English Eclogues Vi - The Ruined Cottage Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST USVWVXVYZA2B2C2D2E2F 2E2BHG2E2E2VH2E2I2E2 J2E2E2K2CHCVE2J2E2E2 L2E2E2E2E2M2CVEVE2N2 VE2F2O2SVD2VP2E2VA2E 2VQ2R2G2N2Q2VE2E2E2A 2E2S2T2 VC2FE2VVE2E2U2V2W2 VI2VVHAye 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 |
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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 |
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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
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