The Ballad Of Reading Gaol, [a Version Based On The Original Draft Of The Poem] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDCEC FGCGHG HAIAJA KLMLN OPQPKP RAGAEA STUTVW XYZYA2Y B2AC2ASA QD2E2D2F2D2 G2H2I2H2J2H2 K2L2M2N2O2N2 P2F2SF2SF2 Q2CR2CSC S2SGST2S A U2GCGHG V2W2X2W2W2W2 W2LW2LSL SGSGY2G F2W2Z2W2SW2 A3GTGI2G B3C3D3S2W2S2 A U2AS2AE3A F3GV2GG3G H3I3X2I3J3I3 LK3H2K3SK3 LL3C3L3CL3 SSSSM3S SN3SN3W2N3 GO3P3O3Q3O3 JH2R3H2S3H2 SI3W2Q2SI3 V2S3O3S3W2S3 LT3W2T3CT3 U3F2V3F2GF2 W2W2H2W2L3W2 SCW3CX3C SN3LN3Y3N3 Z3A4WA4QA4 B4P2B4B4SB4 B4C4W2C4D4C4 E4S2F4S2Q2S2 SG4H4G4S2G4 SASAW2A O3 B4W2D4W2SW2 W2Y2SY2B4Y2 B4B4I3B4B4B4 B4AB4AB4A W3B4B4B4B4B4 I4W2B4W2B4W2 J4B4B4B4B4B4 B4B4SB4W2B4 W2SW2SB4S B4W3B4W3I4K4 W2QB4QB4Q SS2B4S2AS2 B4SL4SB4S SB4B4B4F2B4 B4S2B4S2PS2 B4W3SW3B4W3 W2W2B4W2SW2 B4O3SO3SO3 B4W2M4W2W2W2

I	A
	-
He did not wear his scarlet coat	B
For blood and wine are red	C
And blood and wine were on his hands	D
When they found him with the dead	C
The poor dead woman whom he loved	E
And murdered in her bed	C
	-
He walked amongst the Trial Men	F
In a suit of shabby grey	G
A cricket cap was on his head	C
And his step seemed light and gay	G
But I never saw a man who looked	H
So wistfully at the day	G
	-
I never saw a man who looked	H
With such a wistful eye	A
Upon that little tent of blue	I
Which prisoners call the sky	A
And at every drifting cloud that went	J
With sails of silver by	A
	-
I walked with other souls in pain	K
Within another ring	L
And was wondering if the man had done	M
A great or little thing	L
When a voice behind me whispered low	N
'THAT FELLOW'S GOT TO SWING '	-
	-
Dear Christ the very prison walls	O
Suddenly seemed to reel	P
And the sky above my head became	Q
Like a casque of scorching steel	P
And though I was a soul in pain	K
My pain I could not feel	P
	-
I only knew what hunted thought	R
Quickened his step and why	A
He looked upon the garish day	G
With such a wistful eye	A
The man had killed the thing he loved	E
And so he had to die	A
	-
Yet each man kills the thing he loves	S
By each let this be heard	T
Some do it with a bitter look	U
Some with a flattering word	T
The coward does it with a kiss	V
The brave man with a sword	W
	-
Some kill their love when they are young	X
And some when they are old	Y
Some strangle with the hands of Lust	Z
Some with the hands of Gold	Y
The kindest use a knife because	A2
The dead so soon grow cold	Y
	-
Some love too little some too long	B2
Some sell and others buy	A
Some do the deed with many tears	C2
And some without a sigh	A
For each man kills the thing he loves	S
Yet each man does not die	A
	-
He does not die a death of shame	Q
On a day of dark disgrace	D2
Nor have a noose about his neck	E2
Nor a cloth upon his face	D2
Nor drop feet foremost through the floor	F2
Into an empty space	D2
	-
He does not wake at dawn to see	G2
Dread figures throng his room	H2
The shivering Chaplain robed in white	I2
The Sheriff stern with gloom	H2
And the Governor all in shiny black	J2
With the yellow face of Doom	H2
	-
He does not rise in piteous haste	K2
To put on convict clothes	L2
While some coarse mouthed Doctor gloats and notes	M2
Each new and nerve twitched pose	N2
Fingering a watch whose little ticks	O2
Are like horrible hammer blows	N2
	-
He does not know that sickening thirst	P2
That sands one's throat before	F2
The hangman with his gardener's gloves	S
Slips through the padded door	F2
And binds one with three leathern thongs	S
That the throat may thirst no more	F2
	-
He does not bend his head to hear	Q2
The Burial Office read	C
Nor while the terror of his soul	R2
Tells him he is not dead	C
Cross his own coffin as he moves	S
Into the hideous shed	C
	-
He does not stare upon the air	S2
Through a little roof of glass	S
He does not pray with lips of clay	G
For his agony to pass	S
Nor feel upon his shuddering cheek	T2
The kiss of Caiaphas	S
	-
	-
II	A
	-
	-
Six weeks our guardsman walked the yard	U2
In the suit of shabby grey	G
His cricket cap was on his head	C
And his step seemed light and gay	G
But I never saw a man who looked	H
So wistfully at the day	G
	-
He did not wring his hands nor weep	V2
Nor did he peek or pine	W2
But he drank the air as though it held	X2
Some healthful anodyne	W2
With open mouth he drank the sun	W2
As though it had been wine	W2
	-
And I and all the souls in pain	W2
Who tramped the other ring	L
Forgot if we ourselves had done	W2
A great or little thing	L
And watched with gaze of dull amaze	S
The man who had to swing	L
	-
So with curious eyes and sick surmise	S
We watched him day by day	G
And wondered if each one of us	S
Would end the self same way	G
For none can tell to what red Hell	Y2
His sightless soul may stray	G
	-
At last the dead man walked no more	F2
Amongst the Trial Men	W2
And I knew that he was standing up	Z2
In the black dock's dreadful pen	W2
And that never would I see his face	S
In God's sweet world again	W2
	-
Like two doomed ships that pass in storm	A3
We had crossed each other's way	G
But we made no sign we said no word	T
We had no word to say	G
For we did not meet in the holy night	I2
But in the shameful day	G
	-
A prison wall was round us both	B3
Two outcast men we were	C3
The world had thrust us from its heart	D3
And God from out His care	S2
And the iron gin that waits for Sin	W2
Had caught us in its snare	S2
	-
	-
III	A
	-
	-
In Debtors' Yard the stones are hard	U2
And the dripping wall is high	A
So it was there he took the air	S2
Beneath the leaden sky	A
And by each side a Warder walked	E3
For fear the man might die	A
	-
Or else he sat with those who watched	F3
His anguish night and day	G
Who watched him when he rose to weep	V2
And when he crouched to pray	G
Who watched him lest himself should rob	G3
Their scaffold of its prey	G
	-
And twice a day he smoked his pipe	H3
And drank his quart of beer	I3
His soul was resolute and held	X2
No hiding place for fear	I3
He often said that he was glad	J3
The hangman's hands were near	I3
	-
But why he said so strange a thing	L
No Warder dared to ask	K3
For he to whom a watcher's doom	H2
Is given as his task	K3
Must set a lock upon his lips	S
And make his face a mask	K3
	-
With slouch and swing around the ring	L
We trod the Fools' Parade	L3
We did not care we knew we were	C3
The Devil's Own Brigade	L3
And shaven head and feet of lead	C
Make a merry masquerade	L3
	-
We tore the tarry rope to shreds	S
With blunt and bleeding nails	S
We rubbed the doors and scrubbed the floors	S
And cleaned the shining rails	S
And rank by rank we soaped the plank	M3
And clattered with the pails	S
	-
We sewed the sacks we broke the stones	S
We turned the dusty drill	N3
We banged the tins and bawled the hymns	S
And sweated on the mill	N3
But in the heart of every man	W2
Terror was lying still	N3
	-
So still it lay that every day	G
Crawled like a weed clogged wave	O3
And we forgot the bitter lot	P3
That waits for fool and knave	O3
Till once as we tramped in from work	Q3
We passed an open grave	O3
	-
Right in we went with soul intent	J
On Death and Dread and Doom	H2
The hangman with his little bag	R3
Went shuffling through the gloom	H2
And each man trembled as he crept	S3
Into his numbered tomb	H2
	-
That night the empty corridors	S
Were full of forms of Fear	I3
And up and down the iron town	W2
Stole feet we could not hear	Q2
And through the bars that hide the stars	S
White faces seemed to peer	I3
	-
But there is no sleep when men must weep	V2
Who never yet have wept	S3
So we the fool the fraud the knave	O3
That endless vigil kept	S3
And through each brain on hands of pain	W2
Another's terror crept	S3
	-
Alas it is a fearful thing	L
To feel another's guilt	T3
For right within the sword of Sin	W2
Pierced to its poisoned hilt	T3
And as molten lead were the tears we shed	C
For the blood we had not spilt	T3
	-
The Warders with their shoes of felt	U3
Crept by each padlocked door	F2
And peeped and saw with eyes of awe	V3
Grey figures on the floor	F2
And wondered why men knelt to pray	G
Who never prayed before	F2
	-
The morning wind began to moan	W2
But still the night went on	W2
Through its giant loom the web of gloom	H2
Crept till each thread was spun	W2
And as we prayed we grew afraid	L3
Of the Justice of the Sun	W2
	-
At last I saw the shadowed bars	S
Like a lattice wrought in lead	C
Move right across the whitewashed wall	W3
That faced my three plank bed	C
And I knew that somewhere in the world	X3
God's dreadful dawn was red	C
	-
At six o'clock we cleaned our cells	S
At seven all was still	N3
But the sough and swing of a mighty wing	L
The prison seemed to fill	N3
For the Lord of Death with icy breath	Y3
Had entered in to kill	N3
	-
He did not pass in purple pomp	Z3
Nor ride a moon white steed	A4
Three yards of cord and a sliding board	W
Are all the gallows' need	A4
So with rope of shame the Herald came	Q
To do the secret deed	A4
	-
We waited for the stroke of eight	B4
Each tongue was thick with thirst	P2
For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate	B4
That makes a man accursed	B4
And Fate will use a running noose	S
For the best man and the worst	B4
	-
We had no other thing to do	B4
Save to wait for the sign to come	C4
So like things of stone in a valley lone	W2
Quiet we sat and dumb	C4
But each man's heart beat thick and quick	D4
Like a madman on a drum	C4
	-
With sudden shock the prison clock	E4
Smote on the shivering air	S2
And from all the gaol rose up a wail	F4
Of impotent despair	S2
Like the sound that frightened marshes hear	Q2
From some leper in his lair	S2
	-
And as one sees most fearful things	S
In the crystal of a dream	G4
We saw the greasy hempen rope	H4
Hooked to the blackened beam	G4
And heard the prayer the hangman's snare	S2
Strangled into a scream	G4
	-
And all the woe that moved him so	S
That he gave that bitter cry	A
And the wild regrets and the bloody sweats	S
None knew so well as I	A
For he who lives more lives than one	W2
More deaths than one must die	A
	-
	-
IV	O3
	-
	-
There is no chapel on the day	B4
On which they hang a man	W2
The Chaplain's heart is far too sick	D4
Or his face is far too wan	W2
Or there is that written in his eyes	S
Which none should look upon	W2
	-
So they kept us close till nigh on noon	W2
And then they rang the bell	Y2
And the Warders with their jingling keys	S
Opened each listening cell	Y2
And down the iron stair we tramped	B4
Each from his separate Hell	Y2
	-
Out into God's sweet air we went	B4
But not in wonted way	B4
For this man's face was white with fear	I3
And that man's face was grey	B4
And I never saw sad men who looked	B4
So wistfully at the day	B4
	-
I never saw sad men who looked	B4
With such a wistful eye	A
Upon that little tent of blue	B4
We prisoners called the sky	A
And at every careless cloud that passed	B4
In happy freedom by	A
	-
But there were those amongst us all	W3
Who walked with downcast head	B4
And knew that had each got his due	B4
They should have died instead	B4
He had but killed a thing that lived	B4
Whilst they had killed the dead	B4
	-
For he who sins a second time	I4
Wakes a dead soul to pain	W2
And draws it from its spotted shroud	B4
And makes it bleed again	W2
And makes it bleed great gouts of blood	B4
And makes it bleed in vain	W2
	-
Like ape or clown in monstrous garb	J4
With crooked arrows starred	B4
Silently we went round and round	B4
The slippery asphalte yard	B4
Silently we went round and round	B4
And no man spoke a word	B4
	-
Silently we went round and round	B4
And through each hollow mind	B4
The Memory of dreadful things	S
Rushed like a dreadful wind	B4
And Horror stalked before each man	W2
And Terror crept behind	B4
	-
The Warders strutted up and down	W2
And kept their herd of brutes	S
Their uniforms were spick and span	W2
And they wore their Sunday suits	S
But we knew the work they had been at	B4
By the quicklime on their boots	S
	-
For where a grave had opened wide	B4
There was no grave at all	W3
Only a stretch of mud and sand	B4
By the hideous prison wall	W3
And a little heap of burning lime	I4
That the man should have his pall	K4
	-
For he has a pall this wretched man	W2
Such as few men can claim	Q
Deep down below a prison yard	B4
Naked for greater shame	Q
He lies with fetters on each foot	B4
Wrapt in a sheet of flame	Q
	-
For three long years they will not sow	S
Or root or seedling there	S2
For three long years the unblessed spot	B4
Will sterile be and bare	S2
And look upon the wondering sky	A
With unreproachful stare	S2
	-
They think a murderer's heart would taint	B4
Each simple seed they sow	S
It is not true God's kindly earth	L4
Is kindlier than men know	S
And the red rose would but blow more red	B4
The white rose whiter blow	S
	-
Out of his mouth a red red rose	S
Out of his heart a white	B4
For who can say by what strange way	B4
Christ brings His will to light	B4
Since the barren staff the pilgrim bore	F2
Bloomed in the great Pope's sight	B4
	-
But neither milk white rose nor red	B4
May bloom in prison air	S2
The shard the pebble and the flint	B4
Are what they give us there	S2
For flowers have been known to heal	P
A common man's despair	S2
	-
So never will wine red rose or white	B4
Petal by petal fall	W3
On that stretch of mud and sand that lies	S
By the hideous prison wall	W3
To tell the men who tramp the yard	B4
That God's Son died for all	W3
	-
He is at peace this wretched man	W2
At peace or will be soon	W2
There is no thing to make him mad	B4
Nor does Terror walk at noon	W2
For the lampless Earth in which he lies	S
Has neither Sun nor Moon	W2
	-
The Chaplain would not kneel to pray	B4
By his dishonoured grave	O3
Nor mark it with that blessed Cross	S
That Christ for sinners gave	O3
Because the man was one of those	S
Whom Christ came down to save	O3
	-
Yet all is well he has but passed	B4
To Life's appointed bourne	W2
And alien tears will fill for him	M4
Pity's long broken urn	W2
For his mourners will be outcast men	W2
And outcasts always mourn	W2

Oscar Fingal O'flahertie Wills Wilde

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