Iris, Her Book Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAA BBB CCC DDD EFF CCC BBB DDD FFF BBB CCC BBB GHH FFF FFF AAA CCC| I PRAY thee by the soul of her that bore thee | A |
| By thine own sister's spirit I implore thee | A |
| Deal gently with the leaves that lie before thee | A |
| - | |
| For Iris had no mother to infold her | B |
| Nor ever leaned upon a sister's shoulder | B |
| Telling the twilight thoughts that Nature told her | B |
| - | |
| She had not learned the mystery of awaking | C |
| Those chorded keys that soothe a sorrow's aching | C |
| Giving the dumb heart voice that else were breaking | C |
| - | |
| Yet lived wrought suffered Lo the pictured token | D |
| Why should her fleeting day dreams fade unspoken | D |
| Like daffodils that die with sheaths unbroken | D |
| - | |
| She knew not love yet lived in maiden fancies | E |
| Walked simply clad a queen of high romances | F |
| And talked strange tongues with angels in her trances | F |
| - | |
| Twin souled she seemed a twofold nature wearing | C |
| Sometimes a flashing falcon in her daring | C |
| Then a poor mateless dove that droops despairing | C |
| - | |
| Questioning all things Why her Lord had sent her | B |
| What were these torturing gifts and wherefore lent her | B |
| Scornful as spirit fallen its own tormentor | B |
| - | |
| And then all tears and anguish Queen of Heaven | D |
| Sweet Saints and Thou by mortal sorrows riven | D |
| Save me Oh save me Shall I die forgiven | D |
| - | |
| And then Ah God But nay it little matters | F |
| Look at the wasted seeds that autumn scatters | F |
| The myriad germs that Nature shapes and shatters | F |
| - | |
| If she had Well She longed and knew not wherefore | B |
| Had the world nothing she might live to care for | B |
| No second self to say her evening prayer for | B |
| - | |
| She knew the marble shapes that set men dreaming | C |
| Yet with her shoulders bare and tresses streaming | C |
| Showed not unlovely to her simple seeming | C |
| - | |
| Vain Let it be so Nature was her teacher | B |
| What if a lonely and unsistered creature | B |
| Loved her own harmless gift of pleasing feature | B |
| - | |
| Saying unsaddened This shall soon be faded | G |
| And double hued the shining tresses braided | H |
| And all the sunlight of the morning shaded | H |
| - | |
| This her poor book is full of saddest follies | F |
| Of tearful smiles and laughing melancholies | F |
| With summer roses twined and wintry hollies | F |
| - | |
| In the strange crossing of uncertain chances | F |
| Somewhere beneath some maiden's tear dimmed glances | F |
| May fall her little book of dreams and fancies | F |
| - | |
| Sweet sister Iris who shall never name thee | A |
| Trembling for fear her open heart may shame thee | A |
| Speaks from this vision haunted page to claim thee | A |
| - | |
| Spare her I pray thee If the maid is sleeping | C |
| Peace with her she has had her hour of weeping | C |
| No more She leaves her memory in thy keeping | C |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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