The Old Burying-ground Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF AGAG HIHI GJGJ KLKL MNMN OPOP QMQM IRIR STST URUR MVMV MNMN MWMW XKXK EYEY MZMZ MRMR HA2HA2 B2KB2K| Our vales are sweet with fern and rose | A |
| Our hills are maple crowned | B |
| But not from them our fathers chose | A |
| The village burying ground | B |
| - | |
| The dreariest spot in all the land | C |
| To Death they set apart | D |
| With scanty grace from Nature's hand | C |
| And none from that of Art | D |
| - | |
| A winding wall of mossy stone | E |
| Frost flung and broken lines | F |
| A lonesome acre thinly grown | E |
| With grass and wandering vines | F |
| - | |
| Without the wall a birch tree shows | A |
| Its drooped and tasselled head | G |
| Within a stag horned sumach grows | A |
| Fern leafed with spikes of red | G |
| - | |
| There sheep that graze the neighboring plain | H |
| Like white ghosts come and go | I |
| The farm horse drags his fetlock chain | H |
| The cow bell tinkles slow | I |
| - | |
| Low moans the river from its bed | G |
| The distant pines reply | J |
| Like mourners shrinking from the dead | G |
| They stand apart and sigh | J |
| - | |
| Unshaded smites the summer sun | K |
| Unchecked the winter blast | L |
| The school girl learns the place to shun | K |
| With glances backward cast | L |
| - | |
| For thus our fathers testified | M |
| That he might read who ran | N |
| The emptiness of human pride | M |
| The nothingness of man | N |
| - | |
| They dared not plant the grave with flowers | O |
| Nor dress the funeral sod | P |
| Where with a love as deep as ours | O |
| They left their dead with God | P |
| - | |
| The hard and thorny path they kept | Q |
| From beauty turned aside | M |
| Nor missed they over those who slept | Q |
| The grace to life denied | M |
| - | |
| Yet still the wilding flowers would blow | I |
| The golden leaves would fall | R |
| The seasons come the seasons go | I |
| And God be good to all | R |
| - | |
| Above the graves the' blackberry hung | S |
| In bloom and green its wreath | T |
| And harebells swung as if they rung | S |
| The chimes of peace beneath | T |
| - | |
| The beauty Nature loves to share | U |
| The gifts she hath for all | R |
| The common light the common air | U |
| O'ercrept the graveyard's wall | R |
| - | |
| It knew the glow of eventide | M |
| The sunrise and the noon | V |
| And glorified and sanctified | M |
| It slept beneath the moon | V |
| - | |
| With flowers or snow flakes for its sod | M |
| Around the seasons ran | N |
| And evermore the love of God | M |
| Rebuked the fear of man | N |
| - | |
| We dwell with fears on either hand | M |
| Within a daily strife | W |
| And spectral problems waiting stand | M |
| Before the gates of life | W |
| - | |
| The doubts we vainly seek to solve | X |
| The truths we know are one | K |
| The known and nameless stars revolve | X |
| Around the Central Sun | K |
| - | |
| And if we reap as we have sown | E |
| And take the dole we deal | Y |
| The law of pain is love alone | E |
| The wounding is to heal | Y |
| - | |
| Unharmed from change to change we glide | M |
| We fall as in our dreams | Z |
| The far off terror at our side | M |
| A smiling angel seems | Z |
| - | |
| Secure on God's all tender heart | M |
| Alike rest great and small | R |
| Why fear to lose our little part | M |
| When He is pledged for all | R |
| - | |
| O fearful heart and troubled brain | H |
| Take hope and strength from this | A2 |
| That Nature never hints in vain | H |
| Nor prophesies amiss | A2 |
| - | |
| Her wild birds sing the same sweet stave | B2 |
| Her lights and airs are given | K |
| Alike to playground and the grave | B2 |
| And over both is Heaven | K |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Old Burying-ground
The Old Burying-ground is a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Old Burying-ground poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
Best Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier
