Skipper Ireson's Ride Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDEEFFE GGFFHHIIFF JJKKLLMNFF OOPPQQ IFFF LLFFRROOFFF FFOOFFIIFF FFSSQQLLFF FFTTPPF FFF R U VVTTFFFOf all the rides since the birth of time | A |
Told in story or sung in rhyme | A |
On Apuleius' Golden Ass | B |
Or one eyed Calendar's horse of brass | B |
Witch astride of a human back | C |
Islam's prophet on Al Borak | D |
The strangest ride that ever was sped | E |
Was Ireson's out from Marblehead | E |
Old Floyd Ireson for his hard heart | F |
Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart | F |
By the women of Marblehead | E |
- | |
Body of turkey head of owl | G |
Wings a droop like a rained on fowl | G |
Feathered and ruffled in every part | F |
Skipper Ireson stood in the cart | F |
Scores of women old and young | H |
Strong of muscle and glib of tongue | H |
Pushed and pulled up the rocky lane | I |
Shouting and singing the shrill refrain | I |
'Here's Flud Oirson fur his horrd horrt | F |
Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt | F |
By the women o' Morble'ead ' | - |
- | |
Wrinkled scolds with hands on hips | J |
Girls in bloom of cheek and lips | J |
Wild eyed free limbed such as chase | K |
Bacchus round some antique vase | K |
Brief of skirt with ankles bare | L |
Loose of kerchief and loose of hair | L |
With conch shells blowing and fish horns' twang | M |
Over and over the Maenads sang | N |
'Here's Flud Oirson fur his horrd horrt | F |
Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt | F |
By the women o' Morble'ead ' | - |
- | |
Small pity for him He sailed away | O |
From a leaking ship in Chaleur Bay | O |
Sailed away from a sinking wreck | P |
With his own town's people on her deck | P |
'Lay by lay by ' they called to him | Q |
Back he answered 'Sink or swim | Q |
Brag of your catch of fish again ' | - |
And off he sailed through the fog and rain | I |
Old Floyd Ireson for his hard heart | F |
Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart | F |
By the women of Marblehead | F |
- | |
Fathoms deep in dark Chaleur | L |
That wreck shall lie forevermore | L |
Mother and sister wife and maid | F |
Looked from the rocks of Marblehead | F |
Over the moaning and rainy sea | R |
Looked for the coming that might not be | R |
What did the winds and the sea birds say | O |
Of the cruel captain who sailed away | O |
Old Floyd Ireson for his hard heart | F |
Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart | F |
By the women of Marblehead | F |
- | |
Through the street on either side | F |
Up flew windows doors swung wide | F |
Sharp tongued spinsters old wives gray | O |
Treble lent the fish horn's bray | O |
Sea worn grandsires cripple bound | F |
Hulks of old sailors run aground | F |
Shook head and fist and hat and cane | I |
And cracked with curses the hoarse refrain | I |
'Here's Flud Oirson fur his horrd horrt | F |
Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt | F |
By the women o' Morble'ead ' | - |
- | |
Sweetly along the Salem road | F |
Bloom of orchard and lilac showed | F |
Little the wicked skipper knew | S |
Of the fields so green and the sky so blue | S |
Riding there in his sorry trim | Q |
Like an Indian idol glum and grim | Q |
Scarcely he seemed the sound to hear | L |
Of voices shouting far and near | L |
'Here's Flud Oirson fur his horrd horrt | F |
Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt | F |
By the women o' Morble'ead ' | - |
- | |
'Hear me neighbors ' at last he cried | F |
'What to me is this noisy ride | F |
What is the shame that clothes the skin | T |
To the nameless horror that lives within | T |
Waking or sleeping I see a wreck | P |
And hear a cry from a reeling deck | P |
Hate me and curse me I only dread | F |
The hand of God and the face of the dead ' | - |
Said old Floyd Ireson for his hard heart | F |
Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart | F |
By the women of Marblehead | F |
- | |
Then the wife of the skipper lost at sea | R |
Said 'God has touched him why should we ' | - |
Said an old wife mourning her only son | U |
'Cut the rogue's tether and let him run ' | - |
So with soft relentings and rude excuse | V |
Half scorn half pity they cut him loose | V |
And gave him a cloak to hide him in | T |
And left him alone with his shame and sin | T |
Poor Floyd Ireson for his hard heart | F |
Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart | F |
By the women of Marblehead | F |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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