The Scholar-gipsy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCACDDC CEFEGCHIIH CJKJKCLCCL MNOPQMQCCQ RSCSCRACC QCHCHQTUUT VWXWXVYZZY CA2CA2CCB2LLB2 QC2HD2HQSEEA2 E2F2G2H2G2I2SJ2J2S ZK2CK2CK2HSSH CHK2HVCVHHV VL2M2L2M2VN2VVN2 SK2O2K2O2SCP2P2C K2SK2SK2K2SCCS L2Q2CQ2CL2CR2R2C K2CK2CK2K2S2K2K2S2 K2K2CK2CK2SK2

Go for they call you shepherd from the hillA
Go shepherd and untie the wattled cotesB
No longer leave thy wistful flock unfedC
Nor let thy bawling fellows rack their throatsB
Nor the cropp'd herbage shoot another headC
But when the fields are stillA
And the tired men and dogs all gone to restC
And only the white sheep are sometimes seenD
Cross and recross the strips of moon blanch'd greenD
Come shepherd and again begin the questC
-
Here where the reaper was at work of lateC
In this high field's dark corner where he leavesE
His coat his basket and his earthen cruseF
And in the sun all morning binds the sheavesE
Then here at noon comes back his stores to useG
Here will I sit and waitC
While to my ear from uplands far awayH
The bleating of the folded flocks is borneI
With distant cries of reapers in the cornI
All the live murmur of a summer's dayH
-
Screen'd is this nook o'er the high half reap'd fieldC
And here till sun down shepherd will I beJ
Through the thick corn the scarlet poppies peepK
And round green roots and yellowing stalks I seeJ
Pale pink convolvulus in tendrils creepK
And air swept lindens yieldC
Their scent and rustle down their perfumed showersL
Of bloom on the bent grass where I am laidC
And bower me from the August sun with shadeC
And the eye travels down to Oxford's towersL
-
And near me on the grass lies Glanvil's bookM
Come let me read the oft read tale againN
The story of the Oxford scholar poorO
Of pregnant parts and quick inventive brainP
Who tired of knocking at preferment's doorQ
One summer morn forsookM
His friends and went to learn the gipsy loreQ
And roam'd the world with that wild brotherhoodC
And came as most men deem'd to little goodC
But came to Oxford and his friends no moreQ
-
But once years after in the country lanesR
Two scholars whom at college erst he knewS
Met him and of his way of life enquiredC
Whereat he answer'd that the gipsy crewS
His mates had arts to rule as they desiredC
The workings of men's brainsR
And they can bind them to what thoughts they willA
'And I ' he said 'the secret of their artC
When fully learn'd will to the world impartC
But it needs heaven sent moments for this skill '-
-
This said he left them and return'd no moreQ
But rumours hung about the country sideC
That the lost Scholar long was seen to strayH
Seen by rare glimpses pensive and tongue tiedC
In hat of antique shape and cloak of greyH
The same the gipsies woreQ
Shepherds had met him on the Hurst in springT
At some lone alehouse in the Berkshire moorsU
On the warm ingle bench the smock frock'd boorsU
Had found him seated at their enteringT
-
But 'mid their drink and clatter he would flyV
And I myself seem half to know thy looksW
And put the shepherds wanderer on thy traceX
And boys who in lone wheatfields scare the rooksW
I ask if thou hast pass'd their quiet placeX
Or in my boat I lieV
Moor'd to the cool bank in the summer heatsY
'Mid wide grass meadows which the sunshine fillsZ
And watch the warm green muffled Cumner hillsZ
And wonder if thou haunt'st their shy retreatsY
-
For most I know thou lov'st retired groundC
Thee at the ferry Oxford riders blitheA2
Returning home on summer nights have metC
Crossing the stripling Thames at Bab lock hitheA2
Trailing in the cool stream thy fingers wetC
As the punt's rope chops roundC
And leaning backward in a pensive dreamB2
And fostering in thy lap a heap of flowersL
Pluck'd in shy fields and distant Wychwood bowersL
And thine eyes resting on the moonlit streamB2
-
And then they land and thou art seen no moreQ
Maidens who from the distant hamlets comeC2
To dance around the Fyfield elm in MayH
Oft through the darkening fields have seen thee roamD2
Or cross a stile into the public wayH
Oft thou hast given them storeQ
Of flowers the frail leaf'd white anemonyS
Dark bluebells drench'd with dews of summer evesE
And purple orchises with spotted leavesE
But none hath words she can report of theeA2
-
And above Godstow Bridge when hay time's hereE2
In June and many a scythe in sunshine flamesF2
Men who through those wide fields of breezy grassG2
Where black wing'd swallows haunt the glittering ThamesH2
To bathe in the abandon'd lasher passG2
Have often pass'd thee nearI2
Sitting upon the river bank o'ergrownS
Mark'd thine outlandish garb thy figure spareJ2
Thy dark vague eyes and soft abstracted airJ2
But when they came from bathing thou wast goneS
-
At some lone homestead in the Cumner hillsZ
Where at her open door the housewife darnsK2
Thou hast been seen or hanging on a gateC
To watch the threshers in the mossy barnsK2
Children who early range these slopes and lateC
For cresses from the rillsK2
Have known thee eyeing all an April dayH
The springing pasture and the feeding kineS
And mark'd thee when the stars come out and shineS
Through the long dewy grass move slow awayH
-
In autumn on the skirts of Bagley WoodC
Where most the gipsies by the turf edged wayH
Pitch their smoked tents and every bush you seeK2
With scarlet patches tagg'd and shreds of greyH
Above the forest ground called ThessalyV
The blackbird picking foodC
Sees thee nor stops his meal nor fears at allV
So often has he known thee past him strayH
Rapt twirling in thy hand a wither'd sprayH
And waiting for the spark from heaven to fallV
-
And once in winter on the causeway chillV
Where home through flooded fields foot travellers goL2
Have I not pass'd thee on the wooden bridgeM2
Wrapt in thy cloak and battling with the snowL2
Thy face tow'rd Hinksey and its wintry ridgeM2
And thou has climb'd the hillV
And gain'd the white brow of the Cumner rangeN2
Turn'd once to watch while thick the snowflakes fallV
The line of festal light in Christ Church hallV
Then sought thy straw in some sequester'd grangeN2
-
But what I dream Two hundred years are flownS
Since first thy story ran through Oxford hallsK2
And the grave Glanvil did the tale inscribeO2
That thou wert wander'd from the studious wallsK2
To learn strange arts and join a gipsy tribeO2
And thou from earth art goneS
Long since and in some quiet churchyard laidC
Some country nook where o'er thy unknown graveP2
Tall grasses and white flowering nettles waveP2
Under a dark red fruited yew tree's shadeC
-
No no thou hast not felt the lapse of hoursK2
For what wears out the life of mortal menS
'Tis that from change to change their being rollsK2
'Tis that repeated shocks again againS
Exhaust the energy of strongest soulsK2
And numb the elastic powersK2
Till having used our nerves with bliss and teenS
And tired upon a thousand schemes our witC
To the just pausing Genius we remitC
Our worn out life and are what we have beenS
-
Thou hast not lived why should'st thou perish soL2
Thou hadst one aim one business one desireQ2
Else wert thou long since number'd with the deadC
Else hadst thou spent like other men thy fireQ2
The generations of thy peers are fledC
And we ourselves shall goL2
But thou possessest an immortal lotC
And we imagine thee exempt from ageR2
And living as thou liv'st on Glanvil's pageR2
Because thou hadst what we alas have notC
-
For early didst thou leave the world with powersK2
Fresh undiverted to the world withoutC
Firm to their mark not spent on other thingsK2
Free from the sick fatigue the languid doubtC
Which much to have tried in much been baffled bringsK2
O life unlike to oursK2
Who fluctuate idly without term or scopeS2
Of whom each strives nor knows for what he strivesK2
And each half lives a hundred different livesK2
Who wait like thee but not like thee in hopeS2
-
Thou waitest for the spark from heaven and weK2
Light half believers of our casual creedsK2
Who never deeply felt nor clearly will'dC
Whose insight never has borne fruit in deedsK2
Whose vague resolves never have been fulfill'dC
For whom each year we seeK2
Breeds new beginnings disappointments newS
Who hesK2

Matthew Arnold



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