The Haunted Oak Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB CDED FGHG IJKJ LFMF NOPO QHRH SKTK UVWV JXYX ZNA2N B2PNP C2D2CD2 E2F2NF2 FG2H2G2 NBB2BPray why are you so bare so bare | A |
Oh bough of the old oak tree | B |
And why when I go through the shade you throw | C |
Runs a shudder over me | B |
- | |
My leaves were green as the best I trow | C |
And sap ran free in my veins | D |
But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird | E |
A guiltless victim's pains | D |
- | |
I bent me down to hear his sigh | F |
I shook with his gurgling moan | G |
And I trembled sore when they rode away | H |
And left him here alone | G |
- | |
They 'd charged him with the old old crime | I |
And set him fast in jail | J |
Oh why does the dog howl all night long | K |
And why does the night wind wail | J |
- | |
He prayed his prayer and he swore his oath | L |
And he raised his hand to the sky | F |
But the beat of hoofs smote on his ear | M |
And the steady tread drew nigh | F |
- | |
Who is it rides by night by night | N |
Over the moonlit road | O |
And what is the spur that keeps the pace | P |
What is the galling goad | O |
- | |
And now they beat at the prison door | Q |
Ho keeper do not stay | H |
We are friends of him whom you hold within | R |
And we fain would take him away | H |
- | |
From those who ride fast on our heels | S |
With mind to do him wrong | K |
They have no care for his innocence | T |
And the rope they bear is long | K |
- | |
They have fooled the jailer with lying words | U |
They have fooled the man with lies | V |
The bolts unbar the locks are drawn | W |
And the great door open flies | V |
- | |
Now they have taken him from the jail | J |
And hard and fast they ride | X |
And the leader laughs low down in his throat | Y |
As they halt my trunk beside | X |
- | |
Oh the judge he wore a mask of black | Z |
And the doctor one of white | N |
And the minister with his oldest son | A2 |
Was curiously bedight | N |
- | |
Oh foolish man why weep you now | B2 |
'Tis but a little space | P |
And the time will come when these shall dread | N |
The mem'ry of your face | P |
- | |
I feel the rope against my bark | C2 |
And the weight of him in my grain | D2 |
I feel in the throe of his final woe | C |
The touch of my own last pain | D2 |
- | |
And never more shall leaves come forth | E2 |
On a bough that bears the ban | F2 |
I am burned with dread I am dried and dead | N |
From the curse of a guiltless man | F2 |
- | |
And ever the judge rides by rides by | F |
And goes to hunt the deer | G2 |
And ever another rides his soul | H2 |
In the guise of a mortal fear | G2 |
- | |
And ever the man he rides me hard | N |
And never a night stays he | B |
For I feel his curse as a haunted bough | B2 |
On the trunk of a haunted tree | B |
Paul Laurence Dunbar
(1)
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