John, Samuel, & Richard Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDDC E C B FFGGHHIICCC B JJKK L M B NN L OOII B MMPP L GQRR B SSPP L AAKKCC B TTUUIIVV L OOWWCCXG B PPYYWWOOGNZZ L PPGGA2A2B2B2C2C2D2D2 B E2E2F2F2GGCCE2E2OOPP L G2 E G2PPB2B2H2H2NNTime Evening | A |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
'Tis a calm pleasant evening the light fades away | C |
And the Sun going down has done watch for the day | C |
To my mind we live wonderous well when transported | D |
It is but to work and we must be supported | D |
Fill the cann Dick success here to Botany Bay | C |
- | |
- | |
RICHARD | E |
- | |
Success if you will but God send me away | C |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
Ah you lubberly landsmen don't know when you're well | F |
Hadst thou known half the hardships of which I can tell | F |
The sailor has no place of safety in store | G |
From the tempest at sea to the press gang on shore | G |
When Roguery rules all the rest of the earth | H |
God be thanked in this corner I've got a good birth | H |
Talk of hardships what these are the sailor don't know | I |
'Tis the soldier my friend that's acquainted with woe | I |
Long journeys short halting hard work and small pay | C |
To be popt at like pidgeons for sixpence a day | C |
Thank God I'm safe quarter'd at Botany Bay | C |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
Ah you know but little I'll wager a pot | J |
I have suffer'd more evils than fell to your lot | J |
Come we'll have it all fairly and properly tried | K |
Tell story for story and Dick shall decide | K |
- | |
- | |
SAMUEL | L |
- | |
Done | M |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
Done 'Tis a wager and I shall be winner | N |
Thou wilt go without grog Sam to morrow at dinner | N |
- | |
- | |
SAMUEL | L |
- | |
I was trapp'd by the Serjeant's palavering pretences | O |
He listed me when I was out of my senses | O |
So I took leave to day of all care and all sorrow | I |
And was drill'd to repentance and reason to morrow | I |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
I would be a sailor and plough the wide ocean | M |
And was soon sick and sad with the billow's commotion | M |
So the Captain he sent me aloft on the mast | P |
And curs'd me and bid me cry there and hold fast | P |
- | |
- | |
SAMUEL | L |
- | |
After marching all day faint and hungry and sore | G |
I have lain down at night on the swamps of the moor | Q |
Unshelter'd and forced by fatigue to remain | R |
All chill'd by the wind and benumb'd by the rain | R |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
I have rode out the storm when the billows beat high | S |
And the red gleaming lightnings flash'd thro' the dark sky | S |
When the tempest of night the black sea overcast | P |
Wet and weary I labour'd yet sung to the blast | P |
- | |
- | |
SAMUEL | L |
- | |
I have march'd trumpets sounding drums beating flags flying | A |
Where the music of war drown'd the shrieks of the dying | A |
When the shots whizz'd around me all dangers defied | K |
Push'd on when my comrades fell dead at my side | K |
Drove the foe from the mouth of the Cannon away | C |
Fought conquer'd and bled all for sixpence a day | C |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
And I too friend Samuel have heard the shots rattle | T |
But we seamen rejoice in the play of the battle | T |
Tho' the chain and the grape shot roll splintering around | U |
With the blood of our messmates tho' slippery the ground | U |
The fiercer the fight still the fiercer we grow | I |
We heed not our loss so we conquer the foe | I |
And the hard battle won so the prize be not sunk | V |
The Captain gets rich and the Sailors get drunk | V |
- | |
- | |
SAMUEL | L |
- | |
God help the poor soldier when backward he goes | O |
In disgraceful retreat thro' a country of foes | O |
No respite from danger by day or by night | W |
He is still forced to fly still o'ertaken to fight | W |
Every step that he takes he must battle his way | C |
He must force his hard meal from the peasant away | C |
No rest and no hope from all succour afar | X |
God forgive the poor Soldier for going to the war | G |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
But what are these dangers to those I have past | P |
When the dark billows roar'd to the roar of the blast | P |
When we work'd at the pumps worn with labour and weak | Y |
And with dread still beheld the increase of the leak | Y |
Sometimes as we rose on the wave could our sight | W |
From the rocks of the shore catch the light houses light | W |
In vain to the beach to assist us they press | O |
We fire faster and faster our guns of distress | O |
Still with rage unabating the wind and waves roar | G |
How the giddy wreck reels as the billows burst o'er | N |
Leap leap for she yawns for she sinks in the wave | Z |
Call on God to preserve for God only can save | Z |
- | |
- | |
SAMUEL | L |
- | |
There's an end of all troubles however at last | P |
And when I in the waggon of wounded was cast | P |
When my wounds with the chilly night wind smarted sore | G |
And I thought of the friends I should never see more | G |
No hand to relieve scarce a morsel of bread | A2 |
Sick at heart I have envied the peace of the dead | A2 |
Left to rot in a jail till by treaty set free | B2 |
Old England's white cliffs with what joy did I see | B2 |
I had gain'd enough glory some wounds but no good | C2 |
And was turn'd on the public to shift how I could | C2 |
When I think what I've suffer'd and where I am now | D2 |
I curse him who snared me away from the plough | D2 |
- | |
- | |
JOHN | B |
- | |
When I was discharged I went home to my wife | E2 |
There in comfort to spend all the rest of my life | E2 |
My wife was industrious we earn'd what we spent | F2 |
And tho' little we had were with little content | F2 |
And whenever I listen'd and heard the wind roar | G |
I bless'd God for my little snug cabin on shore | G |
At midnight they seiz'd me they dragg'd me away | C |
They wounded me sore when I would not obey | C |
And because for my country I'd ventur'd my life | E2 |
I was dragg'd like a thief from my home and my wife | E2 |
Then the fair wind of Fortune chopp'd round in my face | O |
And Want at length drove me to guilt and disgrace | O |
But all's for the best on the world's wide sea cast | P |
I am haven'd in peace in this corner at last | P |
- | |
- | |
SAMUEL | L |
- | |
Come Dick we have done and for judgment we call | G2 |
- | |
- | |
RICHARD | E |
- | |
And in faith I can give ye no judgment at all | G2 |
I've been listening to all the hard labours you've past | P |
And think in plain troth you're two blockheads at last | P |
My lads where the Deuce was the wit which God gave ye | B2 |
When you sold yourselves first to the army or navy | B2 |
By land and by sea hunting dangers to roam | H2 |
When you might have been hang'd so much easier at home | H2 |
But you're now snug and settled and safe from foul weather | N |
So drink up your grog and be merry together | N |
Robert Southey
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about John, Samuel, & Richard poem by Robert Southey
Best Poems of Robert Southey