The Ballad Of Fisher's Boarding-house Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDB EFGFHF BIJIKI LMNOBO PQRQSQ TDUDTD BBVUTB TWXWBW DTPTYT BPZPTP A2DB2DTD PQJQTQ BBTBC2D DD2DD2DD2 BTDTE2T TBDBTB BDDDTD PQDQTQThat night when through the mooring chains | A |
The wide eyed corpse rolled free | B |
To blunder down by Garden Reach | C |
And rot at Kedgeree | B |
The tale the Hughli told the shoal | D |
The lean shoal told to me | B |
- | |
'T was Fultah Fisher's boarding house | E |
Where sailor men reside | F |
And there were men of all the ports | G |
From Mississip to Clyde | F |
And regally they spat and smoked | H |
And fearsomely they lied | F |
- | |
They lied about the purple Sea | B |
That gave them scanty bread | I |
They lied about the Earth beneath | J |
The Heavens overhead | I |
For they had looked too often on | K |
Black rum when that was red | I |
- | |
They told their tales of wreck and wrong | L |
Of shame and lust and fraud | M |
They backed their toughest statements with | N |
The Brimstone of the Lord | O |
And crackling oaths went to and fro | B |
Across the fist banged board | O |
- | |
And there was Hans the blue eyed Dane | P |
Bull throated bare of arm | Q |
Who carried on his hairy chest | R |
The maid Ultruda's charm | Q |
The little silver crucifix | S |
That keeps a man from harm | Q |
- | |
And there was Jake Withouth the Ears | T |
And Pamba the Malay | D |
And Carboy Gin the Guinea cook | U |
And Luz from Vigo Bay | D |
And Honest Jack who sold them slops | T |
And harvested their pay | D |
- | |
And there was Salem Hardieker | B |
A lean Bostonian he | B |
Russ German English Halfbreed Finn | V |
Yank Dane and Portuguee | U |
At Fultah Fisher's boarding house | T |
The rested from the sea | B |
- | |
Now Anne of Austria shared their drinks | T |
Collinga knew her fame | W |
From Tarnau in Galicia | X |
To Juan Bazaar she came | W |
To eat the bread of infamy | B |
And take the wage of shame | W |
- | |
She held a dozen men to heel | D |
Rich spoil of war was hers | T |
In hose and gown and ring and chain | P |
From twenty mariners | T |
And by Port Law that week men called | Y |
her Salem Hardieker's | T |
- | |
But seamen learnt what landsmen know | B |
That neither gifts nor gain | P |
Can hold a winking Light o' Love | Z |
Or Fancy's flight restrain | P |
When Anne of Austria rolled her eyes | T |
On Hans the blue eyed Dane | P |
- | |
Since Life is strife and strife means knife | A2 |
From Howrah to the Bay | D |
And he may die before the dawn | B2 |
Who liquored out the day | D |
In Fultah Fisher's boarding house | T |
We woo while yet we may | D |
- | |
But cold was Hans the blue eyed Dane | P |
Bull throated bare of arm | Q |
And laughter shook the chest beneath | J |
The maid Ultruda's charm | Q |
The little silver crucifix | T |
That keeps a man from harm | Q |
- | |
quot You speak to Salem Hardieker | B |
quot You was his girl I know | B |
quot I ship mineselfs to morrow see | T |
quot Und round the Skaw we go | B |
quot South down the Cattegat by Hjelm | C2 |
quot To Besser in Saro quot | D |
- | |
When love rejected turns to hate | D |
All ill betide the man | D2 |
quot You speak to Salem Hardieker quot | D |
She spoke as woman can | D2 |
A scream a sob quot He called me names quot | D |
And then the fray began | D2 |
- | |
An oath from Salem Hardieker | B |
A shriek upon the stairs | T |
A dance of shadows on the wall | D |
A knife thrust unawares | T |
And Hans came down as cattle drop | E2 |
Across the broken chairs | T |
- | |
- | |
- | |
In Anne of Austria's trembling hands | T |
The weary head fell low | B |
quot I ship mineselfs to morrow straight | D |
quot For Besser in Saro | B |
quot Und there Ultruda comes to me | T |
quot At Easter und I go | B |
- | |
quot South down the Cattegat What's here | B |
quot There are no lights to guide quot | D |
The mutter ceased the spirit passed | D |
And Anne of Austria cried | D |
In Fultah Fisher's boarding house | T |
When Hans the mighty died | D |
- | |
Thus slew they Hans the blue eyed Dane | P |
Bull throated bare of arm | Q |
But Anne of Austria looted first | D |
The maid Ultruda's charm | Q |
The little silver crucifix | T |
That keeps a man from harm | Q |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
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