The Philistine And The Bohemian Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEFFGGHHHHII JJKKHHLLHHMMNNJJFF OOPQRSHHTTHHUUVWFF SSHHXXYYZZA2B2C2C2FF D2D2KKHHHH HHFFFF| She was a Philistine spick and span | A |
| He was a bold Bohemian | B |
| She had the mode and the last at that | C |
| He had a cape and a brigand hat | C |
| She was so riant and chic and trim | D |
| He was so shaggy unkempt and grim | D |
| On the rue de la Paix she was wont to shine | E |
| The rue de la Ga icirc t eacute was more his line | E |
| She doted on Barclay and Dell and Caine | F |
| He quoted Mallarm eacute and Paul Verlaine | F |
| She was a triumph at Tango teas | G |
| At Vorticist's suppers he sought to please | G |
| She thought that Franz Lehar was utterly great | H |
| Of Strauss and Stravinsky he'd piously prate | H |
| She loved elegance he loved art | H |
| They were as wide as the poles apart | H |
| Yet Cupid and Caprice are hand and glove | I |
| They met at a dinner they fell in love | I |
| - | |
| Home he went to his garret bare | J |
| Thrilling with rapture hope despair | J |
| Swift he gazed in his looking glass | K |
| Made a grimace and murmured Ass | K |
| Seized his scissors and fiercely sheared | H |
| Severed his buccaneering beard | H |
| Grabbed his hair and clip clip clip | L |
| Off came a bunch with every snip | L |
| Ran to a tailor's in startled state | H |
| Suits a dozen commanded straight | H |
| Coats and overcoats pants in pairs | M |
| Everything that a dandy wears | M |
| Socks and collars and shoes and ties | N |
| Everything that a dandy buys | N |
| Chums looked at him with wondering stare | J |
| Fancied they'd seen him before somewhere | J |
| A Brummell a D'Orsay a beau so fine | F |
| A shining immaculate Philistine | F |
| - | |
| Home she went in a raptured daze | O |
| Looked in a mirror with startled gaze | O |
| Didn't seem to be pleased at all | P |
| Savagely muttered Insipid Doll | Q |
| Clutched her hair and a pair of shears | R |
| Cropped and bobbed it behind the ears | S |
| Aimed at a wan and willowy necked | H |
| Sort of a Holman Hunt effect | H |
| Robed in subtile and sage green tones | T |
| Like the dames of Rossetti and E Burne Jones | T |
| Girdled her garments billowing wide | H |
| Moved with an undulating glide | H |
| All her frivolous friends forsook | U |
| Cultivated a soulful look | U |
| Gushed in a voice with a creamy throb | V |
| Over some weirdly Futurist daub | W |
| Did all in short that a woman can | F |
| To be a consummate Bohemian | F |
| - | |
| A year went past with its hopes and fears | S |
| A year that seemed like a dozen years | S |
| They met once more Oh at last At last | H |
| They rushed together they stopped aghast | H |
| They looked at each other with blank dismay | X |
| They simply hadn't a word to say | X |
| He thought with a shiver Can this be she | Y |
| She thought with a shudder This can't be he | Y |
| This simpering dandy so sleek and spruce | Z |
| This languorous lily in garments loose | Z |
| They sought to brace from the awful shock | A2 |
| Taking a seat they tried to talk | B2 |
| She spoke of Bergson and Pater's prose | C2 |
| He prattled of dances and ragtime shows | C2 |
| She purred of pictures Matisse Cezanne | F |
| His tastes to the girls of Kirchner ran | F |
| She raved of Tchaikovsky and Caesar Franck | D2 |
| He owned that he was a jazz band crank | D2 |
| They made no headway Alas alas | K |
| He thought her a bore she thought him an ass | K |
| And so they arose and hurriedly fled | H |
| Perish Illusion Romance you're dead | H |
| He loved elegance she loved art | H |
| Better at once to part to part | H |
| - | |
| And what is the moral of all this rot | H |
| Don't try to be what you know you're not | H |
| And if you're made on a muttonish plan | F |
| Don't seek to seem a Bohemian | F |
| And if to the goats your feet incline | F |
| Don't try to pass for a Philistine | F |
Robert Service
(1)
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