The Death Of William Rufus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDE FFGG HHIJK LLMNM OOPP QQKI RRSS I STT KISS UUAA VVWW CCXX| The Red King's gone a hunting in the woods his father made | A |
| For the tall red deer to wander through the thicket and the glade | A |
| The King and Walter Tyrrel Prince Henry and the rest | B |
| Are all gone out upon the sport the Red King loves the best | B |
| - | |
| Last night when they were feasting in the royal banquet hall | C |
| De Breteuil told a dream he had that evil would befall | C |
| If the King should go to morrow to the hunting of the deer | D |
| And while he spoke the fiery face grew well nigh pale to hear | E |
| - | |
| He drank until the fire came back and all his heart was brave | F |
| Then bade them keep such woman's tales to tell an English slave | F |
| For he would hunt to morrow though a thousand dreams foretold | G |
| All the sorrow and the mischief De Breteuil's brain could hold | G |
| - | |
| So the Red King's gone a hunting for all that they could do | H |
| And an arrow in the greenwood made De Breteuil's dream come true | H |
| They said twas Walter Tyrrel and so it may have been | I |
| But there's many walk the forest when the leaves are thick and | J |
| green | K |
| - | |
| There's many walk the forest who would gladly see the sport | L |
| When the King goes out a hunting with the nobles of his court | L |
| And when the nobles scatter and the King is left alone | M |
| There are thickets where an English slave might string his bow | N |
| unknown | M |
| - | |
| The forest laws are cruel and the time is hard as steel | O |
| To English slaves trod down and bruised beneath the Norman heel | O |
| Like worms they writhe but by and by the Norman heel may learn | P |
| There are worms that carry poison and that are not slow to turn | P |
| - | |
| The lords came back by one and two from straying far apart | Q |
| And they found the Red King lying with an arrow in his heart | Q |
| Who should have done the deed but him by whom it first was seen | K |
| So they said twas Walter Tyrrel and so it may have been | I |
| - | |
| They cried upon Prince Henry the brother of the King | R |
| And he came up the greenwood and rode into the ring | R |
| He looked upon his brother's face and then he turned away | S |
| And galloped off to Winchester where all the treasure lay | S |
| - | |
| God strike me ' cried De Breteuil but brothers' blood is thin | I |
| And why should ours be thicker that are neither kith nor kin ' | - |
| They spurred their horses in the flank and swiftly thence they | S |
| passed | T |
| But Walter Tyrrel lingered and forsook his liege the last | T |
| - | |
| They say it was enchantment that fixed him to the scene | K |
| To look upon his traitor's work and so it may have been | I |
| But presently he got to horse and took the seaward way | S |
| And all alone within the glade in state the Red King lay | S |
| - | |
| Then a creaking cart came slowly which a charcoal burner drove | U |
| He found the dead man lying a ghastly treasure trove | U |
| He raised the corpse for charity and on his wagon laid | A |
| And so the Red King drove in state from out the forest glade | A |
| - | |
| His hair was like a yellow flame about the bloated face | V |
| The blood had stained his tunic from the fatal arrow place | V |
| Not good to look upon was he in life nor yet when dead | W |
| The driver of the cart drove on and never turned his head | W |
| - | |
| When next the nobles throng at night the royal banquet hall | C |
| Another King will rule the feast the drinking and the brawl | C |
| While Walter Tyrrel walks alone upon the Norman shore | X |
| And the Red King in the forest will chase the deer no more | X |
Robert Fuller Murray
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