Fit The Sixth - The Barrister's Dream Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EFGF HIHI JKJK LMLM NOPO QRQR RRRR STST URUR RVRV RRRR RRRR WRRR RXRY RRRR RQVZ| They sought it with thimbles they sought it with care | A |
| They pursued it with forks and hope | B |
| They threatened its life with a railway share | A |
| They charmed it with smiles and soap | B |
| But the Barrister weary of proving in vain | C |
| That the Beaver's lace making was wrong | D |
| Fell asleep and in dreams saw the creature quite plain | C |
| That his fancy had dwelt on so long | D |
| - | |
| He dreamed that he stood in a shadowy Court | E |
| Where the Snark with a glass in its eye | F |
| Dressed in gown bands and wig was defending a pig | G |
| On the charge of deserting its sty | F |
| - | |
| The Witnesses proved without error or flaw | H |
| That the sty was deserted when found | I |
| And the Judge kept explaining the state of the law | H |
| In a soft under current of sound | I |
| - | |
| The indictment had never been clearly expressed | J |
| And it seemed that the Snark had begun | K |
| And had spoken three hours before any one guessed | J |
| What the pig was supposed to have done | K |
| - | |
| The Jury had each formed a different view | L |
| Long before the indictment was read | M |
| And they all spoke at once so that none of them knew | L |
| One word that the others had said | M |
| - | |
| You must know said the Judge but the Snark exclaimed Fudge | N |
| That statute is obsolete quite | O |
| Let me tell you my friends the whole question depends | P |
| On an ancient manorial right | O |
| - | |
| In the matter of Treason the pig would appear | Q |
| To have aided but scarcely abetted | R |
| While the charge of Insolvency fails it is clear | Q |
| If you grant the plea 'never indebted' | R |
| - | |
| The fact of Desertion I will not dispute | R |
| But its guilt as I trust is removed | R |
| So far as relates to the costs of this suit | R |
| By the Alibi which has been proved | R |
| - | |
| My poor client's fate now depends on your votes | S |
| Here the speaker sat down in his place | T |
| And directed the Judge to refer to his notes | S |
| And briefly to sum up the case | T |
| - | |
| But the Judge said he never had summed up before | U |
| So the Snark undertook it instead | R |
| And summed it so well that it came to far more | U |
| Than the Witnesses ever had said | R |
| - | |
| When the verdict was called for the Jury declined | R |
| As the word was so puzzling to spell | V |
| But they ventured to hope that the Snark wouldn't mind | R |
| Undertaking that duty as well | V |
| - | |
| So the Snark found the verdict although as it owned | R |
| It was spent with the toils of the day | R |
| When it said the word guilty the Jury all groaned | R |
| And some of them fainted away | R |
| - | |
| Then the Snark pronounced sentence the Judge being quite | R |
| Too nervous to utter a word | R |
| When it rose to its feet there was silence like night | R |
| And the fall of a pin might be heard | R |
| - | |
| Transportation for life was the sentence it gave | W |
| And then to be fined forty pound | R |
| The Jury all cheered though the Judge said he feared | R |
| That the phrase was not legally sound | R |
| - | |
| But their wild exultation was suddenly checked | R |
| When the jailer informed them with tears | X |
| Such a sentence would not have the slightest effect | R |
| As the pig had been dead for some years | Y |
| - | |
| The Judge left the Court looking deeply disgusted | R |
| But the Snark though a little aghast | R |
| As the lawyer to whom the defence was intrusted | R |
| Went bellowing on to the last | R |
| - | |
| Thus the Barrister dreamed while the bellowing seemed | R |
| To grow every moment more clear | Q |
| Till he woke to the knell of a furious bell | V |
| Which the Bellman rang close at his ear | Z |
Lewis Carroll
(1)
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