Eclogue Ii. The Grandmothers Tale Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCD EFGH AI HJKLJM AFFN HOEPQ EH HR ES HPHFTFUJVWF EWOH HTXYZA2HNB2C2O AO HD2ERE2F2G2H2I2J2 EI2 HK2ZL2FM2N2O2FP2Q2R2 ES2FFFT2HU2V2W2X2 AY2 EZ2 HA3B3C3D3C3A2E3F3G3O 2FH3HE3H2OI3FJ3C2T2K 3 EL3 HZ2RM3A2N3O3U2P3

JANEA
Harry I'm tired of playing We'll draw roundB
The fire and Grandmamma perhaps will tell usC
One of her storiesD
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HARRYE
Aye dear GrandmammaF
A pretty story something dismal nowG
A bloody murderH
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JANEA
Or about a ghostI
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GRANDMOTHERH
Nay nay I should but frighten you You knowJ
The other night when I was telling youK
About the light in the church yard how you trembledL
Because the screech owl hooted at the windowJ
And would not go to bedM
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JANEA
Why GrandmammaF
You said yourself you did not like to hear himF
Pray now we wo'nt be frightenedN
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GRANDMOTHERH
Well well childrenO
But you've heard all my stories Let me seeE
Did I never tell you how the smuggler murderedP
The woman down at PillQ
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HARRYE
No never neverH
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GRANDMOTHERH
Not how he cut her head off in the stableR
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HARRYE
Oh now do tell us thatS
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GRANDMOTHERH
You must have heardP
Your Mother children often tell of herH
She used to weed in the garden here and wormF
Your uncle's dogs and serve the house with coalT
And glad enough she was in winter timeF
To drive her asses here it was cold workU
To follow the slow beasts thro' sleet and snowJ
And here she found a comfortable mealV
And a brave fire to thaw her for poor MollW
Was always welcomeF
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HARRYE
Oh 'twas blear eyed MollW
The collier woman a great ugly womanO
I've heard of herH
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GRANDMOTHERH
Ugly enough poor soulT
At ten yards distance you could hardly tellX
If it were man or woman for her voiceY
Was rough as our old mastiff's and she woreZ
A man's old coat and hat and then her faceA2
There was a merry story told of herH
How when the press gang came to take her husbandN
As they were both in bed she heard them comingB2
Drest John up in her night cap and herselfC2
Put on his clothes and went before the CaptainO
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JANEA
And so they prest a womanO
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GRANDMOTHERH
'Twas a trickD2
She dearly loved to tell and all the countryE
Soon knew the jest for she was used to travelR
For miles around All weathers and all hoursE2
She crossed the hill as hardy as her beastsF2
Bearing the wind and rain and winter frostsG2
And if she did not reach her home at nightH2
She laid her down in the stable with her assesI2
And slept as sound as they didJ2
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HARRYE
With her assesI2
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GRANDMOTHERH
Yes and she loved her beasts For tho' poor wretchK2
She was a terrible reprobate and sworeZ
Like any trooper she was always goodL2
To the dumb creatures never loaded themF
Beyond their strength and rather I believeM2
Would stint herself than let the poor beasts wantN2
Because she said they could not ask for foodO2
I never saw her stick fall heavier on themF
Than just with its own weight She little thoughtP2
This tender heartedness would be her deathQ2
There was a fellow who had oftentimesR2
As if he took delight in crueltyE
Ill used her Asses He was one who livedS2
By smuggling and for she had often met himF
Crossing the down at night she threatened himF
If he tormented them again to informF
Of his unlawful ways Well so it wasT2
'Twas what they both were born to he provoked herH
She laid an information and one mornU2
They found her in the stable her throat cutV2
From ear to ear 'till the head only hungW2
Just by a bit of skinX2
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JANEA
Oh dear oh dearY2
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HARRYE
I hope they hung the manZ2
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GRANDMOTHERH
They took him upA3
There was no proof no one had seen the deedB3
And he was set at liberty But GodC3
Whoss eye beholdeth all things he had seenD3
The murder and the murderer knew that GodC3
Was witness to his crime He fled the placeA2
But nowhere could he fly the avenging handE3
Of heaven but nowhere could the murderer restF3
A guilty conscience haunted him by dayG3
By night in company in solitudeO2
Restless and wretched did he bear upon himF
The weight of blood her cries were in his earsH3
Her stifled groans as when he knelt upon herH
Always he heard always he saw her standE3
Before his eyes even in the dead of nightH2
Distinctly seen as tho' in the broad sunO
She stood beside the murderer's bed and yawn'dI3
Her ghastly wound till life itself becameF
A punishment at last he could not bearJ3
And he confess'd it all and gave himselfC2
To death so terrible he said it wasT2
To have a guilty conscienceK3
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HARRYE
Was he hung thenL3
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GRANDMOTHERH
Hung and anatomized Poor wretched manZ2
Your uncles went to see him on his trialR
He was so pale so thin so hollow eyedM3
And such a horror in his meagre faceA2
They said he look'd like one who never sleptN3
He begg'd the prayers of all who saw his endO3
And met his death with fears that well might warnU2
From guilt tho' not without a hope in ChristP3

Robert Southey



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