The Royal Mails Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFEGGEHIJKJCLMM LNNOFFOPQRRQSQTTUJJJ UVWVWXYWZA2B2A2WA2C2 D2C2E2F2F2E2RRE2C2G2 C2H2I2PJ2PK2ML2M2MRR N2RO2P2P2UQ2Q2UR2US2 S2S2T2S2N2U2V2W2V2X2 X2X2V2Y2Y2Y2Z2LN2KK2 J2J2K2D2A3LA3LA3A3A3 K2A3A3A3J2A3LA3LA3EE D2FM2A3D2A3A3E2

For all its flowers and trailing bowersA
Its singing birds and streamsB
This valley's not the blissful spotC
The paradise it seemsB
I don't forget a man I metD
Beneath this very treeE
The cooing of that cushat doveF
Brings back his face to meE
The merest lad a sullen sadG
Unhappy soul with eyes half madG
Most sorrowful to seeE
I asked him who he was and whatH
'Twas his affair he answered thatI
And had no more to sayJ
'Twas all I'd feared the tale I heardK
When he at last gave wayJ
I've not forgot the look he shotC
Me through and through with thenL
'What loathly land is this ' he criedM
And cursed it for a countrysideM
Where devils masque as menL
I thought at first his brain was burstN
So senselessly he cried and cursedN
And spat with rage and hateO
He writhed to hear the glossy doveF
In song among the boughs aboveF
Beside its gentle mateO
His fury passed away at lastP
And when his reason cameQ
He told me he was city bredR
A page about the Court he saidR
And coloured up with shameQ
It made him wince to own a PrinceS
Of very famous fameQ
'He looked for one with speed and strengthT
And youth and picked on me at lengthT
And ordered me to standU
Prepared to leave at break of dayJ
With letters naught must long delayJ
For certain cities far awayJ
Across this lonely landU
'He told me all the roads to takeV
And cautioned me to goW
With ears and eyes and wits awakeV
Alert from top to toeW
For spies and thieves wore out most shoesX
Upon the roads that I must useY
As he had cause to knowW
'I took my cloak as morning brokeZ
And started down the hillA2
With Castle bells and Fare ye wellsB2
And bugles sweet and shrillA2
Sir Woodsman though it's months agoW
I hear that music stillA2
'What matters now or ever howC2
I made the journey hereD2
I fed on berries from the boughC2
Abundant everywhereE2
Or if it failed that luscious meatF2
I dug up roots that wild hogs eatF2
And flourished on the fareE2
At night I made a grassy bedR
And went to sleep without a dreadR
And woke without a careE2
'No matter how I managed nowC2
It all went well enoughG2
Until I saw this spot I vowC2
No man was better offH2
'Last night as I came down this valeI2
In wind and rain full blastP
I turned about to hear a shoutJ2
Ho master whither so fastP
'A minute more and half a scoreK2
Of men were at my sideM
Plain merchants all they said they wereL2
And camping in a thicket nearM2
Remain with us ' they criedM
' Remain with us our board is spreadR
With cheer the best Ah stay ' they saidR
Why go so proudly by 'N2
And there and then my legs were leadR
A weary man was IO2
'They stared with wonder that I walkedP2
These tangled hills and dales and talkedP2
Of better roads at handU
Smooth roads without a hill to climbQ2
A man could walk in half the timeQ2
The finest in the landU
With more but most of it I lostR2
Or did not understandU
' So come ' they cried our tents are tightS2
Our fires are burning warm and brightS2
How shall we let you go to nightS2
Without offending heavenT2
Come leave you shall with morning lightS2
Strong with the strength of seven 'N2
'True men they seemed for me I dreamedU2
No whit of their designV2
Their mildness would have clapped a hoodW2
On sharper eyes than mineV2
Ay me they pressed awhile to restX2
Persuaded me to be their guestX2
And stole the letters from my breastX2
When I fell down with wineV2
'It all came crowding on my mindY2
With morning when I woke to findY2
How blind and blind and utter blindY2
And blind again I'd beenZ2
Both tents and men had vanished thenL
Were nowhere to be seen 'N2
'Twas word for word a tale I'd heardK
Not once or twice beforeK2
Since first I made an axe ring outJ2
Upon the timber hereaboutJ2
But twenty times and moreK2
For many a year we've harboured hereD2
A nest of thieves and worseA3
Who watch for these young CastlemenL
At night among the gorseA3
It's hard to say if one in tenL
Gets by with life and purseA3
I wonder since 'twould serve the PrinceA3
To square accounts with theseA3
And many a score of footpads moreK2
All like as pins or peasA3
Who ply their trades at other gladesA3
And plunder whom they pleaseA3
He does not rout the vermin outJ2
And hang them to the treesA3
But this poor lad for me I knewL
Scarce what to think or sayA3
I pitied him I pitied tooL
Those cities far awayA3
I asked him would he stay and beE
A woodman in these woods with meE
Perhaps he did not hearD2
Perhaps the dove in song aboveF
Beside it mistress dearM2
Was Castle bells and Fare ye wellsA3
And hornets in his earD2
An old grey man in all but yearsA3
He pulled his cloak about his earsA3
And went I know not whereE2

Ralph Hodgson



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