English Eclogues Vi - The Ruined Cottage Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST USVWVXVYZA2B2C2D2E2F 2E2BHG2E2E2VH2E2I2E2 J2E2E2K2CHCVE2J2E2E2 L2E2E2E2E2M2CVEVE2N2 VE2F2O2SVD2VP2E2VA2E 2VQ2R2G2N2Q2VE2E2E2A 2E2S2T2 VC2FE2VVE2E2U2V2W2 VI2VVH| Aye Charles I knew that this would fix thine eye | A |
| This woodbine wreathing round the broken porch | B |
| Its leaves just withering yet one autumn flower | C |
| Still fresh and fragrant and yon holly hock | D |
| That thro' the creeping weeds and nettles tall | E |
| Peers taller and uplifts its column'd stem | F |
| Bright with the broad rose blossoms I have seen | G |
| Many a fallen convent reverend in decay | H |
| And many a time have trod the castle courts | I |
| And grass green halls yet never did they strike | J |
| Home to the heart such melancholy thoughts | K |
| As this poor cottage Look its little hatch | L |
| Fleeced with that grey and wintry moss the roof | M |
| Part mouldered in the rest o'ergrown with weeds | N |
| House leek and long thin grass and greener moss | O |
| So Nature wars with all the works of man | P |
| And like himself reduces back to earth | Q |
| His perishable piles | R |
| I led thee here | S |
| Charles not without design for this hath been | T |
| My favourite walk even since I was a boy | U |
| And I remember Charles this ruin here | S |
| The neatest comfortable dwelling place | V |
| That when I read in those dear books that first | W |
| Woke in my heart the love of poesy | V |
| How with the villagers Erminia dwelt | X |
| And Calidore for a fair shepherdess | V |
| Forgot his quest to learn the shepherd's lore | Y |
| My fancy drew from this the little hut | Z |
| Where that poor princess wept her hopeless love | A2 |
| Or where the gentle Calidore at eve | B2 |
| Led Pastorella home There was not then | C2 |
| A weed where all these nettles overtop | D2 |
| The garden wall but sweet briar scenting sweet | E2 |
| The morning air rosemary and marjoram | F2 |
| All wholesome herbs and then that woodbine wreath'd | E2 |
| So lavishly around the pillared porch | B |
| Its fragrant flowers that when I past this way | H |
| After a truant absence hastening home | G2 |
| I could not chuse but pass with slacken'd speed | E2 |
| By that delightful fragrance Sadly changed | E2 |
| Is this poor cottage and its dwellers Charles | V |
| Theirs is a simple melancholy tale | H2 |
| There's scarce a village but can fellow it | E2 |
| And yet methinks it will not weary thee | I2 |
| And should not be untold | E2 |
| A widow woman | J2 |
| Dwelt with her daughter here just above want | E2 |
| She lived on some small pittance that sufficed | E2 |
| In better times the needful calls of life | K2 |
| Not without comfort I remember her | C |
| Sitting at evening in that open door way | H |
| And spinning in the sun methinks I see her | C |
| Raising her eyes and dark rimm'd spectacles | V |
| To see the passer by yet ceasing not | E2 |
| To twirl her lengthening thread Or in the garden | J2 |
| On some dry summer evening walking round | E2 |
| To view her flowers and pointing as she lean'd | E2 |
| Upon the ivory handle of her stick | L2 |
| To some carnation whose o'erheavy head | E2 |
| Needed support while with the watering pot | E2 |
| Joanna followed and refresh'd and trimm'd | E2 |
| The drooping plant Joanna her dear child | E2 |
| As lovely and as happy then as youth | M2 |
| And innocence could make her | C |
| Charles it seems | V |
| As tho' I were a boy again and all | E |
| The mediate years with their vicissitudes | V |
| A half forgotten dream I see the Maid | E2 |
| So comely in her Sunday dress her hair | N2 |
| Her bright brown hair wreath'd in contracting curls | V |
| And then her cheek it was a red and white | E2 |
| That made the delicate hues of art look loathsome | F2 |
| The countrymen who on their way to church | O2 |
| Were leaning o'er the bridge loitering to hear | S |
| The bell's last summons and in idleness | V |
| Watching the stream below would all look up | D2 |
| When she pass'd by And her old Mother Charles | V |
| When I have beard some erring infidel | P2 |
| Speak of our faith as of a gloomy creed | E2 |
| Inspiring fear and boding wretchedness | V |
| Her figure has recurr'd for she did love | A2 |
| The sabbath day and many a time has cross'd | E2 |
| These fields in rain and thro' the winter snows | V |
| When I a graceless boy wishing myself | Q2 |
| By the fire side have wondered why 'she' came | R2 |
| Who might have sate at home | G2 |
| One only care | N2 |
| Hung on her aged spirit For herself | Q2 |
| Her path was plain before her and the close | V |
| Of her long journey near But then her child | E2 |
| Soon to be left alone in this bad world | E2 |
| That was a thought that many a winter night | E2 |
| Had kept her sleepless and when prudent love | A2 |
| In something better than a servant's slate | E2 |
| Had placed her well at last it was a pang | S2 |
| Like parting life to part with her dear girl | T2 |
| - | |
| One summer Charles when at the holydays | V |
| Return'd from school I visited again | C2 |
| My old accustomed walks and found in them | F |
| A joy almost like meeting an old friend | E2 |
| I saw the cottage empty and the weeds | V |
| Already crowding the neglected flowers | V |
| Joanna by a villain's wiles seduced | E2 |
| Had played the wanton and that blow had reach'd | E2 |
| Her mother's heart She did not suffer long | U2 |
| Her age was feeble and the heavy blow | V2 |
| Brought her grey hairs with sorrow to the grave | W2 |
| - | |
| I pass this ruin'd dwelling oftentimes | V |
| And think of other days It wakes in me | I2 |
| A transient sadness but the feelings Charles | V |
| That ever with these recollections rise | V |
| I trust in God they will not pass away | H |
Robert Southey
(1)
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About English Eclogues Vi - The Ruined Cottage
English Eclogues Vi - The Ruined Cottage is a poem by Robert Southey. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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