Blades Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFE GFBDBHDBIGGJJIKLMB IINOPPQQF RSSN TUVVRWX YYZF QQA2A2 B2 C2C2D2D2VVB BE2E2G GF2F2GB2B2B2GSOJOURNER set down | A |
Your skimming wheel | B |
Nothing is sharp | C |
That we have of steel | B |
Nothing has edge | D |
Oh whirl around | E |
Your wheel of stone | F |
Till our blades be ground | E |
- | |
Harshly quickly under blades | G |
Hafted with horn and wood and bone | F |
Went the wheel | B |
Narrow long knives that should be one edge | D |
House knives that sliced the loaf to the heel | B |
And scraped scales off mackerel | H |
And weighty knives that were shaped like a wedge | D |
Stone wakened keenness m their steel | B |
Knives with which besom makers pare | I |
Their heather stalks and hawkers' blades | G |
Used by men of a dozen trades | G |
Broad bladed knives that cut bacon sides | J |
And stumpy knives for cobblers' hides | J |
With hunters' knives that were thinned with wear | I |
All were brought to | K |
All were laid on | L |
All were ground by | M |
The Sojourner's wheel | B |
- | |
And those who filled the market square | I |
Saw hand and eye upon their ware | I |
That were well schooled and scrupulous | N |
To spend upon that task their use | O |
But sparks came from the eyes and met | P |
The sparks that were from the edges whet | P |
As eagerly and wittingly | Q |
The dullness of each blade scoured he | Q |
And the brow he bent was like a stone | F |
- | |
Over the grinding stone he sang | R |
'The dalesman's sword shall make you fear | S |
And the dirk in the grasp of the mountaineer | S |
likewise the pirate's blue cutlass | N |
have left your blades long edgeless ' | - |
the men were thinking of games of cards | T |
the looks of the boys were turned towards | U |
corner where they played pitch and toss | V |
the women thought of the herring across | V |
tongs to roast where pot hooks hang | R |
ready and unforward men have no right to any lien | W |
the gifts of Tubal Cain | X |
The gifts of our father Tubal Cain ' | - |
- | |
But no one drew meaning from the song | Y |
As he made an equal edge along | Y |
One side of the blade and the other one | Z |
And polished the surface till it shone | F |
- | |
'Now leave a blessing on what you have done ' | - |
- | |
'For what I have done I take my fee | Q |
But no blessing I leave on it ' said he | Q |
'Everybody knows | A2 |
Everybody knows | A2 |
- | |
That the knife grinder | B2 |
No blessing bestows ' | - |
- | |
Then the market place with wheel a pack | C2 |
He left and the men to their cards went back | C2 |
And talked of a bird in the cocker's loft | D2 |
And of liming linnets beside the croft | D2 |
The boys told between pitch and toss | V |
And the women laid the herring across | V |
The tongs to roast for a sloven's meal | B |
- | |
And he went out beside the Peel | B |
Tower and through Saint Selskar's Gate | E2 |
Heading at a hearty rate | E2 |
Towards the hilltops and the shades | G |
- | |
And three who brought back sharpened blades | G |
To their fathers' stalls by the Tan yard Side | F2 |
And then stayed while a blackbird cried | F2 |
Quietly by their groundsills | G |
The butcher's daughter | B2 |
The cobbler's daughter | B2 |
The hawker's daughter | B2 |
Were lost on the hills | G |
Padraic Colum
(1)
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