The Minister-s Daughter Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEFC ACAC GCDC HIJI KCGC JCK ALML ABC CNGN FOC DCP CACA CAFA PQAQ GRDR DSTS UAKA CACA PCQCIn the minister's morning sermon | A |
He had told of the primal fall | B |
And how thenceforth the wrath of God | C |
Rested on each and all | B |
- | |
And how of His will and pleasure | D |
All souls save a chosen few | E |
Were doomed to the quenchless burning | F |
And held in the way thereto | C |
- | |
Yet never by faith's unreason | A |
A saintlier soul was tried | C |
And never the harsh old lesson | A |
A tenderer heart belied | C |
- | |
And after the painful service | G |
On that pleasant Sabbath day | C |
He walked with his little daughter | D |
Through the apple bloom of May | C |
- | |
Sweet in the fresh green meadows | H |
Sparrow and blackbird sung | I |
Above him their tinted petals | J |
The blossoming orchards hung | I |
- | |
Around on the wonderful glory | K |
The minister looked and smiled | C |
'How good is the Lord who gives us | G |
These gifts from His hand my child | C |
- | |
'Behold in the bloom of apples | J |
And the violets in the sward | C |
A hint of the old lost beauty | K |
Of the Garden of the Lord ' | - |
- | |
Then up spake the little maiden | A |
Treading on snow and pink | L |
'O father these pretty blossoms | M |
Are very wicked I think | L |
- | |
'Had there been no Garden of Eden | A |
There never had been a fall | B |
And if never a tree had blossomed | C |
God would have loved us all ' | - |
- | |
'Hush child ' the father answered | C |
'By His decree man fell | N |
His ways are in clouds and darkness | G |
But He doeth all things well | N |
- | |
'And whether by His ordaining | F |
To us cometh good or ill | O |
Joy or pain or light or shadow | C |
We must fear and love Him still ' | - |
- | |
'Oh I fear Him ' said the daughter | D |
'And I try to love Him too | C |
But I wish He was good and gentle | P |
Kind and loving as you ' | - |
- | |
The minister groaned in spirit | C |
As the tremulous lips of pain | A |
And wide wet eyes uplifted | C |
Questioned his own in vain | A |
- | |
Bowing his head he pondered | C |
The words of the little one | A |
Had he erred in his life long teaching | F |
Had he wrong to his Master done | A |
- | |
To what grim and dreadful idol | P |
Had he lent the holiest name | Q |
Did his own heart loving and human | A |
The God of his worship shame | Q |
- | |
And lo from the bloom and greenness | G |
From the tender skies above | R |
And the face of his little daughter | D |
He read a lesson of love | R |
- | |
No more as the cloudy terror | D |
Of Sinai's mount of law | S |
But as Christ in the Syrian lilies | T |
The vision of God he saw | S |
- | |
And as when in the clefts of Horeb | U |
Of old was His presence known | A |
The dread Ineffable Glory | K |
Was Infinite Goodness alone | A |
- | |
Thereafter his hearers noted | C |
In his prayers a tenderer strain | A |
And never the gospel of hatred | C |
Burned on his lips again | A |
- | |
And the scoffing tongue was prayerful | P |
And the blinded eyes found sight | C |
And hearts as flint aforetime | Q |
Grew soft in his warmth and light | C |
John Greenleaf Whittier
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