The Old Apple-tree Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDEDFGHG GIFIJAAAKGCG FLGLAMNOPGQG HIRISTITEGAG EUGUCVWVGGAG FTXTYAGAAGGGThere's a memory keeps a runnin' | A |
Through my weary head to night | B |
An' I see a picture dancin' | A |
In the fire flames' ruddy light | B |
'Tis the picture of an orchard | C |
Wrapped in autumn's purple haze | D |
With the tender light about it | E |
That I loved in other days | D |
An' a standin' in a corner | F |
Once again I seem to see | G |
The verdant leaves an' branches | H |
Of an old apple tree | G |
- | |
You perhaps would call it ugly | G |
An' I don't know but it's so | I |
When you look the tree all over | F |
Unadorned by memory's glow | I |
For its boughs are gnarled an' crooked | J |
An' its leaves are gettin' thin | A |
An' the apples of its bearin' | A |
Would n't fill so large a bin | A |
As they used to But I tell you | K |
When it comes to pleasin' me | G |
It's the dearest in the orchard | C |
Is that old apple tree | G |
- | |
I would hide within its shelter | F |
Settlin' in some cosy nook | L |
Where no calls nor threats could stir me | G |
From the pages o' my book | L |
Oh that quiet sweet seclusion | A |
In its fulness passeth words | M |
It was deeper than the deepest | N |
That my sanctum now affords | O |
Why the jaybirds an' the robins | P |
They was hand in glove with me | G |
As they winked at me an' warbled | Q |
In that old apple tree | G |
- | |
It was on its sturdy branches | H |
That in summers long ago | I |
I would tie my swing an' dangle | R |
In contentment to an' fro | I |
Idly dreamin' childish fancies | S |
Buildin' castles in the air | T |
Makin' o' myself a hero | I |
Of romances rich an' rare | T |
I kin shet my eyes an' see it | E |
Jest as plain as plain kin be | G |
That same old swing a danglin' | A |
To the old apple tree | G |
- | |
There's a rustic seat beneath it | E |
That I never kin forget | U |
It's the place where me an' Hallie | G |
Little sweetheart used to set | U |
When we 'd wander to the orchard | C |
So 's no listenin' ones could hear | V |
As I whispered sugared nonsense | W |
Into her little willin' ear | V |
Now my gray old wife is Hallie | G |
An' I 'm grayer still than she | G |
But I 'll not forget our courtin' | A |
'Neath the old apple tree | G |
- | |
Life for us ain't all been summer | F |
But I guess we 'we had our share | T |
Of its flittin' joys an' pleasures | X |
An' a sprinklin' of its care | T |
Oft the skies have smiled upon us | Y |
Then again we 've seen 'em frown | A |
Though our load was ne'er so heavy | G |
That we longed to lay it down | A |
But when death does come a callin' | A |
This my last request shall be | G |
That they 'll bury me an' Hallie | G |
'Neath the old apple tree | G |
Paul Laurence Dunbar
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