Eclogue Iv. The Sailor's Mother Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABA CDEFGAHI ACJKLGM CNKOPQ ARSTU CVWXYZA2B2G AC2C2RCD2E2 CYF2 AG2H2TGI2J2CK2L2K CJ2M2N2AO2GGGE2P2A AG2Q2R2 CR2 AAR2GGCS2T2TU2V2U2W2 X2 CY2Z2R2R2A3 AB3QR2R2R2O2C3R2R2RD 3R2V2R2E3CF3RR2 CR2C ACG3AV2FF2H3H3I3J3Q2 GR2H3K3CR2H3L3 CR2H3R2 AH3R2R2R2R2R2GM3H3R2 CR2H3GR2R2 AR2H3R2R2C| WOMAN | A |
| Sir for the love of God some small relief | B |
| To a poor woman | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| Whither are you bound | D |
| 'Tis a late hour to travel o'er these downs | E |
| No house for miles around us and the way | F |
| Dreary and wild The evening wind already | G |
| Makes one's teeth chatter and the very Sun | A |
| Setting so pale behind those thin white clouds | H |
| Looks cold 'Twill be a bitter night | I |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| Aye Sir | C |
| 'Tis cutting keen I smart at every breath | J |
| Heaven knows how I shall reach my journey's end | K |
| For the way is long before me and my feet | L |
| God help me sore with travelling I would gladly | G |
| If it pleased God lie down at once and die | M |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| Nay nay cheer up a little food and rest | N |
| Will comfort you and then your journey's end | K |
| Will make amends for all You shake your head | O |
| And weep Is it some evil business then | P |
| That leads you from your home | Q |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| Sir I am going | R |
| To see my son at Plymouth sadly hurt | S |
| In the late action and in the hospital | T |
| Dying I fear me now | U |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| Perhaps your fears | V |
| Make evil worse Even if a limb be lost | W |
| There may be still enough for comfort left | X |
| An arm or leg shot off there's yet the heart | Y |
| To keep life warm and he may live to talk | Z |
| With pleasure of the glorious fight that maim'd him | A2 |
| Proud of his loss Old England's gratitude | B2 |
| Makes the maim'd sailor happy | G |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| 'Tis not that | C2 |
| An arm or leg I could have borne with that | C2 |
| 'Twas not a ball it was some cursed thing | R |
| That bursts and burns that hurt him Something Sir | C |
| They do not use on board our English ships | D2 |
| It is so wicked | E2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| Rascals a mean art | Y |
| Of cruel cowardice yet all in vain | F2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| Yes Sir and they should show no mercy to them | G2 |
| For making use of such unchristian arms | H2 |
| I had a letter from the hospital | T |
| He got some friend to write it and he tells me | G |
| That my poor boy has lost his precious eyes | I2 |
| Burnt out Alas that I should ever live | J2 |
| To see this wretched day they tell me Sir | C |
| There is no cure for wounds like his Indeed | K2 |
| 'Tis a hard journey that I go upon | L2 |
| To such a dismal end | K |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| He yet may live | J2 |
| But if the worst should chance why you must bear | M2 |
| The will of heaven with patience Were it not | N2 |
| Some comfort to reflect your son has fallen | A |
| Fighting his country's cause and for yourself | O2 |
| You will not in unpitied poverty | G |
| Be left to mourn his loss Your grateful country | G |
| Amid the triumph of her victory | G |
| Remember those who paid its price of blood | E2 |
| And with a noble charity relieves | P2 |
| The widow and the orphan | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| God reward them | G2 |
| God bless them it will help me in my age | Q2 |
| But Sir it will not pay me for my child | R2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| Was he your only child | R2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| My only one | A |
| The stay and comfort of my widowhood | R2 |
| A dear good boy when first he went to sea | G |
| I felt what it would come to something told me | G |
| I should be childless soon But tell me Sir | C |
| If it be true that for a hurt like his | S2 |
| There is no cure please God to spare his life | T2 |
| Tho' he be blind yet I should be so thankful | T |
| I can remember there was a blind man | U2 |
| Lived in our village one from his youth up | V2 |
| Quite dark and yet he was a merry man | U2 |
| And he had none to tend on him so well | W2 |
| As I would tend my boy | X2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| Of this be sure | Y2 |
| His hurts are look'd to well and the best help | Z2 |
| The place affords as rightly is his due | R2 |
| Ever at hand How happened it he left you | R2 |
| Was a seafaring life his early choice | A3 |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| No Sir poor fellow he was wise enough | B3 |
| To be content at home and 'twas a home | Q |
| As comfortable Sir I even tho' I say it | R2 |
| As any in the country He was left | R2 |
| A little boy when his poor father died | R2 |
| Just old enough to totter by himself | O2 |
| And call his mother's name We two were all | C3 |
| And as we were not left quite destitute | R2 |
| We bore up well In the summer time I worked | R2 |
| Sometimes a field Then I was famed for knitting | R |
| And in long winter nights my spinning wheel | D3 |
| Seldom stood still We had kind neighbours too | R2 |
| And never felt distress So he grew up | V2 |
| A comely lad and wonderous well disposed | R2 |
| I taught him well there was not in the parish | E3 |
| A child who said his prayers more regular | C |
| Or answered readier thro' his catechism | F3 |
| If I had foreseen this but 'tis a blessing | R |
| We do'nt know what we're born to | R2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| But how came it | R2 |
| He chose to be a Sailor | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| You shall hear Sir | C |
| As he grew up he used to watch the birds | G3 |
| In the corn child's work you know and easily done | A |
| 'Tis an idle sort of task so he built up | V2 |
| A little hut of wicker work and clay | F |
| Under the hedge to shelter him in rain | F2 |
| And then he took for very idleness | H3 |
| To making traps to catch the plunderers | H3 |
| All sorts of cunning traps that boys can make | I3 |
| Propping a stone to fall and shut them in | J3 |
| Or crush them with its weight or else a springe | Q2 |
| Swung on a bough He made them cleverly | G |
| And I poor foolish woman I was pleased | R2 |
| To see the boy so handy You may guess | H3 |
| What followed Sir from this unlucky skill | K3 |
| He did what he should not when he was older | C |
| I warn'd him oft enough but he was caught | R2 |
| In wiring hares at last and had his choice | H3 |
| The prison or the ship | L3 |
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| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| The choice at least | R2 |
| Was kindly left him and for broken laws | H3 |
| This was methinks no heavy punishment | R2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| So I was told Sir And I tried to think so | H3 |
| But 'twas a sad blow to me I was used | R2 |
| To sleep at nights soundly and undisturb'd | R2 |
| Now if the wind blew rough it made me start | R2 |
| And think of my poor boy tossing about | R2 |
| Upon the roaring seas And then I seem'd | R2 |
| To feel that it was hard to take him from me | G |
| For such a little fault But he was wrong | M3 |
| Oh very wrong a murrain on his traps | H3 |
| See what they've brought him too | R2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| TRAVELLER | C |
| Well well take comfort | R2 |
| He will be taken care of if he lives | H3 |
| And should you lose your child this is a country | G |
| Where the brave sailor never leaves a parent | R2 |
| To weep for him in want | R2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| WOMAN | A |
| Sir I shall want | R2 |
| No succour long In the common course of years | H3 |
| I soon must be at rest and 'tis a comfort | R2 |
| When grief is hard upon me to reflect | R2 |
| It only leads me to that rest the sooner | C |
Robert Southey
(1)
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About Eclogue Iv. The Sailor's Mother
Eclogue Iv. The Sailor's Mother is a poem by Robert Southey. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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