The Enchanted Shirt. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDC EFGF HIJI KLML NODO PQRQ STCT N UTVT WXYF ZA2BA2 B2C2D2C2 E2F2G2F2 H2I2J2I2 BBBB K2L2M2L2 B N2O2SO2 P2Q2C2Q2 BF2BF2Fytte the First wherein it shall be shown how the Truth is too mighty a Drug for such as be of feeble temper | A |
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The King was sick His cheek was red | B |
And his eye was clear and bright | C |
He ate and drank with a kingly zest | D |
And peacefully snored at night | C |
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But he said he was sick and a king should know | E |
And doctors came by the score | F |
They did not cure him He cut off their heads | G |
And sent to the schools for more | F |
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At last two famous doctors came | H |
And one was as poor as a rat | I |
He had passed his life in studious toil | J |
And never found time to grow fat | I |
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The other had never looked in a book | K |
His patients gave him no trouble | L |
If they recovered they paid him well | M |
If they died their heirs paid double | L |
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Together they looked at the royal tongue | N |
As the King on his couch reclined | O |
In succession they thumped his august chest | D |
But no trace of disease could find | O |
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The old sage said You're as sound as a nut | P |
Hang him up roared the King in a gale | Q |
In a ten knot gale of royal rage | R |
The other leech grew a shade pale | Q |
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But he pensively rubbed his sagacious nose | S |
And thus his prescription ran | T |
The King will be well if he sleeps one night | C |
In the Shirt of a Happy Man | T |
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Fytte the Second tells of the search for the Shirt and how it was nigh found but was not for reasons which are said or sung | N |
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Wide o'er the realm the couriers rode | U |
And fast their horses ran | T |
And many they saw and to many they spoke | V |
But they found no Happy Man | T |
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They found poor men who would fain be rich | W |
And rich who thought they were poor | X |
And men who twisted their waists in stays | Y |
And women that shorthose wore | F |
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They saw two men by the roadside sit | Z |
And both bemoaned their lot | A2 |
For one had buried his wife he said | B |
And the other one had not | A2 |
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At last they came to a village gate | B2 |
A beggar lay whistling there | C2 |
He whistled and sang and laughed and rolled | D2 |
On the grass in the soft June air | C2 |
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The weary couriers paused and looked | E2 |
At the scamp so blithe and gay | F2 |
And one of them said Heaven save you friend | G2 |
You seem to be happy to day | F2 |
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O yes fair sirs the rascal laughed | H2 |
And his voice rang free and glad | I2 |
An idle man has so much to do | J2 |
That he never has time to be sad | I2 |
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This is our man the courier said | B |
Our luck has led us aright | B |
I will give you a hundred ducats friend | B |
For the loan of your shirt to night | B |
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The merry blackguard lay back on the grass | K2 |
And laughed till his face was black | L2 |
I would do it God wot and he roared with the fun | M2 |
But I haven't a shirt to my back | L2 |
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Fytte the Third shewing how His Majesty the King came at last to sleep in a Happy Man his Shirt | B |
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Each day to the King the reports came in | N2 |
Of his unsuccessful spies | O2 |
And the sad panorama of human woes | S |
Passed daily under his eyes | O2 |
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And he grew ashamed of his useless life | P2 |
And his maladies hatched in gloom | Q2 |
He opened his windows and let the air | C2 |
Of the free heaven into his room | Q2 |
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And out he went in the world and toiled | B |
In his own appointed way | F2 |
And the people blessed him the land was glad | B |
And the King was well and gay | F2 |
John Milton Hay
(1)
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