Of Three Children Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB CD ED FG FG FG HI HI JK J LM LM NO NN KK KK PD PD CN CN EN NQ NQ NQ NQ RQ RQ RQ RQ NQ NNQ ST SST NU NU VR V WX DX YZ YZ QK QK NQ NQ PN A2N A2A2N NN NN N B2C2 D2C2 QQQC2 E2N E2N KQ KKQ F2N F2N AD AD NQ NQ KN K G2D2 H2B2 NB2 NN NN I2I2NB2D2N EECN KKKNOF THREE CHILDREN CHOOSING | A |
A CHAPLET OF VERSE | B |
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You and I and Burd so blithe | C |
Burd so blithe and you and I | D |
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The Mower he would whet his scythe | E |
Before the dew was dry | D |
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And he woke soon but we woke soon | F |
And drew the nursery blind | G |
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All wondering at the waning moon | F |
With the small June roses twined | G |
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Low in her cradle swung the moon | F |
With an elfin dawn behind | G |
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In whispers while our elders slept | H |
We knelt and said our prayers | I |
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And dress'd us and on tiptoe crept | H |
Adown the creaking stairs | I |
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The world's possessors lay abed | J |
And all the world was ours | K |
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'Nay nay but hark the Mower's tread | J |
And we must save the flowers ' | - |
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The Mower knew not rest nor haste | L |
That old unweary man | M |
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But we were young We paused and raced | L |
And gather'd while we ran | M |
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O youth is careless youth is fleet | N |
With heart and wing of bird | O |
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The lark flew up beneath our feet | N |
To his copse the pheasant whirr'd | N |
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The cattle from their darkling lairs | K |
Heaved up and stretch'd themselves | K |
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Almost they trod at unawares | K |
Upon the busy elves | K |
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That dropp'd their spools of gossamer | P |
To dangle and to dry | D |
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And scurried home to the hollow fir | P |
Where the white owl winks an eye | D |
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Nor you nor I nor Burd so blithe | C |
Had driven them in this haste | N |
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But the old old man so lean and lithe | C |
That afar behind us paced | N |
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So lean and lithe with shoulder'd scythe | E |
And a whetstone at his waist | N |
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Within the gate in a grassy round | N |
Whence they had earliest flown | Q |
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He upside down'd his scythe and ground | N |
Its edge with careful hone | Q |
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But we heeded not if we heard the sound | N |
For the world was ours alone | Q |
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The world was ours and with a bound | N |
The conquering Sun upshone | Q |
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And while as from his level ray | R |
We stood our eyes to screen | Q |
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The world was not as yesterday | R |
Our homelier world had been | Q |
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So grey and golden green it lay | R |
All in his quiet sheen | Q |
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That wove the gold into the grey | R |
The grey into the green | Q |
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Sure never hand of Puck nor wand | N |
Of Mab the fairies' queen | Q |
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Nor prince nor peer of fairyland | N |
Had power to weave that wide riband | N |
Of the grey the gold the green | Q |
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But the Gods of Greece had been before | S |
And walked our meads along | T |
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The great authentic Gods of yore | S |
That haunt the earth from shore to shore | S |
Trailing their robes of song | T |
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And where a sandall'd foot had brush'd | N |
And where a scarfed hem | U |
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The flowers awoke from sleep and rush'd | N |
Like children after them | U |
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Pell mell they poured by vale and stream | V |
By lawn and steepy brae | R |
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'O children children while you dream | V |
Your flowers run all away ' | - |
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But afar and abed and sleepily | W |
The children heard us call | X |
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And Burd so blithe and you and I | D |
Must be gatherers for all | X |
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The meadow sweet beside the hedge | Y |
The dog rose and the vetch | Z |
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The sworded iris 'mid the sedge | Y |
The mallow by the ditch | Z |
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With these and by the wimpling burn | Q |
Where the midges danced in reels | K |
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With the watermint and the lady fern | Q |
We brimm'd out wicker creels | K |
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Till all so heavily they weigh'd | N |
On a bank we flung us down | Q |
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Shook out our treasures 'neath the shade | N |
And wove this Triple Crown | Q |
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Flower after flower for some there were | P |
The noonday heats had dried | N |
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And some were dear yet could not bear | A2 |
A lovelier cheek beside | N |
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And some were perfect past compare | A2 |
Ah darlings what a world of care | A2 |
It cost us to decide | N |
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Natheless we sang in sweet accord | N |
Each bending o'er her brede | N |
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'O there be flowers in Oxenford | N |
And flowers be north of Tweed | N |
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And flowers there be on earthly sward | N |
That owe no mortal seed ' | - |
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And these the brightest that we wove | B2 |
Were Innocence and Truth | C2 |
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And holy Peace and angel Love | D2 |
Glad Hope and gentle Ruth | C2 |
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Ah bind them fast with triple twine | Q |
Of Memory the wild woodbine | Q |
That still being human stays divine | Q |
And alone is age's youth | C2 |
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But hark but look the warning rook | E2 |
Wings home in level flight | N |
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The children tired with play and book | E2 |
Have kiss'd and call'd Good night | N |
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Ah sisters look What fields be these | K |
That lie so sad and shorn | Q |
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What hand has cut our coppices | K |
And thro' the trimm'd the ruin'd trees | K |
Lets wail a wind forlorn | Q |
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'Tis Time 'tis Time has done this crime | F2 |
And laid our meadows waste | N |
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The bent unwearied tyrant Time | F2 |
That knows nor rest nor haste | N |
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Yet courage children homeward bring | A |
Your hearts your garlands high | D |
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For we have dared to do a thing | A |
That shall his worst defy | D |
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We cannot nail the dial's hand | N |
We cannot bind the sun | Q |
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By Gibeon to stay and stand | N |
Or the moon o'er Ajalon | Q |
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We cannot blunt th' abhorred shears | K |
Nor shift the skeins of Fate | N |
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Nor say unto the posting years | K |
'Ye shall not desolate ' | - |
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We cannot cage the lion's rage | G2 |
Nor teach the turtle dove | D2 |
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Beside what well his moan to tell | H2 |
Or to haunt one only grove | B2 |
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But the lion's brood will range for food | N |
As the fledged bird will rove | B2 |
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And east and west we three may wend | N |
Yet we a wreath have wound | N |
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For us shall wind withouten end | N |
The wide wide world around | N |
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Be it east or west and ne'er so far | I2 |
In east or west shall peep no star | I2 |
No blossom break from ground | N |
But minds us of the wreath we wove | B2 |
Of innocence and holy love | D2 |
That in the meads we found | N |
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And handsell'd from the Mower's scythe | E |
And bound with memory's living withe | E |
You and I and Burd so blithe | C |
Three maidens on a mound | N |
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And all of happiness was ours | K |
Shall find remembrance 'mid the flowers | K |
Shall take revival from the flowers | K |
And by the flowers be crown'd | N |
Sir Arthur Quiller-couch
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