English Eclogues 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 AR2H3R2R2CWOMAN | A |
Sir for the love of God some small relief | B |
To a poor woman | A |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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TRAVELLER | C |
Rascals a mean art | Y |
Of cruel cowardice yet all in vain | F2 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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TRAVELLER | C |
Was he your only child | R2 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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TRAVELLER | C |
But how came it | R2 |
He chose to be a Sailor | C |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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
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