The Singer Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EFGG HHII JJKK BBLL MMNN OOPQ AARS TTUU VVWW XXYY ZZA2A2 B2B2CC C2C2D2D2 C2C2WW C2C2C2C2 DDII C2C2E2E2 F2F2B2B2 C2C2G2G2 C2C2H2H2 I2YH2H2 AG2J2J2Years since but names to me before | A |
Two sisters sought at eve my door | A |
Two song birds wandering from their nest | B |
A gray old farm house in the West | B |
- | |
How fresh of life the younger one | C |
Half smiles half tears like rain in sun | C |
Her gravest mood could scarce displace | D |
The dimples of her nut brown face | D |
- | |
Wit sparkled on her lips not less | E |
For quick and tremulous tenderness | F |
And following close her merriest glance | G |
Dreamed through her eyes the heart's romance | G |
- | |
Timid and still the elder had | H |
Even then a smile too sweetly sad | H |
The crown of pain that all must wear | I |
Too early pressed her midnight hair | I |
- | |
Yet ere the summer eve grew long | J |
Her modest lips were sweet with song | J |
A memory haunted all her words | K |
Of clover fields and singing birds | K |
- | |
Her dark dilating eyes expressed | B |
The broad horizons of the west | B |
Her speech dropped prairie flowers the gold | L |
Of harvest wheat about her rolled | L |
- | |
Fore doomed to song she seemed to me | M |
I queried not with destiny | M |
I knew the trial and the need | N |
Yet all the more I said God speed | N |
- | |
What could I other than I did | O |
Could I a singing bird forbid | O |
Deny the wind stirred leaf Rebuke | P |
The music of the forest brook | Q |
- | |
She went with morning from my door | A |
But left me richer than before | A |
Thenceforth I knew her voice of cheer | R |
The welcome of her partial ear | S |
- | |
Years passed through all the land her name | T |
A pleasant household word became | T |
All felt behind the singer stood | U |
A sweet and gracious womanhood | U |
- | |
Her life was earnest work not play | V |
Her tired feet climbed a weary way | V |
And even through her lightest strain | W |
We heard an undertone of pain | W |
- | |
Unseen of her her fair fame grew | X |
The good she did she rarely knew | X |
Unguessed of her in life the love | Y |
That rained its tears her grave above | Y |
- | |
When last I saw her full of peace | Z |
She waited for her great release | Z |
And that old friend so sage and bland | A2 |
Our later Franklin held her hand | A2 |
- | |
For all that patriot bosoms stirs | B2 |
Had moved that woman's heart of hers | B2 |
And men who toiled in storm and sun | C |
Found her their meet companion | C |
- | |
Our converse from her suffering bed | C2 |
To healthful themes of life she led | C2 |
The out door world of bud and bloom | D2 |
And light and sweetness filled her room | D2 |
- | |
Yet evermore an underthought | C2 |
Of loss to come within us wrought | C2 |
And all the while we felt the strain | W |
Of the strong will that conquered pain | W |
- | |
God giveth quietness at last | C2 |
The common way that all have passed | C2 |
She went with mortal yearnings fond | C2 |
To fuller life and love beyond | C2 |
- | |
Fold the rapt soul in your embrace | D |
My dear ones Give the singer place | D |
To you to her I know not where | I |
I lift the silence of a prayer | I |
- | |
For only thus our own we find | C2 |
The gone before the left behind | C2 |
All mortal voices die between | E2 |
The unheard reaches the unseen | E2 |
- | |
Again the blackbirds sing the streams | F2 |
Wake laughing from their winter dreams | F2 |
And tremble in the April showers | B2 |
The tassels of the maple flowers | B2 |
- | |
But not for her has spring renewed | C2 |
The sweet surprises of the wood | C2 |
And bird and flower are lost to her | G2 |
Who was their best interpreter | G2 |
- | |
What to shut eyes has God revealed | C2 |
What hear the ears that death has sealed | C2 |
What undreamed beauty passing show | H2 |
Requites the loss of all we know | H2 |
- | |
O silent land to which we move | I2 |
Enough if there alone be love | Y |
And mortal need can ne'er outgrow | H2 |
What it is waiting to bestow | H2 |
- | |
O white soul from that far off shore | A |
Float some sweet song the waters o'er | G2 |
Our faith confirm our fears dispel | J2 |
With the old voice we loved so well | J2 |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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