The Ballad Of Casey's Billy-goat Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCCB DEDEFGFG HIHIHBHB HFHFJKJK JLJLMNMN JOJOFNFN GNGNJNJN GJGJFFFF MGMGPJPJ NQPQRJRJ NSNTPGPG JFJFJNJN PIPIJJJJ

You've heard of Casey at The BatA
And Casey's Tabble DoteB
But now it's timeC
To write a rhymeC
Of Casey's Billy goatB
-
Pat Casey had a billy goat he gave the name of ShamusD
Because it was the neighbours said a national disgraceE
And sure enough that animal was eminently famousD
For masticating every rag of laundry round the placeE
For shirts to skirts prodigiously it proved its powers of chewingF
The question of digestion seemed to matter not at allG
But you'll agree I think with me its limit of misdoingF
Was reached the day it swallowed Missis Rooney's ould red shawlG
-
Now Missis Annie Rooney was a winsome widow womenH
And many a bouncing boy had sought to make her change her nameI
And living just across the way 'twas surely only humanH
A lonesome man like Casey should be wishfully the sameI
So every Sunday shaved and shined he'd make the fine occasionH
To call upon the lady and she'd take his and coatB
And supping tea it seemed that she might yield to his persuasionH
But alas he hadn't counted on that devastating goatB
-
For Shamus loved his master with a deep and dumb devotionH
And everywhere that Casey went that goat would want to goF
And though I cannot analyze a quadruped's emotionH
They said the baste was jealous and I reckon it was soF
For every time that Casey went to call on Missis RooneyJ
Beside the gate the goat would wait with woefulness intenseK
Until one day it chanced that they were fast becoming spooneyJ
When Shamus spied that ould red shawl a flutter on the fenceK
-
Now Missis Rooney loved that shawl beyond all rhyme or reasonJ
And maybe 'twas an heirloom or a cherished souvenirL
For judging by the way she wore it season after seasonJ
I might have been as precious as a product of CashmereL
So Shamus strolled towards it and no doubt the colour pleased himM
For he biffed it and he sniffed it as most any goat might doN
Then his melancholy vanished as a sense of hunger seized himM
And he wagged his tail with rapture as he started in to chewN
-
Begorrah you're a daisy said the doting Mister CaseyJ
to the blushing Widow Rooney as they parted at the doorO
Wid yer tinderness an' tazin' sure ye've set me heart a blazin'J
And I dread the day I'll nivver see me Anniw anny moreO
Go on now wid yer blarney said the widow softly sighingF
And she went to pull his whiskers when dismay her bosom smoteN
Her ould red shawl 'Twas missin' where she'd left it bravely dryingF
Then she saw it disappearing down the neck of Casey's goatN
-
Fiercely flamed her Irish temper Look says she The thavin' divvleG
Sure he's made me shawl his supper Well I hope it's to his tasteN
But excuse me Mister Casey if I seem to be oncivilG
For I'll nivver wed a man wid such a misbegotten basteN
So she slammed the door and left him in a state of consternationJ
And he couldn't understand it till he saw that grinning goatN
Then with eloquence he cussed it and his final fulminationJ
Was a poem of profanity impossible to quoteN
-
So blasting goats and petticoats and feeling downright sinfulG
Despairfully he wandered in to Shinnigan's shebeenJ
And straightway he proceeded to absorb a might skinfulG
Of the deadliest variety of Shinnigan's potheenJ
And when he started homeward it was in the early morningF
But Shamus followed faithfully a yard behind his backF
Then Casey slipped and stumbled and without the slightest warningF
like a lump of lead he tumbled right across the railroad trackF
-
And there he lay serenely and defied the powers to budge himM
Reposing like a baby with his head upon the railG
But Shamus seemed unhappy and from time to time would nudge himM
Though his prods to protestation were without the least availG
Then to that goatish mind maybe a sense of fell disasterP
Came stealing like a spectre in the dim and dreary dawnJ
For his bleat of warning blended with the snoring of his masterP
In a chorus of calamity but Casey slumbered onJ
-
Yet oh that goat was troubled for his efforts were redoubledN
Now he tugged at Casey's whisker now he nibbled at his earQ
Now he shook him by the shoulder and with fear become bolderP
He bellowed like a fog horn but the sleeper did not hearQ
Then up and down the railway line he scampered for assistanceR
But anxiously he hurried back and sought with tug and strainJ
To pull his master off the track when sudden in the distanceR
He heard the roar and rumble of the fast approaching trainJ
-
Did Shamus faint and falter No he stood there stark and splendidN
True his tummy was distended but he gave his horns a tossS
By them his goathood's honour would be gallantly defendedN
And if their valour failed him he would perish with his bossT
So dauntlessly he lowered his head and ever clearer clearerP
He heard the throb and thunder of the Continental MailG
He would face the mighty monster It was coming nearer nearerP
He would fight it he would smite it but he'd never show his tailG
-
Can you see that hirsute hero standing there in tragic gloryJ
Can you hear the Pullman porters shrieking horror to the skyF
No you can't because my story has no end so grim and goryJ
For Shamus did not perish and his master did not dieF
At this very present moment Casey swaggers hale and heartyJ
And Shamus strolls beside him with a bright bell at his throatN
While recent Missis Rooney is the gayest of the partyJ
For now she's Missis Casey and she's crazy for that goatN
-
You're wondering what happened Well you know that truth is strangerP
Than the wildest brand of fiction so Ill tell you without shameI
There was Shamus and his master in the face of awful dangerP
And the giant locomotive dashing down in smoke and flameI
What power on earth could save them Yet a golden inspirationJ
To gods and goats alike may come so in that brutish brainJ
A thought was born the ould red shawl Then rearing with elationJ
Like lightning Shamus threw it up AND FLAGGED AND STOPPED THE TRAINJ

Robert Service



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