The Singing Man Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDEDE FGFGHIHI JKJKL LM NOPNPQKOQPKP NRNRSMSM TPTPUEUE NPNPQNQQPPNNP A VWWXYYXVVWXXZZA2B2A2 B2C2C2D2D2D2D2 WWWE2E2PPNNTTD2D2 F2F2G2G2D2D2D2D2 WWH2H2I2J2K2K2SSL2M2 N2N2D2D2 VVO2DP2P2Q2Q2D2 D2 D2R2D2R2D2D2 A WWS2S2E2P2T2E2P2T2N2 N2U2U2D2D2N2N2KV2KW2 N2N2N2R2D2R2D2 QQX2Y2N2N2N2N2VV D2 S2S2D2D2Z2Z2A3A3 D2D2D2D2D2D2A2A2B3B3 VVC3C3 S2S2S2D3D3 Z2ZZ2ZE3E3Z2Z2 N2N2N2N2 Z2Z2N2N2N2N2Z2Z2Z2Z2 D2 Z2Z2Z2Z2D2Z2D2Z2 F3G3F3G3H3D2H3D2 N2VN2I | A |
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He sang above the vineyards of the world | B |
And after him the vines with woven hands | C |
Clambered and clung and everywhere unfurled | B |
Triumphing green above the barren lands | C |
Till high as gardens grow he climbed he stood | D |
Sun crowned with life and strength and singing toil | E |
And looked upon his work and it was good | D |
The corn the wine the oil | E |
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He sang above the noon The topmost cleft | F |
That grudged him footing on the mountain scars | G |
He planted and despaired not till he left | F |
His vines soft breathing to the host of stars | G |
He wrought he tilled and even as he sang | H |
The creatures of his planting laughed to scorn | I |
The ancient threat of deserts where there sprang | H |
The wine the oil the corn | I |
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He sang not for abundance Over lords | J |
Took of his tilth Yet was there still to reap | K |
The portion of his labor dear rewards | J |
Of sunlit day and bread and human sleep | K |
He sang for strength for glory of the light | L |
He dreamed above the furrows 'They are mine ' | - |
When all he wrought stood fair before his sight | L |
With corn and oil and wine | M |
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Truly the light is sweet | N |
Yea and a pleasant thing | O |
It is to see the Sun | P |
And that a man should eat | N |
His bread that he hath won | P |
So is it sung and said | Q |
That he should take and keep | K |
After his laboring | O |
The portion of his labor in his bread | Q |
His bread that he hath won | P |
Yea and in quiet sleep | K |
When all is done | P |
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He sang above the burden and the heat | N |
Above all seasons with their fitful grace | R |
Above the chance and change that led his feet | N |
To this last ambush of the Market place | R |
'Enough for him ' they said and still they say | S |
'A crust with air to breathe and sun to shine | M |
He asks no more ' Before they took away | S |
The corn the oil the wine | M |
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He sang No more he sings now anywhere | T |
Light was enough before he was undone | P |
They knew it well who took away the air | T |
Who took away the sun | P |
Who took to serve their soul devouring greed | U |
Himself his breath his bread the goad of toil | E |
Who have and hold before the eyes of Need | U |
The corn the wine the oil | E |
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Truly one thing is sweet | N |
Of things beneath the Sun | P |
This that a man should earn his bread and eat | N |
Rejoicing in his work which he hath done | P |
What shall be sung or said | Q |
Of desolate deceit | N |
When others take his bread | Q |
His and his children's bread | Q |
And the laborer hath none | P |
This for his portion now of all that he hath done | P |
He earns and others eat | N |
He starves they sit at meat | N |
Who have taken away the Sun | P |
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II | A |
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Seek him now that singing Man | V |
Look for him | W |
Look for him | W |
In the mills | X |
In the mines | Y |
Where the very daylight pines | Y |
He who once did walk the hills | X |
You shall find him if you scan | V |
Shapes all unbefitting Man | V |
Bodies warped and faces dim | W |
In the mines in the mills | X |
Where the ceaseless thunder fills | X |
Spaces of the human brain | Z |
Till all thought is turned to pain | Z |
Where the skirl of wheel on wheel | A2 |
Grinding him who is their tool | B2 |
Makes the shattered senses reel | A2 |
To the numbness of the fool | B2 |
Perisht thought and halting tongue | C2 |
Once it spoke once it sung | C2 |
Live to hunger dead to song | D2 |
Only heart beats loud with wrong | D2 |
Hammer on How long | D2 |
How long How long | D2 |
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Search for him | W |
Search for him | W |
Where the crazy atoms swim | W |
Up the fiery furnace blast | E2 |
You shall find him at the last | E2 |
He whose forehead braved the sun | P |
Wreckt and tortured and undone | P |
Where no breath across the heat | N |
Whispers him that life was sweet | N |
But the sparkles mock and flare | T |
Scattering up the crooked air | T |
Blackened with that bitter mirk | D2 |
Would God know His handiwork | D2 |
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Thought is not for such as he | F2 |
Naught but strength and misery | F2 |
Since for just the bite and sup | G2 |
Life must needs be swallowed up | G2 |
Only reeling up the sky | D2 |
Hurtling flames that hurry by | D2 |
Gasp and flare with Why Why | D2 |
Why | D2 |
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Why the human mind of him | W |
Shrinks and falters and is dim | W |
When he tries to make it out | H2 |
What the torture is about | H2 |
Why he breathes a fugitive | I2 |
Whom the World forbids to live | J2 |
Why he earned for his abode | K2 |
Habitation of the toad | K2 |
Why his fevered day by day | S |
Will not serve to drive away | S |
Horror that must always haunt | L2 |
Want Want | M2 |
Nightmare shot with waking pangs | N2 |
Tightening coil and certain fangs | N2 |
Close and closer always nigh | D2 |
Why Why | D2 |
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Why he labors under ban | V |
That denies him for a man | V |
Why his utmost drop of blood | O2 |
Buys for him no human good | D |
Why his utmost urge of strength | P2 |
Only lets Them starve at length | P2 |
Will not let him starve alone | Q2 |
He must watch and see his own | Q2 |
Fade and fail and starve and die | D2 |
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Why Why | D2 |
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Heart beats in a hammering song | D2 |
Heavy as an ox may plod | R2 |
Goaded goaded faint with wrong | D2 |
Cry unto some ghost of God | R2 |
How long How long | D2 |
How long | D2 |
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III | A |
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Seek him yet Search for him | W |
You shall find him spent and grim | W |
In the prisons where we pen | S2 |
These unsightly shards of men | S2 |
Sheltered fast | E2 |
Housed at length | P2 |
Clothed and fed no matter how | T2 |
Where the householders aghast | E2 |
Measure in his broken strength | P2 |
Nought but power for evil now | T2 |
Beast of burden drudgeries | N2 |
Could not earn him what was his | N2 |
He who heard the world applaud | U2 |
Glories seized by force and fraud | U2 |
He must break he must take | D2 |
Both for hate and hunger's sake | D2 |
He must seize by fraud and force | N2 |
He must strike without remorse | N2 |
Seize he might but never keep | K |
Strike his once Behold him here | V2 |
Human life we buy so cheap | K |
Who should know we held it dear | W2 |
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No denial no defence | N2 |
From a brain bereft of sense | N2 |
Any more than penitence | N2 |
But the heart beats now that plod | R2 |
Goaded goaded dumb with wrong | D2 |
Ask not even a ghost of God | R2 |
How long | D2 |
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When the Sea gives up its dead | Q |
Prison caverns yield instead | Q |
This rejected and despised | X2 |
This the Soiled and Sacrificed | Y2 |
Without form or comeliness | N2 |
Shamed for us that did transgress | N2 |
Bruised for our iniquities | N2 |
With the stripes that are all his | N2 |
Face that wreckage you who can | V |
It was once the Singing Man | V |
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IV | D2 |
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Must it be Must we then | S2 |
Render back to God again | S2 |
This His broken work this thing | D2 |
For His man that once did sing | D2 |
Will not all our wonders do | Z2 |
Gifts we stored the ages through | Z2 |
Trusting that He had forgot | A3 |
Gifts the Lord requir d not | A3 |
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Would the all but human serve | D2 |
Monsters made of stone and nerve | D2 |
Towers to threaten and defy | D2 |
Curse or blessing of the sky | D2 |
Shafts that blot the stars with smoke | D2 |
Lightnings harnessed under yoke | D2 |
Sea things air things wrought with steel | A2 |
That may smite and fly and feel | A2 |
Oceans calling each to each | B3 |
Hostile hearts with kindred speech | B3 |
Every work that Titans can | V |
Every marvel save a man | V |
Who might rule without a sword | C3 |
Is a man more precious Lord | C3 |
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Can it be Must we then | S2 |
Render back to Thee again | S2 |
Million million wasted men | S2 |
Men of flickering human breath | D3 |
Only made for life and death | D3 |
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Ah but see the sovereign Few | Z2 |
Highly favored that remain | Z |
These the glorious residue | Z2 |
Of the cherished race of Cain | Z |
These the magnates of the age | E3 |
High above the human wage | E3 |
Who have numbered and possesst | Z2 |
All the portion of the rest | Z2 |
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What are all despairs and shames | N2 |
What the mean forgotten names | N2 |
Of the thousand more or less | N2 |
For one surfeit of success | N2 |
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For those dullest lives we spent | Z2 |
Take these Few magnificent | Z2 |
For that host of blotted ones | N2 |
Take these glittering central suns | N2 |
Few but how their lustre thrives | N2 |
On the million broken lives | N2 |
Splendid over dark and doubt | Z2 |
For a million souls gone out | Z2 |
These the holders of our hoard | Z2 |
Wilt thou not accept them Lord | Z2 |
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V | D2 |
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Oh in the wakening thunders of the heart | Z2 |
The small lost Eden troubled through the night | Z2 |
Sounds there not now forboded and apart | Z2 |
Some voice and sword of light | Z2 |
Some voice and portent of a dawn to break | D2 |
Searching like God the ruinous human shard | Z2 |
Of that lost Brother man Himself did make | D2 |
And Man himself hath marred | Z2 |
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It sounds And may the anguish of that birth | F3 |
Seize on the world and may all shelters fail | G3 |
Till we behold new Heaven and new Earth | F3 |
Through the rent Temple vail | G3 |
When the high tides that threaten near and far | H3 |
To sweep away our guilt before the sky | D2 |
Flooding the waste of this dishonored Star | H3 |
Cleanse and o'erwhelm and cry | D2 |
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Cry from the deep of world accusing waves | N2 |
With longing more than all since Light began | V |
Above the nations underneath the graves | N2 |
'Give back the Singing Man ' | - |
Josephine Preston Peabody
(1)
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