A Lay Of St. Gengulphus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CDED EFGF FDFD GFHF FFIF JFKF L MFFF FFFF KNFN FFO FFFF E F K F PKFK QFQF RSTS FKR UFVF WX X FRFR FQFQ KFKF FFYF YFYF ZA2KB2 FC2FC2 D2FF FKFK FE2F FF2F FFG2F C2C2C2C2 FC2KC2 C2KFK FFFF FFFF FH2FI2'Non multo post Gengulphus in domo sua dormiens occisus est a quodam clerico qui cum uxore sua adulterare solebat Cujus corpus dum in fereto in sepulturam portaretur multi infirmi de tactu sanati sunt ' | A |
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'Cum hoc illius uxori referretur ab ancilla sua scilicet dominum suum quam martyrem sanctum miracula facere irridens illa et subsurrans ait 'Ita Gengulphus miracula facitat ut pulvinarium meum cantat ' c c Wolfii Memorab | B |
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Gengulphus comes from the Holy Land | C |
With his scrip and his bottle and sandal shoon | D |
Full many a day has he been away | E |
Yet his Lady deems him return'd full soon | D |
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Full many a day has he been away | E |
Yet scarce had he crossed ayont the sea | F |
Ere a spruce young spark of a Learned Clerk | G |
Had called on his Lady and stopp'd to tea | F |
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This spruce young guest so trimly drest | F |
Stay'd with that Lady her revels to crown | D |
They laugh'd and they ate and they drank of the best | F |
And they turn'd the old Castle quite upside down | D |
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They would walk in the park that spruce young Clerk | G |
With that frolicsome Lady so frank and free | F |
Trying balls and plays and all manner of ways | H |
To get rid of what French people call Ennui | F |
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Now the festive board with viands is stored | F |
Savoury dishes be there I ween | F |
Rich puddings and big and a barbecued pig | I |
And oxtail soup in a China tureen | F |
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There's a flagon of ale as large as a pail | J |
When cockle on hat and staff in hand | F |
While on nought they are thinking save eating and drinking | K |
Gengulphus walks in from the Holy Land | F |
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'You must be pretty deep to catch weazels asleep ' | - |
Says the proverb that is 'take the Fair unawares ' | - |
A maid o'er the banisters chancing to peep | L |
Whispers 'Ma'am here's Gengulphus a coming upstairs ' | - |
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Pig pudding and soup the electrified group | M |
With the flagon pop under the sofa in haste | F |
And contrive to deposit the Clerk in the closet | F |
As the dish least of all to Gengulphus's taste | F |
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Then oh what rapture what joy was exprest | F |
When 'poor dear Gengulphus' at last appear'd | F |
She kiss'd and she press'd 'the dear man' to her breast | F |
In spite of his great long frizzly beard | F |
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Such hugging and squeezing 'twas almost unpleasing | K |
A smile on her lip and a tear in her eye | N |
She was so very glad that she seem'd half mad | F |
And did not know whether to laugh or to cry | N |
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Then she calls up the maid and the table cloth's laid | F |
And she sends for a pint of the best Brown Stout | F |
On the fire too she pops some nice mutton chops | O |
And she mixes a stiff glass of 'Cold Without ' | - |
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Then again she began at the 'poor dear' man | F |
She press'd him to drink and she press'd him to eat | F |
And she brought a foot pan with hot water and bran | F |
To comfort his 'poor dear' travel worn feet | F |
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'Nor night nor day since he'd been away | E |
Had she had any rest' she 'vow'd and declared ' | - |
She 'never could eat one morsel of meat | F |
For thinking how 'poor dear' Gengulphus fared ' | - |
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She 'really did think she had not slept a wink | K |
Since he left her although he'd been absent so long ' | - |
He here shook his head right little he said | F |
But he thought she was 'coming it rather too strong ' | - |
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Now his palate she tickles with the chops and the pickles | P |
Till so great the effect of that stiff gin grog | K |
His weaken'd body subdued by the toddy | F |
Falls out of the chair and he lies like a log | K |
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Then out comes the Clerk from his secret lair | Q |
He lifts up the legs and she raises the head | F |
And between them this most reprehensible pair | Q |
Undress poor Gengulphus and put him to bed | F |
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Then the bolster they place athwart his face | R |
And his night cap into his mouth they cram | S |
And she pinches his nose underneath the clothes | T |
Till the 'poor dear soul' went off like a lamb | S |
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And now they try'd the deed to hide | F |
For a little bird whisper'd 'Perchance you may swing | K |
Here's a corpse in the case with a sad swell'd face | R |
And a 'Crowner's Quest' is a queer sort of thing ' | - |
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So the Clerk and the Wife they each took a knife | U |
And the nippers that nipp'd the loaf sugar for tea | F |
With the edges and points they sever'd the joints | V |
At the clavicle elbow hip ankle and knee | F |
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Thus limb from limb they dismember'd him | W |
So entirely that e'en when they came to his wrists | X |
With those great sugar nippers they nipp'd off his 'flippers ' | - |
As the Clerk very flippantly term'd his fists | X |
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When they'd cut off his head entertaining a dread | F |
Lest folks should remember Gengulphus's face | R |
They determined to throw it where no one could know it | F |
Down the well and the limbs in some different place | R |
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But first the long beard from the chin they shear'd | F |
And managed to stuff that sanctified hair | Q |
With a good deal of pushing all into the cushion | F |
That filled up the seat of a large arm chair | Q |
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They contrived to pack up the trunk in a sack | K |
Which they hid in an osier bed outside the town | F |
The Clerk bearing arms legs and all on his back | K |
As the late Mr Greenacre served Mrs Brown | F |
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But to see now how strangely things sometimes turn out | F |
And that in a manner the least expected | F |
Who could surmise a man ever could rise | Y |
Who'd been thus carbonado'd cut up and dissected | F |
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No doubt 'twould surprise the pupils at Guy's | Y |
I am no unbeliever no man can say that o' me | F |
But St Thomas himself would scarce trust his own eyes | Y |
If he saw such a thing in his School of Anatomy | F |
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You may deal as you please with Hindoos or Chinese | Z |
Or a Mussulman making his heathen salaam or | A2 |
A Jew or a Turk but it's other guess work | K |
When a man has to do with a Pilgrim or Palmer | B2 |
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By chance the Prince Bishop a Royal Divine | F |
Sends his cards round the neighbourhood next day and urges his | C2 |
Wish to receive a snug party to dine | F |
Of the resident clergy the gentry and burgesses | C2 |
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At a quarter past five they are all alive | D2 |
At the palace for coaches are fast rolling in | F |
And to every guest his card had expressed | F |
'Half past' as the hour for 'a greasy chin ' | - |
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Some thirty are seated and handsomely treated | F |
With the choicest Rhine wines in his Highness's stock | K |
When a Count of the Empire who felt himself heated | F |
Requested some water to mix with his Hock | K |
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The Butler who saw it sent a maid out to draw it | F |
But scarce had she given the windlass a twirl | E2 |
Ere Gengulphus's head from the well's bottom said | F |
In mild accents 'Do help us out that's a good girl ' | - |
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Only fancy her dread when she saw a great head | F |
In her bucket with fright she was ready to drop | F2 |
Conceive if you can how she roar'd and she ran | F |
With the head rolling after her bawling out 'Stop ' | - |
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She ran and she roar'd till she came to the board | F |
Where the Prince Bishop sat with his party around | F |
When Gengulphus's poll which continued to roll | G2 |
At her heels on the table bounced up with a bound | F |
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Never touching the cates or the dishes or plates | C2 |
The decanters or glasses the sweetmeats or fruits | C2 |
The head smiles and begs them to bring him his legs | C2 |
As a well spoken gentleman asks for his boots | C2 |
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Kicking open the casement to each one's amazement | F |
Straight a right leg steps in all impediment scorns | C2 |
And near the head stopping a left follows hopping | K |
Behind for the left Leg was troubled with corns | C2 |
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Next before the beholders two great brawny shoulders | C2 |
And arms on their bent elbows dance through the throng | K |
While two hands assist though nipped off at the wrist | F |
The said shoulders in bearing a body along | K |
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They march up to the head not one syllable said | F |
For the thirty guests all stare in wonder and doubt | F |
As the limbs in their sight arrange and unite | F |
Till Gengulphus though dead looks as sound as a trout | F |
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I will venture to say from that hour to this day | F |
Ne'er did such an assembly behold such a scene | F |
Or a table divide fifteen guests of a side | F |
With a dead body placed in the centre between | F |
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Yes they stared well they might at so novel a sight | F |
No one uttered a whisper a sneeze or a hem | H2 |
But sat all bolt upright and pale with affright | F |
And they gazed at the dead man the dead man at th | I2 |
Richard Harris Barham
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