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 M2YN2YYQB2

Come dear children let us awayA
Down and away belowB
Now my brothers call from the bayA
Now the great winds shoreward blowB
Now the salt tides seaward flowB
Now the wild white horses playA
Champ and chafe and toss in the sprayA
Children dear let us awayA
This way this wayA
-
Call her once before you goB
Call once yetC
In a voice that she will knowB
'Margaret Margaret '-
Children's voices should be dearD
Call once more to a mother's earE
Children's voices wild with painF
Surely she will come againG
Call her once and come awayA
This way this wayA
'Mother dear we cannot stayA
The wild white horses foam and fret '-
Margaret MargaretH
-
Come dear children come away downI
Call no moreJ
One last look at the white walled townI
And the little grey church on the windy shoreJ
Then come downI
She will not come though you call all dayA
Come away come awayA
-
Children dear was it yesterdayA
We heard the sweet bells over the bayA
In the caverns where we layA
Through the surf and through the swellK
The far off sound of a silver bellK
Sand strewn caverns cool and deepL
Where the winds are all asleepL
Where the spent lights quiver and gleamM
Where the salt weed sways in the streamM
Where the sea beasts ranged all roundN
Feed in the ooze of their pasture groundN
Where the sea snakes coil and twineO
Dry their mail and bask in the brineO
Where great whales come sailing byP
Sail and sail with unshut eyeP
Round the world for ever and ayeP
When did music come this wayA
Children dear was it yesterdayA
-
Children dear was it yesterdayA
Call yet once that she went awayA
Once she sate with you and meQ
On a red gold throne in the heart of the seaQ
And the youngest sate on her kneeQ
She combed its bright hair and she tended it wellK
When down swung the sound of a far off bellK
She sighed she looked up through the clear green seaQ
She said 'I must go for my kinsfolk prayA
In the little grey church on the shore todayA
'Twill be Easter time in the world ah meQ
And I lose my poor soul Merman here with thee '-
I said 'Go up dear heart through the wavesR
Say thy prayer and come back to the kind sea caves '-
She smiled she went up through the surf in the bayA
Children dear was it yesterdayA
-
Children dear were we long aloneS
'The sea grows stormy the little ones moanS
Long prayers ' I said 'in the world they sayA
Come ' I said and we rose through the surf in the bayA
We went up the beach by the sandy downI
Where the sea stocks bloom to the white walled townI
Through the narrow paved streets where all was stillT
To the little grey church on the windy hillT
From the church came a murmur of folk at their prayersU
But we stood without in the cold blowing airsU
We climbed on the graves on the stones worn with rainsV
And we gazed up the aisle through the small leaded panesV
She sate by the pillar we saw her clearD
'Margaret hist come quick we are hereE
Dear heart ' I said 'we are long aloneS
The sea grows stormy the little ones moan '-
But ah she gave me never a lookW
For her eyes we sealed to the holy bookW
Loud prays the priest shut stands the doorJ
Come away children call no moreJ
Come away come down call no moreJ
-
Down down downI
Down to the depths of the seaQ
She sits at her wheel in the humming townI
Singing most joyfullyQ
Hark what she sings 'O joy O joyX
For the humming street and the child with its toyX
For the priest and the bell and the holy wellK
For the wheel where I spunY
And the blessed light of the sun '-
And so she sings her fillT
Singing most joyfullyQ
Till the shuttle drops from her handZ
And the whizzing wheel stands stillT
She steals to the window and looks at the sandZ
And over the sand at the seaQ
And her eyes are set in a stareA2
And anon there breaks a sighP
And anon there drops a tearA2
From a sorrow clouded eyeP
And a heart sorrow ladenY
A long long sighP
For the cold strange eyes of a little MermaidenY
And the gleam of her golden hairA2
-
Come away away childrenY
Come children come downY
The hoarse wind blows coldlyQ
Lights shine in the townY
She will start from her slumberB2
When gusts shake the doorJ
She will hear the winds howlingC2
Will hear the waves roarJ
We shall see while above usD2
The waves roar and whirlE2
A ceiling of amberB2
A pavement of pearlE2
Singing 'Here came a mortalF2
But faithless was sheQ
And alone dwell for everB2
The kings of the sea '-
-
But children at midnightG2
When soft the winds blowB
When clear fall the moonlightG2
When spring tides are lowB
When sweet airs come seawardH2
From heaths starred with broomI2
And high rocks throw mildlyQ
On the blanched sands a gloomI2
Up the still glistening beachesJ2
Up the creeks we will hieK2
Over banks of bright seaweedL2
The ebb tide leaves dryP
We will gaze from the sand hillsM2
At the white sleeping townY
At the church on the hillsideN2
And then come back downY
Singing 'There dwells a loved oneY
But cruel is sheQ
She left lonely for everB2
The kings of the sea '-

Matthew Arnold



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