Gammer Gaffer - A Ballad Of Gloucester Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCCD E FGFGHIHHH E HJHHJ K HLHLHMHHM K HNHHN K OPOPKKK K QGJGBHBB K HRHHR K AHAHHKHHK| One night when trees were tumbled down | A |
| And wild winds shook at sea the sail | B |
| Old Gammer Gaffer lean and brown | A |
| Chuckled and whistled on her nail | B |
| Then seized her broom and mounting it | C |
| Flew up the chimney with her cat | D |
| All Dogtown bayed to see her flit | C |
| The screech owl shrieked and lightning lit | C |
| About her head flew black the bat | D |
| - | |
| II | E |
| - | |
| Her crow like body humped and black | F |
| Seemed part and portion of her broom | G |
| The black cat crouched upon her back | F |
| Lit with its yellow eyes the gloom | G |
| Towards Gloucester Town she took her flight | H |
| And night grew wilder as she went | I |
| The wind blew out the fisher's light | H |
| And tore his sails in tatters white | H |
| And strewed them through the firmament | H |
| - | |
| III | E |
| - | |
| Old shutters clapped and windows rapped | H |
| And shingles shook as if in pain | J |
| Her besom on each old door slapped | H |
| And flapped as cloaked and conical capped | H |
| Whisked by old Gammer Gaffer's train | J |
| - | |
| IV | K |
| - | |
| To window panes where candle light | H |
| Showed some good wife who sat alone | L |
| She pressed her sharp face skinny white | H |
| And knocked with knuckled hands of bone | L |
| Then croaked and mumbled like the draught | H |
| That grumbles in the chimney flue | M |
| Or on the gables danced and laughed | H |
| Her old cloak flapping as if daft | H |
| While round her face her wild hair blew | M |
| - | |
| V | K |
| - | |
| Old gutters dripped and dead leaves skipped | H |
| And wildly struck the village clock | N |
| As off a shutter here she ripped | H |
| Old Gammer or like madness whipped | H |
| Around and 'round some weather cock | N |
| - | |
| VI | K |
| - | |
| Then at one door she shook the latch | O |
| And to a cranny set her chin | P |
| And croaked 'Hey here's an egg to hatch | O |
| Eh Goodie Brown come take it in | P |
| I've news for ye Good news he he | K |
| Your old man he's gone down at sea | K |
| There's something eh to hearten ye | K |
| Hey what man now shall wear his shoes ' | - |
| - | |
| VII | K |
| - | |
| And chuckling to herself again | Q |
| Around the house she rode her broom | G |
| Then mounted to the weather vane | J |
| And whirled and maundered to the gloom | G |
| 'Aye weep ye women weep and wail | B |
| 'Twas I who wrought your good men's weird | H |
| 'Twas I who raised the Gloucester gale | B |
| 'Twas I who tattered shroud and sail | B |
| And seized and drowned them by my beard ' | - |
| - | |
| VIII | K |
| - | |
| Old sign boards squeaked and gables creaked | H |
| And crazy gates closed with a bang | R |
| As parrot beaked and lanthorn cheeked | H |
| Old Gammer round the belfry shrieked | H |
| And made its cracked old bell go clang | R |
| - | |
| IX | K |
| - | |
| So round and round the old Cape Town | A |
| She whirled and whined as whines the wind | H |
| Now this way blew her rag of gown | A |
| Now that way through the blackness blind | H |
| And as she went she crowed and croaked | H |
| And crooned some snatch of devil's verse | K |
| While now and then her cat she stroked | H |
| And in a wink all capped and cloaked | H |
| Flew back to Dogtown with a curse | K |
Madison Julius Cawein
(1)
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About Gammer Gaffer - A Ballad Of Gloucester
Gammer Gaffer - A Ballad Of Gloucester is a poem by Madison Julius Cawein. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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