The Man From Eldorado Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDED FGFHIJIJ KLKLHMNM OPOPQRQR STSTUVUV WXWXYZYZ A2SA2SB2C2B2C2 D2E2D2E2F2G2F2H2 ZI2ZI2J2K2J2K2 AL2AL2GM2GM2 U N2O2N2O2P2SP2S Q2NQ2NR2S2R2S2 D2T2D2T2D2J2D2J2 ININZLZL U IBIBM2SM2SHe's the man from Eldorado and he's just arrived in town | A |
In moccasins and oily buckskin shirt | B |
He's gaunt as any Indian and pretty nigh as brown | A |
He's greasy and he smells of sweat and dirt | B |
He sports a crop of whiskers that would shame a healthy hog | C |
Hard work has racked his joints and stooped his back | D |
He slops along the sidewalk followed by his yellow dog | E |
But he's got a bunch of gold dust in his sack | D |
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He seems a little wistful as he blinks at all the lights | F |
And maybe he is thinking of his claim | G |
And the dark and dwarfish cabin where he lay and dreamed at nights | F |
Thank God he'll never see the place again | H |
Where he lived on tinned tomatoes beef embalmed and sourdough bread | I |
On rusty beans and bacon furred with mould | J |
His stomach's out of kilter and his system full of lead | I |
But it's over and his poke is full of gold | J |
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He has panted at the windlass he has loaded in the drift | K |
He has pounded at the face of oozy clay | L |
He has taxed himself to sickness dark and damp and double shift | K |
He has labored like a demon night and day | L |
And now praise God it's over and he seems to breathe again | H |
Of new mown hay the warm wet friendly loam | M |
He sees a snowy orchard in a green and dimpling plain | N |
And a little vine clad cottage and it's Home | M |
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II | - |
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He's the man from Eldorado and he's had a bite and sup | O |
And he's met in with a drouthy friend or two | P |
He's cached away his gold dust but he's sort of bucking up | O |
So he's kept enough to night to see him through | P |
His eye is bright and genial his tongue no longer lags | Q |
His heart is brimming o'er with joy and mirth | R |
He may be far from savory he may be clad in rags | Q |
But to night he feels as if he owns the earth | R |
- | |
Says he Boys here is where the shaggy North and I will shake | S |
I thought I'd never manage to get free | T |
I kept on making misses but at last I've got my stake | S |
There's no more thawing frozen muck for me | T |
I am going to God's Country where I'll live the simple life | U |
I'll buy a bit of land and make a start | V |
I'll carve a little homestead and I'll win a little wife | U |
And raise ten little kids to cheer my heart | V |
- | |
They signified their sympathy by crowding to the bar | W |
They bellied up three deep and drank his health | X |
He shed a radiant smile around and smoked a rank cigar | W |
They wished him honor happiness and wealth | X |
They drank unto his wife to be that unsuspecting maid | Y |
They drank unto his children half a score | Z |
And when they got through drinking very tenderly they laid | Y |
The man from Eldorado on the floor | Z |
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III | - |
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He's the man from Eldorado and he's only starting in | A2 |
To cultivate a thousand dollar jag | S |
His poke is full of gold dust and his heart is full of sin | A2 |
And he's dancing with a girl called Muckluck Mag | S |
She's as light as any fairy she's as pretty as a peach | B2 |
She's mistress of the witchcraft to beguile | C2 |
There's sunshine in her manner there is music in her speech | B2 |
And there's concentrated honey in her smile | C2 |
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Oh the fever of the dance hall and the glitter and the shine | D2 |
The beauty and the jewels and the whirl | E2 |
The madness of the music the rapture of the wine | D2 |
The languorous allurement of a girl | E2 |
She is like a lost madonna he is gaunt unkempt and grim | F2 |
But she fondles him and gazes in his eyes | G2 |
Her kisses seek his heavy lips and soon it seems to him | F2 |
He has staked a little claim in Paradise | H2 |
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Who's for a juicy two step cries the master of the floor | Z |
The music throbs with soft seductive beat | I2 |
There's glitter gilt and gladness there are pretty girls galore | Z |
There's a woolly man with moccasins on feet | I2 |
They know they've got him going he is buying wine for all | J2 |
They crowd around as buzzards at a feast | K2 |
Then when his poke is empty they boost him from the hall | J2 |
And spurn him in the gutter like a beast | K2 |
- | |
He's the man from Eldorado and he's painting red the town | A |
Behind he leaves a trail of yellow dust | L2 |
In a whirl of senseless riot he is ramping up and down | A |
There's nothing checks his madness and his lust | L2 |
And soon the word is passed around it travels like a flame | G |
They fight to clutch his hand and call him friend | M2 |
The chevaliers of lost repute the dames of sorry fame | G |
Then comes the grim awakening the end | M2 |
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IV | U |
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He's the man from Eldorado and he gives a grand affair | N2 |
There's feasting dancing wine without restraint | O2 |
The smooth Beau Brummels of the bar the faro men are there | N2 |
The tinhorns and purveyors of red paint | O2 |
The sleek and painted women their predacious eyes aglow | P2 |
Sure Klondike City never saw the like | S |
Then Muckluck Mag proposed the toast The giver of the show | P2 |
The livest sport that ever hit the pike | S |
- | |
The live one rises to his feet he stammers to reply | Q2 |
And then there comes before his muddled brain | N |
A vision of green vastitudes beneath an April sky | Q2 |
And clover pastures drenched with silver rain | N |
He knows that it can never be that he is down and out | R2 |
Life leers at him with foul and fetid breath | S2 |
And then amid the revelry the song and cheer and shout | R2 |
He suddenly grows grim and cold as death | S2 |
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He grips the table tensely and he says Dear friends of mine | D2 |
I've let you dip your fingers in my purse | T2 |
I've crammed you at my table and I've drowned you in my wine | D2 |
And I've little left to give you but my curse | T2 |
I've failed supremely in my plans it's rather late to whine | D2 |
My poke is mighty weasened up and small | J2 |
I thank you each for coming here the happiness is mine | D2 |
And now you thieves and harlots take it all | J2 |
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He twists the thong from off his poke he swings it o'er his head | I |
The nuggets fall around their feet like grain | N |
They rattle over roof and wall they scatter roll and spread | I |
The dust is like a shower of golden rain | N |
The guests a moment stand aghast then grovel on the floor | Z |
They fight and snarl and claw like beasts of prey | L |
And then as everybody grabbed and everybody swore | Z |
The man from Eldorado slipped away | L |
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V | U |
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He's the man from Eldorado and they found him stiff and dead | I |
Half covered by the freezing ooze and dirt | B |
A clotted Colt was in his hand a hole was in his head | I |
And he wore an old and oily buckskin shirt | B |
His eyes were fixed and horrible as one who hails the end | M2 |
The frost had set him rigid as a log | S |
And there half lying on his breast his last and only friend | M2 |
There crouched and whined a mangy yellow dog | S |
Robert William Service
(1)
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