The Proud Poet Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCADAD EFEGFHIHI JKJKLMLM NONOIAIA PQPQRSRS| For Shaemas O Sheel | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| One winter night a Devil came and sat upon my bed | B |
| His eyes were full of laughter for his heart was full of crime | C |
| Why don't you take up fancy work or embroidery he said | B |
| For a needle is as manly a tool as a pen that makes a rhyme | C |
| You little ugly Devil said I go back to Hell | A |
| For the idea you express I will not listen to | D |
| I have trouble enough with poetry and poverty as well | A |
| Without having to pay attention to orators like you | D |
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| When you say of the making of ballads and songs that it is woman's work | E |
| You forget all the fighting poets that have been in every land | F |
| There was Byron who left all his lady loves to fight against the Turk | E |
| And David the Singing King of the Jews | G |
| who was born with a sword in his hand | F |
| It was yesterday that Rupert Brooke went out to the Wars and died | H |
| And Sir Philip Sidney's lyric voice was as sweet as his arm was strong | I |
| And Sir Walter Raleigh met the axe as a lover meets his bride | H |
| Because he carried in his soul the courage of his song | I |
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| And there is no consolation so quickening to the heart | J |
| As the warmth and whiteness that come from the lines of noble poetry | K |
| It is strong joy to read it when the wounds of the spirit smart | J |
| It puts the flame in a lonely breast where only ashes be | K |
| It is strong joy to read it and to make it is a thing | L |
| That exalts a man with a sacreder pride than any pride on earth | M |
| For it makes him kneel to a broken slave and set his foot on a king | L |
| And it shakes the walls of his little soul with the echo of God's mirth | M |
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| There was the poet Homer had the sorrow to be blind | N |
| Yet a hundred people with good eyes would listen to him all night | O |
| For they took great enjoyment in the heaven of his mind | N |
| And were glad when the old blind poet let them share his powers of sight | O |
| And there was Heine lying on his mattress all day long | I |
| He had no wealth he had no friends he had no joy at all | A |
| Except to pour his sorrow into little cups of song | I |
| And the world finds in them the magic wine that his broken heart let fall | A |
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| And these are only a couple of names from a list of a thousand score | P |
| Who have put their glory on the world in poverty and pain | Q |
| And the title of poet's a noble thing worth living and dying for | P |
| Though all the devils on earth and in Hell spit at me their disdain | Q |
| It is stern work it is perilous work to thrust your hand in the sun | R |
| And pull out a spark of immortal flame to warm the hearts of men | S |
| But Prometheus torn by the claws and beaks whose task is never done | R |
| Would be tortured another eternity to go stealing fire again | S |
Joyce Kilmer
(1)
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About The Proud Poet
The Proud Poet is a poem by Joyce Kilmer. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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