A Ballad, Shewing How An Old Woman Rode Double, And Who Rode Before Her Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Robert Southey

A Ballad, Shewing How An Old Woman Rode Double, And Who Rode Before Her Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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The Raven croak'd as she sate at her meal	A
And the Old Woman knew what he said	B
And she grew pale at the Raven's tale	C
And sicken'd and went to her bed	B
	-
Now fetch me my children and fetch them with speed	D
The Old Woman of Berkeley said	B
The monk my son and my daughter the nun	E
Bid them hasten or I shall be dead	B
	-
The monk her son and her daughter the nun	E
Their way to Berkeley went	F
And they have brought with pious thought	G
The holy sacrament	H
	-
The old Woman shriek'd as they entered her door	I
'Twas fearful her shrieks to hear	J
Now take the sacrament away	K
For mercy my children dear	L
	-
Her lip it trembled with agony	M
The sweat ran down her brow	N
I have tortures in store for evermore	I
Oh spare me my children now	N
	-
Away they sent the sacrament	H
The fit it left her weak	O
She look'd at her children with ghastly eyes	P
And faintly struggled to speak	O
	-
All kind of sin I have rioted in	Q
And the judgment now must be	M
But I secured my childrens souls	R
Oh pray my children for me	M
	-
I have suck'd the breath of sleeping babes	S
The fiends have been my slaves	T
I have nointed myself with infants fat	U
And feasted on rifled graves	T
	-
And the fiend will fetch me now in fire	V
My witchcrafts to atone	W
And I who have rifled the dead man's grave	X
Shall never have rest in my own	W
	-
Bless I intreat my winding sheet	Y
My children I beg of you	Z
And with holy water sprinkle my shroud	A2
And sprinkle my coffin too	Z
	-
And let me be chain'd in my coffin of stone	W
And fasten it strong I implore	I
With iron bars and let it be chain'd	B2
With three chains to the church floor	I
	-
And bless the chains and sprinkle them	C2
And let fifty priests stand round	D2
Who night and day the mass may say	K
Where I lie on the ground	D2
	-
And let fifty choristers be there	E2
The funeral dirge to sing	F2
Who day and night by the taper's light	G2
Their aid to me may bring	F2
	-
Let the church bells all both great and small	H2
Be toll'd by night and day	K
To drive from thence the fiends who come	I2
To bear my corpse away	K
	-
And ever have the church door barr'd	J2
After the even song	K2
And I beseech you children dear	L
Let the bars and bolts be strong	K2
	-
And let this be three days and nights	L2
My wretched corpse to save	X
Preserve me so long from the fiendish throng	K2
And then I may rest in my grave	X
	-
The Old Woman of Berkeley laid her down	M2
And her eyes grew deadly dim	N2
Short came her breath and the struggle of death	O2
Did loosen every limb	N2
	-
They blest the old woman's winding sheet	Y
With rites and prayers as due	Z
With holy water they sprinkled her shroud	A2
And they sprinkled her coffin too	Z
	-
And they chain'd her in her coffin of stone	W
And with iron barr'd it down	M2
And in the church with three strong chains	P2
They chain'd it to the ground	D2
	-
And they blest the chains and sprinkled them	C2
And fifty priests stood round	D2
By night and day the mass to say	K
Where she lay on the ground	D2
	-
And fifty choristers were there	E2
To sing the funeral song	K2
And a hallowed taper blazed in the hand	Q2
Of all the sacred throng	K2
	-
To see the priests and choristers	K
It was a goodly sight	G2
Each holding as it were a staff	R2
A taper burning bright	G2
	-
And the church bells all both great and small	H2
Did toll so loud and long	K2
And they have barr'd the church door hard	J2
After the even song	K2
	-
And the first night the taper's light	G2
Burnt steadily and clear	L
But they without a hideous rout	S2
Of angry fiends could hear	J
	-
A hideous roar at the church door	I
Like a long thunder peal	A
And the priests they pray'd and the choristers sung	T2
Louder in fearful zeal	A
	-
Loud toll'd the bell the priests pray'd well	U2
The tapers they burnt bright	G2
The monk her son and her daughter the nun	E
They told their beads all night	G2
	-
The cock he crew away they flew	Z
The fiends from the herald of day	K
And undisturb'd the choristers sing	F2
And the fifty priests they pray	K
	-
The second night the taper's light	G2
Burnt dismally and blue	Z
And every one saw his neighbour's face	K
Like a dead man's face to view	Z
	-
And yells and cries without arise	K
That the stoutest heart might shock	V2
And a deafening roaring like a cataract pouring	F2
Over a mountain rock	V2
	-
The monk and nun they told their beads	K
As fast as they could tell	U2
And aye as louder grew the noise	K
The faster went the bell	U2
	-
Louder and louder the choristers sung	T2
As they trembled more and more	I
And the fifty priests prayed to heaven for aid	W2
They never had prayed so before	I
	-
The cock he crew away they flew	Z
The fiends from the herald of day	K
And undisturb'd the choristers sing	F2
And the fifty priests they pray	K
	-
The third night came and the tapers flame	X2
A hideous stench did make	Y2
And they burnt as though they had been dipt	K
In the burning brimstone lake	Y2
	-
And the loud commotion like the rushing of ocean	E
Grew momently more and more	I
And strokes as of a battering ram	Z2
Did shake the strong church door	I
	-
The bellmen they for very fear	L
Could toll the bell no longer	V
And still as louder grew the strokes	K
Their fear it grew the stronger	V
	-
The monk and nun forgot their beads	K
They fell on the ground dismay'd	K
There was not a single saint in heaven	E
Whom they did not call to aid	K
	-
And the choristers song that late was so strong	K2
Grew a quaver of consternation	E
For the church did rock as an earthquake shock	V2
Uplifted its foundation	E
	-
And a sound was heard like the trumpet's blast	K
That shall one day wake the dead	K
The strong church door could bear no more	I
And the bolts and the bars they fled	K
	-
And the taper's light was extinguish'd quite	K
And the choristers faintly sung	T2
And the priests dismay'd panted and prayed	K
Till fear froze every tongue	T2
	-
And in He came with eyes of flame	X2
The Fiend to fetch the dead	K
And all the church with his presence glowed	K
Like a fiery furnace red	K
	-
He laid his hand on the iron chains	K
And like flax they moulder'd asunder	V
And the coffin lid that was barr'd so firm	A3
He burst with his voice of thunder	V
	-
And he bade the Old Woman of Berkeley rise	K
And come with her master away	K
And the cold sweat stood on the cold cold corpse	K
At the voice she was forced to obey	K
	-
She rose on her feet in her winding sheet	K
Her dead flesh quivered with fear	L
And a groan like that which the Old Woman gave	X
Never did mortal hear	J
	-
She followed the fiend to the church door	I
There stood a black horse there	E2
His breath was red like furnace smoke	B3
His eyes like a meteor's glare	E2
	-
The fiendish force flung her on the horse	K
And he leapt up before	I
And away like the lightning's speed they went	K
And she was seen no more	I
	-
They saw her no more but her cries and shrieks	K
For four miles round they could hear	J
And children at rest at their mother's breast	K
Started and screamed with fear	L