Paul's Wife Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGAHIJKCLMNOPQE RSTGUGVWXMGYZMA2SGXY I B2C2D2WE2FF2G2H2XI2J 2CK2L2XEM2N2O2XXP2Q2 XGXR2XS2R2T2U2U2V2W2 X2X2CY2MO2Z2A3SYXXK2 B3C3O2XD3A3M2K2E3X2X F3A2ZG3H3I3J3JMXAAK3 AL3CM3N3MZO3 P3Q3YO2X2R3GS3X2T3CJ 3V2X2U3X2M2A2X2N2X2M X2CMV3CM2M2T3M2M2MCX

to say to himA
'How is the wife Paul ' and he'd disappearB
Some said it was because be bad no wifeC
And hated to be twitted on the subjectD
Others because he'd come within a dayE
Or so of having one and then been JiltedF
Others because he'd had one once a good oneG
Who'd run away with someone else and left himA
And others still because he had one nowH
He only had to be reminded ofI
He was all duty to her in a minuteJ
He had to run right off to look her upK
As if to say 'That's so how is my wifeC
I hope she isn't getting into mischief 'L
No one was anxious to get rid of PaulM
He'd been the hero of the mountain campsN
Ever since just to show them he bad slippedO
The bark of a whole tamarack off wholeP
As clean as boys do off a willow twigQ
To make a willow whistle on a SundayE
April by subsiding meadow brooksR
They seemed to ask him just to see him goS
'How is the wife Paul ' and he always wentT
He never stopped to murder anyoneG
Who asked the question He just disappearedU
Nobody knew in what directionG
Although it wasn't usually longV
Before they beard of him in some new campW
The same Paul at the same old feats of loggingX
The question everywhere was why should PaulM
Object to being asked a civil questionG
A man you could say almost anything toY
Short of a fighting word You have the answersZ
And there was one more not so fair to PaulM
That Paul had married a wife not his equalA2
Paul was ashamed of her To match a heroS
She would have had to be a heroineG
Instead of which she was some half breed squawX
But if the story Murphy told was trueY
She wasn't anything to be ashamed ofI
-
You know Paul could do wonders Everyone'sB2
Heard how he thrashed the horses on a loadC2
That wouldn't budge until they simply stretchedD2
Their rawhide harness from the load to campW
Paul told the boss the load would be all rightE2
'The sun will bring your load in' and it didF
By shrinking the rawhide to natural lengthF2
That's what is called a stretcher But I guessG2
The one about his jumping so's to landH2
With both his feet at once against the ceilingX
And then land safely right side up againI2
Back on the floor is fact or pretty near factJ2
Well this is such a yarn Paul sawed his wifeC
Out of a white pine log Murphy was thereK2
And as you might say saw the lady bornL2
Paul worked at anything in lumberingX
He'd been bard at it taking boards awayE
For I forget the last ambitious sawyerM2
To want to find out if he couldn't pileN2
The lumber on Paul till Paul begged for mercyO2
They'd sliced the first slab off a big butt logX
And the sawyer had slammed the carriage backX
To slam end on again against the saw teethP2
To judge them by the way they caught themselvesQ2
When they saw what had happened to the logX
They must have had a guilty expectationG
Something was going to go with their slambangingX
Something bad left a broad black streak of greaseR2
On the new wood the whole length of the logX
Except perhaps a foot at either endS2
But when Paul put his finger in the greaseR2
It wasn't grease at all but a long slotT2
The log was hollow They were sawing pineU2
'First time I ever saw a hollow pineU2
That comes of having Paul around the placeV2
Take it to bell for me ' the sawyer saidW2
Everyone had to have a look at itX2
And tell Paul what he ought to do about itX2
They treated it as his 'You take a jackknifeC
And spread the opening and you've got a dugoutY2
All dug to go a fishing in ' To PaulM
The hollow looked too sound and clean and emptyO2
Ever to have housed birds or beasts or beesZ2
There was no entrance for them to get in byA3
It looked to him like some new kind of hollowS
He thought he'd better take his jackknife toY
So after work that evening be came backX
And let enough light into it by cuttingX
To see if it was empty He made out in thereK2
A slender length of pith or was it pithB3
It might have been the skin a snake had castC3
And left stood up on end inside the treeO2
The hundred years the tree must have been growingX
More cutting and he bad this in both handsD3
And looking from it to the pond nearbyA3
Paul wondered how it would respond to waterM2
Not a breeze stirred but just the breath of airK2
He made in walking slowly to the beachE3
Blew it once off his hands and almost broke itX2
He laid it at the edge where it could drinkX
At the first drink it rustled and grew limpF3
At the next drink it grew invisibleA2
Paul dragged the shallows for it with his fingersZ
And thought it must have melted It was goneG3
And then beyond the open water dim with midgesH3
Where the log drive lay pressed against the boomI3
It slowly rose a person rose a girlJ3
Her wet hair heavy on her like a helmetJ
Who leaning on a log looked back at PaulM
And that made Paul in turn look backX
To see if it was anyone behind himA
That she was looking at instead of himA
Murphy had been there watching all the timeK3
But from a shed where neither of them could see himA
There was a moment of suspense in birthL3
When the girl seemed too waterlogged to liveC
Before she caught her first breath with a gaspM3
And laughed Then she climbed slowly to her feetN3
And walked off talking to herself or PaulM
Across the logs like backs of alligatorsZ
Paul taking after her around the pondO3
-
Next evening Murphy and some other fellowsP3
Got drunk and tracked the pair up CatamountQ3
From the bare top of which there is a viewY
TO other hills across a kettle valleyO2
And there well after dark let Murphy tell itX2
They saw Paul and his creature keeping houseR3
It was the only glimpse that anyoneG
Has had of Paul and her since Murphy saw themS3
Falling in love across the twilight millpondX2
More than a mile across the wildernessT3
They sat together halfway up a cliffC
In a small niche let into it the girlJ3
Brightly as if a star played on the placeV2
Paul darkly like her shadow All the lightX2
Was from the girl herself though not from a starU3
As was apparent from what happened nextX2
All those great ruffians put their throats togetherM2
And let out a loud yell and threw a bottleA2
As a brute tribute of respect to beautyX2
Of course the bottle fell short by a mileN2
But the shout reached the girl and put her light outX2
She went out like a firefly and that was allM
-
So there were witnesses that Paul was marriedX2
And not to anyone to be ashamed ofC
Everyone had been wrong in judging PaulM
Murphy told me Paul put on all those airsV3
About his wife to keep her to himselfC
Paul was what's called a terrible possessorM2
Owning a wife with him meant owning herM2
She wasn't anybody else's businessT3
Either to praise her or much as name herM2
And he'd thank people not to think of herM2
Murphy's idea was that a man like PaulM
Wouldn't be spoken to about a wifeC
In any way the world knew how to speakX

Robert Frost



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