2V2F3O3P3Q3PT2 V2R3S3H2V2 T3PB3V2PB3U3V2PPV2B3 V3V2M2B2G2W3B3T2PX2V 2B3X2V2V2V2H2D2 V2B3PB3X2X2X2X2 B3X2UX2 S3B3PB3 V3V2V2V2 V2PPP PV2LV2 V2B3PB3 H2V2V2V2 T2G2

PRELUDEA
ALONG the roadside like the flowers of goldB
That tawny Incas for their gardens wroughtC
Heavy with sunshine droops the golden rodD
And the red pennons of the cardinal flowersE
Hang motionless upon their upright stavesF
The sky is hot and hazy and the windG
Vying weary with its long flight from the southH
Unfelt yet closely scanned yon maple leafI
With faintest motion as one stirs in dreamsJ
Confesses it The locust by the wallK
Stabs the noon silence with his sharp alarmL
A single hay cart down the dusty roadM
Creaks slowly with its driver fast asleepN
On the load s top Against the neighboring hillO
Huddled along the stone wall s shady sideP
The sheep show white as if a snowdrift stillO
Defied the dog star Through the open doorQ
A drowsy smell of flowers gray heliotropeR
And white sweet clover and shy mignonetteP
Comes faintly in and silent chorus lendsS
To the pervading symphony of peaceT
No time is this for hands long over wornU
To task their strength and unto Him be praiseV
Who giveth quietness the stress and strainW
Of years that did the work of centuriesX
Have ceased and we can draw our breath once moreQ
Freely and full So as yon harvestersE
Make glad their nooning underneath the elmsY
With tale and riddle and old snatch of songZ
I lay aside grave themes and idly turnA2
The leaves of memory s sketch book dreaming o erB2
Old summer pictures of the quiet hillsC2
And human life as quiet at their feetP
-
And yet not idly all A farmer s sonD2
Proud of field lore and harvest craft and feelingE2
All their fine possibilities how richF2
And restful even poverty and toilG2
Become when beauty harmony and loveH2
Sit at their humble hearth as angels satP
At evening in the patriarch s tent when manI2
Makes labor noble and his farmer s frockJ2
The symbol of a Christian chivalryK2
Tender and just and generous to herB2
Who clothes with grace all duty still I knowL2
Too well the picture has another sideP
How wearily the grind of toil goes onM2
Where love is wanting how the eye and earN2
And heart are starved amidst the plenitudeP
Of nature and how hard and colorlessO2
Is life without an atmosphere I lookP2
Across the lapse of half a centuryK2
And call to mind old homesteads where no flowerB2
Told that the spring had come but evil weedsQ2
Nightshade and rough leaved burdock in the placeR2
Of the sweet doorway greeting of the roseS2
And honeysuckle where the house walls seemedP
Blistering in sun without a tree or vineT2
To cast the tremulous shadow of its leavesU2
Across the curtainless windows from whose panesV2
Fluttered the signal rags of shiftlessnessV2
Within the cluttered kitchen floor unwashedP
Broom clean I think they called it the best roomW2
Stifling with cellar damp shut from the airX2
In hot midsummer bookless picturelessV2
Save the inevitable sampler hungY2
Over the fireplace or a mourning pieceV2
A green haired woman peony cheeked beneathZ2
Impossible willows the wide throated hearthA3
Bristling with faded pine boughs half concealingE2
The piled up rubbish at the chimney s backB3
And in sad keeping with all things about themC3
Shrill querulous women sour and sullen menD3
Untidy loveless old before their timeE3
With scarce a human interest save their ownF3
Monotonous round of small economiesV2
Or the poor scandal of the neighborhoodP
Blind to the beauty everywhere revealedP
Treading the May flowers with regardless feetP
For them the song sparrow and the bobolinkB3
Sang not nor winds made music in the leavesV2
For them in vain October s holocaustP
Burned gold and crimson over all the hillsV2
The sacramental mystery of the woodsV2
Church goers fearful of the unseen PowersV2
But grumbling over pulpit tax and pew rentP
Saving as shrewd economists their soulsV2
And winter pork with the least possible outlayG3
Of salt and sanctity in daily lifeH3
Showing as little actual comprehensionD2
Of Christian charity and love and dutyK2
As if the Sermon on the Mount had beenI3
Outdated like a last year s almanacB3
Rich in broad woodlands and in half tilled fieldsV2
And yet so pinched and bare and comfortlessV2
The veriest straggler limping on his roundsV2
The sun and air his sole inheritanceV2
Laughed at a poverty that paid its taxesV2
And hugged his rags in self complacencyV2
-
Not such should be the homesteads of a landP
Where whoso wisely wills and acts may dwellJ3
As king and lawgiver in broad acred stateP
With beauty art taste culture books to makeB3
His hour of leisure richer than a lifeH3
Of fourscore to the barons of old timeE3
Our yeoman should be equal to his homeK3
Set in the fair green valleys purple walledP
A man to match his mountains not to creepN
Dwarfed and abased below them I would fainW
In this light way of which I needs must ownF3
With the knife grinder of whom Canning singsV2
Story God bless you I have none to tell youL3
Invite the eye to see and heart to feelM3
The beauty and the joy within their reachN3
Home and home loves and the beatitudesV2
Of nature free to all Haply in yearsV2
That wait to take the places of our ownF3
Heard where some breezy balcony looks downO3
On happy homes or where the lake in the moonP3
Sleeps dreaming of the mountains fair as RuthQ3
In the old Hebrew pastoral at the feetP
Of Boaz even this simple lay of mineT2
May seem the burden of a prophecyV2
Finding its late fulfilment in a changeR3
Slow as the oak s growth lifting manhood upS3
Through broader culture finer manners loveH2
And reverence to the level of the hillsV2
-
O Golden Age whose light is of the dawnT3
And not of sunset forward not behindP
Flood the new heavens and earth and with thee bringB3
All the old virtues whatsoever thingsV2
Are pure and honest and of good reputeP
But add thereto whatever bard has sungB3
Or seer has told of when in trance and dreamU3
They saw the Happy Isles of prophecyV2
Let Justice hold her scale and Truth divideP
Between the right and wrong but give the heartP
The freedom of its fair inheritanceV2
Let the poor prisoner cramped and starved so longB3
At Nature s table feast his ear and eyeV3
With joy and wonder let all harmoniesV2
Of sound form color motion wait uponM2
The princely guest whether in soft attireB2
Of leisure clad or the coarse frock of toilG2
And lending life to the dead form of faithW3
Give human nature reverence for the sakeB3
Of One who bore it making it divineT2
With the ineffable tenderness of GodP
Let common need the brotherhood of prayerX2
The heirship of an unknown destinyV2
The unsolved mystery round about us makeB3
A man more precious than the gold of OphirX2
Sacred inviolate unto whom all thingsV2
Should minister as outward types and signsV2
Of the eternal beauty which fulfilsV2
The one great purpose of creation LoveH2
The sole necessity of Earth and HeavenD2
-
-
For weeks the clouds had raked the hillsV2
And vexed the vales with rainingB3
And all the woods were sad with mistP
And all the brooks complainingB3
At last a sudden night storm toreX2
The mountain veils asunderX2
And swept the valleys clean beforeX2
The bosom of the thunderX2
-
Through Sandwich notch the west wind sangB3
Good morrow to the cotterX2
And once again Chocorua s hornU
Of shadow pierced the waterX2
-
Above his broad lake OssipeeS3
Once more the sunshine wearingB3
Stooped tracing on that silver shieldP
His grim armorial bearingB3
-
Clear drawn against the hard blue skyV3
The peaks had winter s keennessV2
And close on autumn s frost the valesV2
Had more than June s fresh greennessV2
-
Again the sodden forest floorsV2
With golden lights were checkeredP
Once more rejoicing leaves in windP
And sunshine danced and flickeredP
-
It was as if the summer s lateP
Atoning for it s sadnessV2
Had borrowed every season s charmL
To end its days in gladnessV2
-
I call to mind those banded valesV2
Of shadow and of shiningB3
Through which my hostess at my sideP
I drove in day s decliningB3
-
We held our sideling way aboveH2
The river s whitening shallowsV2
By homesteads old with wide flung barnsV2
Swept through and through by swallowsV2
-
By maple orchards belts of pineT2
And larches climbing darklG2

John Greenleaf Whittier



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