How The Women Went From Dover Poem Rhyme Scheme

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THE tossing spray of Cocheco's fall	A
Hardened to ice on its rocky wall	A
As through Dover town in the chill gray dawn	B
Three women passed at the cart tail drawn	B
	-
Bared to the waist for the north wind's grip	C
And keener sting of the constable's whip	C
The blood that followed each hissing blow	D
Froze as it sprinkled the winter snow	D
	-
Priest and ruler boy and maid	E
Followed the dismal cavalcade	E
And from door and window open thrown	F
Looked and wondered gaffer and crone	F
	-
'God is our witness ' the victims cried	G
We suffer for Him who for all men died	G
The wrong ye do has been done before	H
We bear the stripes that the Master bore	H
	-
And thou O Richard Waldron for whom	I
We hear the feet of a coming doom	I
On thy cruel heart and thy hand of wrong	J
Vengeance is sure though it tarry long	J
	-
'In the light of the Lord a flame we see	K
Climb and kindle a proud roof tree	K
And beneath it an old man lying dead	L
With stains of blood on his hoary head '	-
	-
'Smite Goodman Hate Evil harder still '	-
The magistrate cried 'lay on with a will	M
Drive out of their bodies the Father of Lies	N
Who through them preaches and prophesies '	-
	-
So into the forest they held their way	O
By winding river and frost rimmed bay	O
Over wind swept hills that felt the beat	P
Of the winter sea at their icy feet	P
	-
The Indian hunter searching his traps	Q
Peered stealthily through the forest gaps	Q
And the outlying settler shook his head	L
'They're witches going to jail ' he said	L
	-
At last a meeting house came in view	R
A blast on his horn the constable blew	R
And the boys of Hampton cried up and down	S
'The Quakers have come ' to the wondering town	S
	-
From barn and woodpile the goodman came	T
The goodwife quitted her quilting frame	T
With her child at her breast and hobbling slow	D
The grandam followed to see the show	D
	-
Once more the torturing whip was swung	U
Once more keen lashes the bare flesh stung	U
'Oh spare they are bleeding '' a little maid cried	G
And covered her face the sight to hide	G
	-
A murmur ran round the crowd 'Good folks '	-
Quoth the constable busy counting the strokes	V
'No pity to wretches like these is due	R
They have beaten the gospel black and blue '	-
	-
Then a pallid woman in wild eyed fear	W
With her wooden noggin of milk drew near	W
'Drink poor hearts ' a rude hand smote	R
Her draught away from a parching throat	R
	-
'Take heed ' one whispered 'they'll take your cow	X
For fines as they took your horse and plough	X
And the bed from under you ' 'Even so '	-
She said 'they are cruel as death I know '	-
	-
Then on they passed in the waning day	R
Through Seabrook woods a weariful way	R
By great salt meadows and sand hills bare	Y
And glimpses of blue sea here and there	Y
	-
By the meeting house in Salisbury town	S
The sufferers stood in the red sundown	S
Bare for the lash O pitying Night	R
Drop swift thy curtain and hide the sight	R
	-
With shame in his eye and wrath on his lip	C
The Salisbury constable dropped his whip	C
'This warrant means murder foul and red	R
Cursed is he who serves it ' he said	R
	-
'Show me the order and meanwhile strike	Z
A blow at your peril ' said Justice Pike	Z
Of all the rulers the land possessed	R
Wisest and boldest was he and best	R
	-
He scoffed at witchcraft the priest he met	R
As man meets man his feet he set	R
Beyond his dark age standing upright	R
Soul free with his face to the morning light	R
	-
He read the warrant 'These convey	R
From our precincts at every town on the way	R
Give each ten lashes ' 'God judge the brute	R
I tread his order under my foot	R
	-
'Cut loose these poor ones and let them go	D
Come what will of it all men shall know	D
No warrant is good though backed by the Crown	S
For whipping women in Salisbury town '	-
	-
The hearts of the villagers half released	R
From creed of terror and rule of priest	R
By a primal instinct owned the right	R
Of human pity in law's despite	R
	-
For ruth and chivalry only slept	R
His Saxon manhood the yeoman kept	R
Quicker or slower the same blood ran	A2
In the Cavalier and the Puritan	B2
	-
The Quakers sank on their knees in praise	C2
And thanks A last low sunset blaze	C2
Flashed out from under a cloud and shed	R
A golden glory on each bowed head	R
	-
The tale is one of an evil time	D2
When souls were fettered and thought was crime	D2
And heresy's whisper above its breath	E2
Meant shameful scourging and bonds and death	E2
	-
What marvel that hunted and sorely tried	R
Even woman rebuked and prophesied	R
And soft words rarely answered back	F2
The grim persuasion of whip and rack	F2
	-
If her cry from the whipping post and jail	G2
Pierced sharp as the Kenite's driven nail	G2
O woman at ease in these happier days	C2
Forbear to judge of thy sister's ways	C2
	-
How much thy beautiful life may owe	D
To her faith and courage thou canst not know	D
Nor how from the paths of thy calm retreat	R
She smoothed the thorns with her bleeding feet	R

John Greenleaf Whittier

How The Women Went From Dover Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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