The Female Martyr Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAACDD BEBBEF GHGGHII JKJJKLL MNMMNNN OPOOPQQ JRJJRDD DSDDSTT EHEMHUU HVHHVWW XYZXA2B2B2 C2MD2D2GE2E2 F2BF2F2BG2G2

'BRING out your dead ' The midnight streetA
Heard and gave back the hoarse low callB
Harsh fell the tread of hasty feetA
Glanced through the dark the coarse white sheetA
Her coffin and her pallC
'What only one ' the brutal hack man saidD
As with an oath he spurned away the deadD
-
How sunk the inmost hearts of allB
As rolled that dead cart slowly byE
With creaking wheel and harsh hoof fallB
The dying turned him to the wallB
To hear it and to dieE
Onward it rolled while oft its driver stayedF
And hoarsely clamored 'Ho bring out your dead '-
-
It paused beside the burial placeG
'Toss in your load ' and it was doneH
With quick hand and averted faceG
Hastily to the grave's embraceG
They cast them one by oneH
Stranger and friend the evil and the justI
Together trodden in the churchyard dustI
-
And thou young martyr thou wast thereJ
No white robed sisters round thee trodK
Nor holy hymn nor funeral prayerJ
Rose through the damp and noisome airJ
Giving thee to thy GodK
Nor flower nor cross nor hallowed taper gaveL
Grace to the dead and beauty to the graveL
-
Yet gentle sufferer there shall beM
In every heart of kindly feelingN
A rite as holy paid to theeM
As if beneath the convent treeM
Thy sisterhood were kneelingN
At vesper hours like sorrowing angels keepingN
Their tearful watch around thy place of sleepingN
-
For thou wast one in whom the lightO
Of Heaven's own love was kindled wellP
Enduring with a martyr's mightO
Through weary day and wakeful nightO
Far more than words may tellP
Gentle and meek and lowly and unknownQ
Thy mercies measured by thy God aloneQ
-
Where manly hearts were failing whereJ
The throngful street grew foul with deathR
O high souled martyr thou wast thereJ
Inhaling from the loathsome airJ
Poison with every breathR
Yet shrinking not from offices of dreadD
For the wrung dying and the unconscious deadD
-
And where the sickly taper shedD
Its light through vapors damp confinedS
Hushed as a seraph's fell thy treadD
A new Electra by the bedD
Of suffering human kindS
Pointing the spirit in its dark dismayT
To that pure hope which fadeth not awayT
-
Innocent teacher of the highE
And holy mysteries of HeavenH
How turned to thee each glazing eyeE
In mute and awful sympathyM
As thy low prayers were givenH
And the o'er hovering Spoiler wore the whileU
An angel's features a deliverer's smileU
-
A blessed task and worthy oneH
Who turning from the world as thouV
Before life's pathway had begunH
To leave its spring time flower and sunH
Had sealed her early vowV
Giving to God her beauty and her youthW
Her pure affections and her guileless truthW
-
Earth may not claim thee Nothing hereX
Could be for thee a meet rewardY
Thine is a treasure far more dearZ
Eye hath not seen it nor the earX
Of living mortal heardA2
The joys prepared the promised bliss aboveB2
The holy presence of Eternal LoveB2
-
Sleep on in peace The earth has notC2
A nobler name than thine shall beM
The deeds by martial manhood wroughtD2
The lofty energies of thoughtD2
The fire of poesyG
These have but frail and fading honors thineE2
Shall Time unto Eternity consignE2
-
Yea and when thrones shall crumble downF2
And human pride and grandeur fallB
The herald's line of long renownF2
The mitre and the kingly crownF2
Perishing glories allB
The pure devotion of thy generous heartG2
Shall live in Heaven of which it was a partG2

John Greenleaf Whittier



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