The Smoking Frog Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDEF GHGH IJIJ KHLH MKMK NKNK ONON PNQN KNKN RKRK ININThree men I saw beside a bar | A |
Regarding o'er their bottle | B |
A frog who smoked a rank cigar | A |
They'd jammed within its throttle | B |
- | |
A Pasha frog it must have been | C |
So big it as and bloated | D |
And from its lips the nicotine | E |
In graceful festoon floated | F |
- | |
And while the trio jeered and joked | G |
As if it quite enjoyed it | H |
Impassively it smoked and smoked | G |
It could now well avoid it | H |
- | |
A ring of fire its lips were nigh | I |
Yet it seemed all unwitting | J |
It could not spit like you and I | I |
Who've learned the art of spitting | J |
- | |
It did not wink it did not shrink | K |
As there serene it squatted' | H |
Its eyes were clear it did not fear | L |
The fate the Gods allotted | H |
- | |
It squatted there with calm sublime | M |
Amid their cruel guying | K |
Grave as a god and all the time | M |
It knew that it was dying | K |
- | |
And somehow then it seemed to me | N |
These men expectorating | K |
Were infinitely less than he | N |
The dumb thing they were baiting | K |
- | |
It seemed to say despite their jokes | O |
This is my hour of glory | N |
It isn't every frog that smokes | O |
My name will live in story | N |
- | |
Before its nose the smoke arose | P |
The flame grew nigher nigher | N |
And then I saw its bright eyes close | Q |
Beside that ring of fire | N |
- | |
They turned it on its warty back | K |
From off its bloated belly | N |
It legs jerked out then dangled slack | K |
It quivered like a jelly | N |
- | |
And then the fellows went away | R |
Contented with their joking | K |
But even as in death it lay | R |
The frog continued smoking | K |
- | |
Life's like a lighted fag thought I | I |
We smoke it stale then after | N |
Death turns our belly to the sky | I |
The Gods must have their laughter | N |
Robert Service
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Smoking Frog poem by Robert Service
Best Poems of Robert Service