The Forsaken Merman Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABBAAAA BCB DEFGAAA H IJIJIAA AAAKKLLMMNNOOPPPAA AAQQQKKQAAQ R AA SSAAIITTUUVVDES WWJJJ IQIQXXKY TQZTZQA2PA2PYPYA2 YYQYB2JC2JD2E2B2E2F2 QB2 G2BG2BH2I2QI2J2K2L2P M2YN2YYQB2Come dear children let us away | A |
Down and away below | B |
Now my brothers call from the bay | A |
Now the great winds shoreward blow | B |
Now the salt tides seaward flow | B |
Now the wild white horses play | A |
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray | A |
Children dear let us away | A |
This way this way | A |
- | |
Call her once before you go | B |
Call once yet | C |
In a voice that she will know | B |
'Margaret Margaret ' | - |
Children's voices should be dear | D |
Call once more to a mother's ear | E |
Children's voices wild with pain | F |
Surely she will come again | G |
Call her once and come away | A |
This way this way | A |
'Mother dear we cannot stay | A |
The wild white horses foam and fret ' | - |
Margaret Margaret | H |
- | |
Come dear children come away down | I |
Call no more | J |
One last look at the white walled town | I |
And the little grey church on the windy shore | J |
Then come down | I |
She will not come though you call all day | A |
Come away come away | A |
- | |
Children dear was it yesterday | A |
We heard the sweet bells over the bay | A |
In the caverns where we lay | A |
Through the surf and through the swell | K |
The far off sound of a silver bell | K |
Sand strewn caverns cool and deep | L |
Where the winds are all asleep | L |
Where the spent lights quiver and gleam | M |
Where the salt weed sways in the stream | M |
Where the sea beasts ranged all round | N |
Feed in the ooze of their pasture ground | N |
Where the sea snakes coil and twine | O |
Dry their mail and bask in the brine | O |
Where great whales come sailing by | P |
Sail and sail with unshut eye | P |
Round the world for ever and aye | P |
When did music come this way | A |
Children dear was it yesterday | A |
- | |
Children dear was it yesterday | A |
Call yet once that she went away | A |
Once she sate with you and me | Q |
On a red gold throne in the heart of the sea | Q |
And the youngest sate on her knee | Q |
She combed its bright hair and she tended it well | K |
When down swung the sound of a far off bell | K |
She sighed she looked up through the clear green sea | Q |
She said 'I must go for my kinsfolk pray | A |
In the little grey church on the shore today | A |
'Twill be Easter time in the world ah me | Q |
And I lose my poor soul Merman here with thee ' | - |
I said 'Go up dear heart through the waves | R |
Say thy prayer and come back to the kind sea caves ' | - |
She smiled she went up through the surf in the bay | A |
Children dear was it yesterday | A |
- | |
Children dear were we long alone | S |
'The sea grows stormy the little ones moan | S |
Long prayers ' I said 'in the world they say | A |
Come ' I said and we rose through the surf in the bay | A |
We went up the beach by the sandy down | I |
Where the sea stocks bloom to the white walled town | I |
Through the narrow paved streets where all was still | T |
To the little grey church on the windy hill | T |
From the church came a murmur of folk at their prayers | U |
But we stood without in the cold blowing airs | U |
We climbed on the graves on the stones worn with rains | V |
And we gazed up the aisle through the small leaded panes | V |
She sate by the pillar we saw her clear | D |
'Margaret hist come quick we are here | E |
Dear heart ' I said 'we are long alone | S |
The sea grows stormy the little ones moan ' | - |
But ah she gave me never a look | W |
For her eyes we sealed to the holy book | W |
Loud prays the priest shut stands the door | J |
Come away children call no more | J |
Come away come down call no more | J |
- | |
Down down down | I |
Down to the depths of the sea | Q |
She sits at her wheel in the humming town | I |
Singing most joyfully | Q |
Hark what she sings 'O joy O joy | X |
For the humming street and the child with its toy | X |
For the priest and the bell and the holy well | K |
For the wheel where I spun | Y |
And the blessed light of the sun ' | - |
And so she sings her fill | T |
Singing most joyfully | Q |
Till the shuttle drops from her hand | Z |
And the whizzing wheel stands still | T |
She steals to the window and looks at the sand | Z |
And over the sand at the sea | Q |
And her eyes are set in a stare | A2 |
And anon there breaks a sigh | P |
And anon there drops a tear | A2 |
From a sorrow clouded eye | P |
And a heart sorrow laden | Y |
A long long sigh | P |
For the cold strange eyes of a little Mermaiden | Y |
And the gleam of her golden hair | A2 |
- | |
Come away away children | Y |
Come children come down | Y |
The hoarse wind blows coldly | Q |
Lights shine in the town | Y |
She will start from her slumber | B2 |
When gusts shake the door | J |
She will hear the winds howling | C2 |
Will hear the waves roar | J |
We shall see while above us | D2 |
The waves roar and whirl | E2 |
A ceiling of amber | B2 |
A pavement of pearl | E2 |
Singing 'Here came a mortal | F2 |
But faithless was she | Q |
And alone dwell for ever | B2 |
The kings of the sea ' | - |
- | |
But children at midnight | G2 |
When soft the winds blow | B |
When clear fall the moonlight | G2 |
When spring tides are low | B |
When sweet airs come seaward | H2 |
From heaths starred with broom | I2 |
And high rocks throw mildly | Q |
On the blanched sands a gloom | I2 |
Up the still glistening beaches | J2 |
Up the creeks we will hie | K2 |
Over banks of bright seaweed | L2 |
The ebb tide leaves dry | P |
We will gaze from the sand hills | M2 |
At the white sleeping town | Y |
At the church on the hillside | N2 |
And then come back down | Y |
Singing 'There dwells a loved one | Y |
But cruel is she | Q |
She left lonely for ever | B2 |
The kings of the sea ' | - |
Matthew Arnold
(1)
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