The Homestead Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KJKJ LCLC CICI MBMB NIOI PCPC QRQR LSLS TUTU VCVC KDKD WXYX ZA2A2A2 VVVV

AGAINST the wooded hills it standsA
Ghost of a dead home staring throughB
Its broken lights on wasted landsA
Where old time harvests grewB
-
Unploughed unsown by scythe unshornC
The poor forsaken farm fields lieD
Once rich and rife with golden cornC
And pale green breadths of ryeD
-
Of healthful herb and flower bereftE
The garden plot no housewife keepsF
Through weeds and tangle only leftE
The snake its tenant creepsF
-
A lilac spray still blossom cladG
Sways slow before the empty roomsH
Beside the roofless porch a sadG
Pathetic red rose bloomsH
-
His track in mould and dust of drouthI
On floor and hearth the squirrel leavesJ
And in the fireless chimney's mouthI
His web the spider weavesJ
-
The leaning barn about to fallK
Resounds no more on husking evesJ
No cattle low in yard or stallK
No thresher beats his sheavesJ
-
So sad so drear It seems almostL
Some haunting Presence makes its signC
That down yon shadowy lane some ghostL
Might drive his spectral kineC
-
O home so desolate and lornC
Did all thy memories die with theeI
Were any wed were any bornC
Beneath this low roof treeI
-
Whose axe the wall of forest brokeM
And let the waiting sunshine throughB
What goodwife sent the earliest smokeM
Up the great chimney flueB
-
Did rustic lovers hither comeN
Did maidens swaying back and forthI
In rhythmic grace at wheel and loomO
Make light their toil with mirthI
-
Did child feet patter on the stairP
Did boyhood frolic in the snowC
Did gray age in her elbow chairP
Knit rocking to and froC
-
The murmuring brook the sighing breezeQ
The pine's slow whisper cannot tellR
Low mounds beneath the hemlock treesQ
Keep the home secrets wellR
-
Cease mother land to fondly boastL
Of sons far off who strive and thriveS
Forgetful that each swarming hostL
Must leave an emptier hiveS
-
O wanderers from ancestral soilT
Leave noisome mill and chaffering storeU
Gird up your loins for sturdier toilT
And build the home once moreU
-
Come back to bayberry scented slopesV
And fragrant fern and ground nut vineC
Breathe airs blown over holt and copseV
Sweet with black birch and pineC
-
What matter if the gains are smallK
That life's essential wants supplyD
Your homestead's title gives you allK
That idle wealth can buyD
-
All that the many dollared craveW
The brick walled slaves of 'Change and martX
Lawns trees fresh air and flowers you haveY
More dear for lack of artX
-
Your own sole masters freedom willedZ
With none to bid you go or stayA2
Till the old fields your fathers tilledA2
As manly men as theyA2
-
With skill that spares your toiling handsV
And chemic aid that science bringsV
Reclaim the waste and outworn landsV
And reign thereon as kingsV

John Greenleaf Whittier



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