Four Riddles Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC DEDE FG G HIHI JKJK LMLN OPOQ RHRH STST GHGH UHVH JGJG GGGG JWJW GXGX A YZYZ A2B2A2B2 C2D2C2D2 D2GD2G E2IE2I GGGG A JF2GF2JJJ GGJGJJJ GF2OF2JJJ B2 JJJJJ JGJJG GGGGG JJJJJ D2GD2D2G JPJJPI | A |
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There was an ancient City stricken down | B |
With a strange frenzy and for many a day | C |
They paced from morn to eve the crowded town | B |
And danced the night away | C |
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I asked the cause the aged man grew sad | D |
They pointed to a building gray and tall | E |
And hoarsely answered Step inside my lad | D |
And then you'll see it all | E |
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Yet what are all such gaieties to me | F |
Whose thoughts are full of indices and surds | G |
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x x x | G |
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But something whispered It will soon be done | H |
Bands cannot always play nor ladies smile | I |
Endure with patience the distasteful fun | H |
For just a little while | I |
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A change came o'er my Vision it was night | J |
We clove a pathway through a frantic throng | K |
The steeds wild plunging filled us with affright | J |
The chariots whirled along | K |
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Within a marble hall a river ran | L |
A living tide half muslin and half cloth | M |
And here one mourned a broken wreath or fan | L |
Yet swallowed down her wrath | N |
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And here one offered to a thirsty fair | O |
His words half drowned amid those thunders tuneful | P |
Some frozen viand there were many there | O |
A tooth ache in each spoonful | Q |
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There comes a happy pause for human strength | R |
Will not endure to dance without cessation | H |
And every one must reach the point at length | R |
Of absolute prostration | H |
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At such a moment ladies learn to give | S |
To partners who would urge them over much | T |
A flat and yet decided negative | S |
Photographers love such | T |
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There comes a welcome summons hope revives | G |
And fading eyes grow bright and pulses quicken | H |
Incessant pop the corks and busy knives | G |
Dispense the tongue and chicken | H |
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Flushed with new life the crowd flows back again | U |
And all is tangled talk and mazy motion | H |
Much like a waving field of golden grain | V |
Or a tempestuous ocean | H |
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And thus they give the time that Nature meant | J |
For peaceful sleep and meditative snores | G |
To ceaseless din and mindless merriment | J |
And waste of shoes and floors | G |
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And One we name him not that flies the flowers | G |
That dreads the dances and that shuns the salads | G |
They doom to pass in solitude the hours | G |
Writing acrostic ballads | G |
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How late it grows The hour is surely past | J |
That should have warned us with its double knock | W |
The twilight wanes and morning comes at last | J |
Oh Uncle what's o'clock | W |
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The Uncle gravely nods and wisely winks | G |
It MAY mean much but how is one to know | X |
He opens his mouth yet out of it methinks | G |
No words of wisdom flow | X |
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II | A |
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Empress of Art for thee I twine | Y |
This wreath with all too slender skill | Z |
Forgive my Muse each halting line | Y |
And for the deed accept the will | Z |
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O day of tears Whence comes this spectre grim | A2 |
Parting like Death's cold river souls that love | B2 |
Is not he bound to thee as thou to him | A2 |
By vows unwhispered here yet heard above | B2 |
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And still it lives that keen and heavenward flame | C2 |
Lives in his eye and trembles in his tone | D2 |
And these wild words of fury but proclaim | C2 |
A heart that beats for thee for thee alone | D2 |
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But all is lost that mighty mind o'erthrown | D2 |
Like sweet bells jangled piteous sight to see | G |
Doubt that the stars are fire so runs his moan | D2 |
Doubt Truth herself but not my love for thee | G |
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A sadder vision yet thine aged sire | E2 |
Shaming his hoary locks with treacherous wile | I |
And dost thou now doubt Truth to be a liar | E2 |
And wilt thou die that hast forgot to smile | I |
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Nay get thee hence Leave all thy winsome ways | G |
And the faint fragrance of thy scattered flowers | G |
In holy silence wait the appointed days | G |
And weep away the leaden footed hours | G |
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III | A |
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The air is bright with hues of light | J |
And rich with laughter and with singing | F2 |
Young hearts beat high in ecstasy | G |
And banners wave and bells are ringing | F2 |
But silence falls with fading day | J |
And there's an end to mirth and play | J |
Ah well a day | J |
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Rest your old bones ye wrinkled crones | G |
The kettle sings the firelight dances | G |
Deep be it quaffed the magic draught | J |
That fills the soul with golden fancies | G |
For Youth and Pleasance will not stay | J |
And ye are withered worn and gray | J |
Ah well a day | J |
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O fair cold face O form of grace | G |
For human passion madly yearning | F2 |
O weary air of dumb despair | O |
From marble won to marble turning | F2 |
Leave us not thus we fondly pray | J |
We cannot let thee pass away | J |
Ah well a day | J |
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IV | B2 |
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My First is singular at best | J |
More plural is my Second | J |
My Third is far the pluralest | J |
So plural plural I protest | J |
It scarcely can be reckoned | J |
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My First is followed by a bird | J |
My Second by believers | G |
In magic art my simple Third | J |
Follows too often hopes absurd | J |
And plausible deceivers | G |
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My First to get at wisdom tries | G |
A failure melancholy | G |
My Second men revered as wise | G |
My Third from heights of wisdom flies | G |
To depths of frantic folly | G |
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My First is ageing day by day | J |
My Second's age is ended | J |
My Third enjoys an age they say | J |
That never seems to fade away | J |
Through centuries extended | J |
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My Whole I need a poet's pen | D2 |
To paint her myriad phases | G |
The monarch and the slave of men | D2 |
A mountain summit and a den | D2 |
Of dark and deadly mazes | G |
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A flashing light a fleeting shade | J |
Beginning end and middle | P |
Of all that human art hath made | J |
Or wit devised Go seek HER aid | J |
If you would read my riddle | P |
Lewis Carroll
(1)
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