Home Burial Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIGJGKLFFG M LNOPDDIQRS T UAVW DX Y Z A2 B2C2D2E2F2G2H2I2J2K2 L2YOM2XN2IC2O2J2 P2Q2R2 S2T2U2XXFV2Q2AC2W2A2 X2Y2U2Z2A3 B3 C2C3D3YP2E3L2F3A3G3H 3U2I3J3K3L2 E3NL3 L2 E3HHe saw her from the bottom of the stairs | A |
Before she saw him She was starting down | B |
Looking back over her shoulder at some fear | C |
She took a doubtful step and then undid it | D |
To raise herself and look again He spoke | E |
Advancing toward her 'What is it you see | F |
From up there always for I want to know ' | G |
She turned and sank upon her skirts at that | H |
And her face changed from terrified to dull | I |
He said to gain time 'What is it you see ' | G |
Mounting until she cowered under him | J |
'I will find out now you must tell me dear ' | G |
She in her place refused him any help | K |
With the least stiffening of her neck and silence | L |
She let him look sure that he wouldn't see | F |
Blind creature and awhile he didn't see | F |
But at last he murmured 'Oh ' and again 'Oh ' | G |
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'What is it what ' she said | M |
'Just that I see ' | - |
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'You don't ' she challenged 'Tell me what it is ' | - |
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'The wonder is I didn't see at once | L |
I never noticed it from here before | N |
I must be wonted to it that's the reason | O |
The little graveyard where my people are | P |
So small the window frames the whole of it | D |
Not so much larger than a bedroom is it | D |
There are three stones of slate and one of marble | I |
Broad shouldered little slabs there in the sunlight | Q |
On the sidehill We haven't to mind those | R |
But I understand it is not the stones | S |
But the child's mound ' | - |
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'Don't don't don't don't ' she cried | T |
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She withdrew shrinking from beneath his arm | U |
That rested on the bannister and slid downstairs | A |
And turned on him with such a daunting look | V |
He said twice over before he knew himself | W |
'Can't a man speak of his own child he's lost ' | - |
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'Not you Oh where's my hat Oh I don't need it | D |
I must get out of here I must get air | X |
I don't know rightly whether any man can ' | - |
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'Amy Don't go to someone else this time | Y |
Listen to me I won't come down the stairs ' | - |
He sat and fixed his chin between his fists | Z |
'There's something I should like to ask you dear ' | - |
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'You don't know how to ask it ' | - |
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'Help me then ' | - |
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Her fingers moved the latch for all reply | A2 |
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'My words are nearly always an offense | B2 |
I don't know how to speak of anything | C2 |
So as to please you But I might be taught | D2 |
I should suppose I can't say I see how | E2 |
A man must partly give up being a man | F2 |
With women folk We could have some arrangement | G2 |
By which I'd bind myself to keep hands off | H2 |
Anything special you're a mind to name | I2 |
Though I don't like such things 'twixt those that love | J2 |
Two that don't love can't live together without them | K2 |
But two that do can't live together with them ' | - |
She moved the latch a little 'Don't don't go | L2 |
Don't carry it to someone else this time | Y |
Tell me about it if it's something human | O |
Let me into your grief I'm not so much | M2 |
Unlike other folks as your standing there | X |
Apart would make me out Give me my chance | N2 |
I do think though you overdo it a little | I |
What was it brought you up to think it the thing | C2 |
To take your mother loss of a first child | O2 |
So inconsolably in the face of love | J2 |
You'd think his memory might be satisfied ' | - |
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'There you go sneering now ' | - |
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'I'm not I'm not | P2 |
You make me angry I'll come down to you | Q2 |
God what a woman And it's come to this | R2 |
A man can't speak of his own child that's dead ' | - |
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'You can't because you don't know how to speak | S2 |
If you had any feelings you that dug | T2 |
With your own hand how could you his little grave | U2 |
I saw you from that very window there | X |
Making the gravel leap and leap in air | X |
Leap up like that like that and land so lightly | F |
And roll back down the mound beside the hole | V2 |
I thought Who is that man I didn't know you | Q2 |
And I crept down the stairs and up the stairs | A |
To look again and still your spade kept lifting | C2 |
Then you came in I heard your rumbling voice | W2 |
Out in the kitchen and I don't know why | A2 |
But I went near to see with my own eyes | X2 |
You could sit there with the stains on your shoes | Y2 |
Of the fresh earth from your own baby's grave | U2 |
And talk about your everyday concerns | Z2 |
You had stood the spade up against the wall | A3 |
Outside there in the entry for I saw it ' | - |
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'I shall laugh the worst laugh I ever laughed | B3 |
I'm cursed God if I don't believe I'm cursed ' | - |
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'I can repeat the very words you were saying | C2 |
Three foggy mornings and one rainy day | C3 |
Will rot the best birch fence a man can build | D3 |
Think of it talk like that at such a time | Y |
What had how long it takes a birch to rot | P2 |
To do with what was in the darkened parlor | E3 |
You couldn't care The nearest friends can go | L2 |
With anyone to death comes so far short | F3 |
They might as well not try to go at all | A3 |
No from the time when one is sick to death | G3 |
One is alone and he dies more alone | H3 |
Friends make pretense of following to the grave | U2 |
But before one is in it their minds are turned | I3 |
And making the best of their way back to life | J3 |
And living people and things they understand | K3 |
But the world's evil I won't have grief so | L2 |
If I can change it Oh I won't I won't ' | - |
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'There you have said it all and you feel better | E3 |
You won't go now You're crying Close the door | N |
The heart's gone out of it why keep it up | L3 |
Amy There's someone coming down the road ' | - |
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'You oh you think the talk is all I must go | L2 |
Somewhere out of this house How can I make you ' | - |
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'If you do ' She was opening the door wider | E3 |
'Where do you mean to go First tell me that | H |
I'll follow and bring you back by force I will ' | - |
Robert Lee Frost
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