St. John. 1647 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEDDD FGHGIJHJ FKLKDMNM EOAOPDLD FQNQRDSD TDNDUVA WXYXZDAD A2B2C2B2DD2D2D2 DDL AE2F2E2 DOG2OH2I2G2I2 J2QL DD2D D2DD2DK2F2L2F2 KOAODDAD FDA DM2 H2H2AH2N2O2I2 DP2D2P2WDN2D Q2R2D2R2S2DF2 PT2DT2LDU2D'To the winds give our banner | A |
Bear homeward again ' | B |
Cried the Lord of Acadia | C |
Cried Charles of Estienne | D |
From the prow of his shallop | E |
He gazed as the sun | D |
From its bed in the ocean | D |
Streamed up the St John | D |
- | |
O'er the blue western waters | F |
That shallop had passed | G |
Where the mists of Penobscot | H |
Clung damp on her mast | G |
St Saviour had looked | I |
On the heretic sail | J |
As the songs of the Huguenot | H |
Rose on the gale | J |
- | |
The pale ghostly fathers | F |
Remembered her well | K |
And had cursed her while passing | L |
With taper and bell | K |
But the men of Monhegan | D |
Of Papists abhorred | M |
Had welcomed and feasted | N |
The heretic Lord | M |
- | |
They had loaded his shallop | E |
With dun fish and ball | O |
With stores for his larder | A |
And steel for his wall | O |
Pemaquid from her bastions | P |
And turrets of stone | D |
Had welcomed his coming | L |
With banner and gun | D |
- | |
And the prayers of the elders | F |
Had followed his way | Q |
As homeward he glided | N |
Down Pentecost Bay | Q |
Oh well sped La Tour | R |
For in peril and pain | D |
His lady kept watch | S |
For his coming again | D |
- | |
O'er the Isle of the Pheasant | T |
The morning sun shone | D |
On the plane trees which shaded | N |
The shores of St John | D |
'Now why from yon battlements | U |
Speaks not my love | V |
Why waves there no banner | A |
My fortress above ' | - |
- | |
Dark and wild from his deck | W |
St Estienne gazed about | X |
On fire wasted dwellings | Y |
And silent redoubt | X |
From the low shattered walls | Z |
Which the flame had o'errun | D |
There floated no banner | A |
There thundered no gun | D |
- | |
But beneath the low arch | A2 |
Of its doorway there stood | B2 |
A pale priest of Rome | C2 |
In his cloak and his hood | B2 |
With the bound of a lion | D |
La Tour sprang to land | D2 |
On the throat of the Papist | D2 |
He fastened his hand | D2 |
- | |
'Speak son of the Woman | D |
Of scarlet and sin | D |
What wolf has been prowling | L |
My castle within ' | - |
From the grasp of the soldier | A |
The Jesuit broke | E2 |
Half in scorn half in sorrow | F2 |
He smiled as he spoke | E2 |
- | |
'No wolf Lord of Estienne | D |
Has ravaged thy hall | O |
But thy red handed rival | G2 |
With fire steel and ball | O |
On an errand of mercy | H2 |
I hitherward came | I2 |
While the walls of thy castle | G2 |
Yet spouted with flame | I2 |
- | |
'Pentagoet's dark vessels | J2 |
Were moored in the bay | Q |
Grim sea lions roaring | L |
Aloud for their prey ' | - |
'But what of my lady ' | - |
Cried Charles of Estienne | D |
'On the shot crumbled turret | D2 |
Thy lady was seen | D |
- | |
'Half veiled in the smoke cloud | D2 |
Her hand grasped thy pennon | D |
While her dark tresses swayed | D2 |
In the hot breath of cannon | D |
But woe to the heretic | K2 |
Evermore woe | F2 |
When the son of the church | L2 |
And the cross is his foe | F2 |
- | |
'In the track of the shell | K |
In the path of the ball | O |
Pentagoet swept over | A |
The breach of the wall | O |
Steel to steel gun to gun | D |
One moment and then | D |
Alone stood the victor | A |
Alone with his men | D |
- | |
'Of its sturdy defenders | F |
Thy lady alone | D |
Saw the cross blazoned banner | A |
Float over St John ' | - |
'Let the dastard look to it ' | - |
Cried fiery Estienne | D |
'Were D'Aulnay King Louis | M2 |
I'd free her again ' | - |
- | |
'Alas for thy lady | H2 |
No service from thee | H2 |
Is needed by her | A |
Whom the Lord hath set free | H2 |
Nine days in stern silence | N2 |
Her thraldom she bore | O2 |
But the tenth morning came | I2 |
And Death opened her door ' | - |
- | |
As if suddenly smitten | D |
La Tour staggered back | P2 |
His hand grasped his sword hilt | D2 |
His forehead grew black | P2 |
He sprang on the deck | W |
Of his shallop again | D |
'We cruise now for vengeance | N2 |
Give way ' cried Estienne | D |
- | |
'Massachusetts shall hear | Q2 |
Of the Huguenot's wrong | R2 |
And from island and creekside | D2 |
Her fishers shall throng | R2 |
Pentagoet shall rue | S2 |
What his Papists have done | D |
When his palisades echo | F2 |
The Puritan's gun ' | - |
- | |
Oh the loveliest of heavens | P |
Hung tenderly o'er him | T2 |
There were waves in the sunshine | D |
And green isles before him | T2 |
But a pale hand was beckoning | L |
The Huguenot on | D |
And in blackness and ashes | U2 |
Behind was St John | D |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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