The Bull Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCDDEFCCGGHIHICCJK KJCCLMMLMMNOONMMPQQP RSMMMMMMTUUTVVWXWXQQ YQYQMMMZZMQQSA2A2RCC MB2B2MQQMQQMVVMA2A2M QQQC2QPD2D2B2E2E2B2M MF2G2BG2H2I2CQQCNNMM MMQQJ2K2K2J2L2A2MMMM M2N2MSSMVVMO2O2MP2NL CCLMMCQQCQQQ2SRQ2MMX QQXMMMQMQQQSee an old unhappy bull | A |
Sick in soul and body both | B |
Slouching in the undergrowth | B |
Of the forest beautiful | C |
Banished from the herd he led | D |
Bulls and cows a thousand head | D |
Cranes and gaudy parrots go | E |
Up and down the burning sky | F |
Tree top cats purr drowsily | C |
In the dim day green below | C |
And troops of monkeys nutting some | G |
All disputing go and come | G |
And things abominable sit | H |
Picking offal buck or swine | I |
On the mess and over it | H |
Burnished flies and beetles shine | I |
And spiders big as bladders lie | C |
Under hemlocks ten foot high | C |
And a dotted serpent curled | J |
Round and round and round a tree | K |
Yellowing its greenery | K |
Keeps a watch on all the world | J |
All the world and this old bull | C |
In the forest beautiful | C |
Bravely by his fall he came | L |
One he led a bull of blood | M |
Newly come to lustihood | M |
Fought and put his prince to shame | L |
Snuffed and pawed the prostrate head | M |
Tameless even while it bled | M |
There they left him every one | N |
Left him there without a lick | O |
Left him for the birds to pick | O |
Left him there for carrion | N |
Vilely from their bosom cast | M |
Wisdom worth and love at last | M |
When the lion left his lair | P |
And roared his beauty through the hills | Q |
And the vultures pecked their quills | Q |
And flew into the middle air | P |
Then this prince no more to reign | R |
Came to life and lived again | S |
He snuffed the herd in far retreat | M |
He saw the blood upon the ground | M |
And snuffed the burning airs around | M |
Still with beevish odours sweet | M |
While the blood ran down his head | M |
And his mouth ran slaver red | M |
Pity him this fallen chief | T |
All his spendour all his strength | U |
All his body's breadth and length | U |
Dwindled down with shame and grief | T |
Half the bull he was before | V |
Bones and leather nothing more | V |
See him standing dewlap deep | W |
In the rushes at the lake | X |
Surly stupid half asleep | W |
Waiting for his heart to break | X |
And the birds to join the flies | Q |
Feasting at his bloodshot eyes | Q |
Standing with his head hung down | Y |
In a stupor dreaming things | Q |
Green savannas jungles brown | Y |
Battlefields and bellowings | Q |
Bulls undone and lions dead | M |
And vultures flapping overhead | M |
Dreaming things of days he spent | M |
With his mother gaunt and lean | Z |
In the valley warm and green | Z |
Full of baby wonderment | M |
Blinking out of silly eyes | Q |
At a hundred mysteries | Q |
Dreaming over once again | S |
How he wandered with a throng | A2 |
Of bulls and cows a thousand strong | A2 |
Wandered on from plain to plain | R |
Up the hill and down the dale | C |
Always at his mother's tail | C |
How he lagged behind the herd | M |
Lagged and tottered weak of limb | B2 |
And she turned and ran to him | B2 |
Blaring at the loathly bird | M |
Stationed always in the skies | Q |
Waiting for the flesh that dies | Q |
Dreaming maybe of a day | M |
When her drained and drying paps | Q |
Turned him to the sweets and saps | Q |
Richer fountains by the way | M |
And she left the bull she bore | V |
And he looked on her no more | V |
And his little frame grew stout | M |
And his little legs grew strong | A2 |
And the way was not so long | A2 |
And his little horns came out | M |
And he played at butting trees | Q |
And boulder stones and tortoises | Q |
Joined a game of knobby skulls | Q |
With the youngsters of his year | C2 |
All the other little bulls | Q |
Learning both to bruise and bear | P |
Learning how to stand a shock | D2 |
Like a little bull of rock | D2 |
Dreaming of a day less dim | B2 |
Dreaming of a time less far | E2 |
When the faint but certain star | E2 |
Of destiny burned clear for him | B2 |
And a fierce and wild unrest | M |
Broke the quiet of his breast | M |
And the gristles of his youth | F2 |
Hardened in his comely pow | G2 |
And he came to fighting growth | B |
Beat his bull and won his cow | G2 |
And flew his tail and trampled off | H2 |
Past the tallest vain enough | I2 |
And curved about in spendour full | C |
And curved again and snuffed the airs | Q |
As who should say Come out who dares | Q |
And all beheld a bull a Bull | C |
And knew that here was surely one | N |
That backed for no bull fearing none | N |
And the leader of the herd | M |
Looked and saw and beat the ground | M |
And shook the forest with his sound | M |
Bellowed at the loathly bird | M |
Stationed always in the skies | Q |
Wating for the flesh that dies | Q |
Dreaming this old bull forlorn | J2 |
Surely dreaming of the hour | K2 |
When he came to sultan power | K2 |
And they owned him master horn | J2 |
Chiefest bull of all among | L2 |
Bulls and cows a thousand strong | A2 |
And in all the tramping herd | M |
Not a bull that barred his way | M |
Not a cow that said him nay | M |
Not a bull or cow that erred | M |
In the furnace of his look | M2 |
Dared a second worse rebuke | N2 |
Not in all the forest wide | M |
Jungle thicket pasture fen | S |
Not another dared him then | S |
Dared him and again defied | M |
Not a sovereign buck or boar | V |
Came a second time for more | V |
Not a serpent that survived | M |
Once the terrors of his hoof | O2 |
Risked a second time reproof | O2 |
Came a second time and lived | M |
Not serpent in its skin | P2 |
Came again for discipline | N |
Not a leopard brght as flame | L |
Flashing fingerhooks of steel | C |
That a wooden tree might feel | C |
Met his fury once and came | L |
For second reprimand | M |
Not a leopard in the land | M |
Not a lion of them all | C |
Not a lion of the hills | Q |
Hero of a thousand kills | Q |
Dared a second fight and fall | C |
Dared that ram terrific twice | Q |
Paid a second time the price | Q |
Pity him this dupe of dream | Q2 |
Leader of the heard again | S |
Only in his daft old brain | R |
Once again the bull supreme | Q2 |
And bull enough to bear the part | M |
Only in his tameless heart | M |
Pity him that he must wake | X |
Even now the swarm of flies | Q |
Blackening his bloodshot eyes | Q |
Bursts and blusters round the lake | X |
Scattered from the feast half fed | M |
By great shadows overhead | M |
And the dreamer turns away | M |
From his visionary herds | Q |
And his splendid yesterday | M |
Turns to meet the loathly birds | Q |
Flocking round him from the skies | Q |
Waiting for the flesh that dies | Q |
Ralph Hodgson
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