The Hemp - A Virginia Legend Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC BBDDD EEE FF GGG HH III JJ BBB CCC KK LLMM NN OOO BBB PPQP RSTS A UU VVV WW XXX YYY ZZZ BB EE YY BB BBB HH BB EE A2A2 BB B2B2B2 BB YY BB C2C2C2 A BCBC DD D2D2 YYY FF E2E2 F2F2 II G2G2 D2D2 H2H2 YY I2I2 J2J2 JJ K2K2K2 L2L2PL2 M2M2D2N2 O2O2D2O2 BBP2BThe Planting of the Hemp | A |
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Captain Hawk scourged clean the seas | B |
Black is the gap below the plank | C |
From the Great North Bank to the Caribbees | B |
Down by the marsh the hemp grows rank | C |
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His fear was on the seaport towns | B |
The weight of his hand held hard the downs | B |
And the merchants cursed him bitter and black | D |
For a red flame in the sea fog's wrack | D |
Was all of their ships that might come back | D |
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For all he had one word alone | E |
One clod of dirt in their faces thrown | E |
The hemp that shall hang me is not grown | E |
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His name bestrode the seas like Death | F |
The waters trembled at his breath | F |
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This is the tale of how he fell | G |
Of the long sweep and the heavy swell | G |
And the rope that dragged him down to hell | G |
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The fight was done and the gutted ship | H |
Stripped like a shark the sea gulls strip | H |
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Lurched blindly eaten out with flame | I |
Back to the land from where she came | I |
A skimming horror an eyeless shame | I |
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And Hawk stood upon his quarter deck | J |
And saw the sky and saw the wreck | J |
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Below a butt for sailors' jeers | B |
White as the sky when a white squall nears | B |
Huddled the crowd of the prisoners | B |
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Over the bridge of the tottering plank | C |
Where the sea shook and the gulf yawned blank | C |
They shrieked and struggled and dropped and sank | C |
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Pinioned arms and hands bound fast | K |
One girl alone was left at last | K |
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Sir Henry Gaunt was a mighty lord | L |
He sat in state at the Council board | L |
The governors were as nought to him | M |
From one rim to the other rim | M |
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Of his great plantations flung out wide | N |
Like a purple cloak was a full month's ride | N |
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Life and death in his white hands lay | O |
And his only daughter stood at bay | O |
Trapped like a hare in the toils that day | O |
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He sat at wine in his gold and his lace | B |
And far away in a bloody place | B |
Hawk came near and she covered her face | B |
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He rode in the fields and the hunt was brave | P |
And far away his daughter gave | P |
A shriek that the seas cried out to hear | Q |
And he could not see and he could not save | P |
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Her white soul withered in the mire | R |
As paper shrivels up in fire | S |
And Hawk laughed and he kissed her mouth | T |
And her body he took for his desire | S |
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The Growing of the Hemp | A |
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Sir Henry stood in the manor room | U |
And his eyes were hard gems in the gloom | U |
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And he said Go dig me furrows five | V |
Where the green marsh creeps like a thing alive | V |
There at its edge where the rushes thrive | V |
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And where the furrows rent the ground | W |
He sowed the seed of hemp around | W |
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And the blacks shrink back and are sore afraid | X |
At the furrows five that rib the glade | X |
And the voodoo work of the master's spade | X |
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For a cold wind blows from the marshland near | Y |
And white things move and the night grows drear | Y |
And they chatter and crouch and are sick with fear | Y |
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But down by the marsh where the gray slaves glean | Z |
The hemp sprouts up and the earth is seen | Z |
Veiled with a tenuous mist of green | Z |
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And Hawk still scourges the Caribbees | B |
And many men kneel at his knees | B |
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Sir Henry sits in his house alone | E |
And his eyes are hard and dull like stone | E |
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And the waves beat and the winds roar | Y |
And all things are as they were before | Y |
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And the days pass and the weeks pass | B |
And nothing changes but the grass | B |
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But down where the fireflies are like eyes | B |
And the damps shudder and the mists rise | B |
The hemp stalks stand up toward the skies | B |
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And down from the poop of the pirate ship | H |
A body falls and the great sharks grip | H |
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Innocent lovely go in grace | B |
At last there is peace upon your face | B |
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And Hawk laughs loud as the corpse is thrown | E |
The hemp that shall hang me is not grown | E |
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Sir Henry's face is iron to mark | A2 |
And he gazes ever in the dark | A2 |
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And the days pass and the weeks pass | B |
And the world is as it always was | B |
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But down by the marsh the sickles beam | B2 |
Glitter on glitter gleam on gleam | B2 |
And the hemp falls down by the stagnant stream | B2 |
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And Hawk beats up from the Caribbees | B |
Swooping to pounce in the Northern seas | B |
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Sir Henry sits sunk deep in his chair | Y |
And white as his hand is grown his hair | Y |
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And the days pass and the weeks pass | B |
And the sands roll from the hour glass | B |
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But down by the marsh in the blazing sun | C2 |
The hemp is smoothed and twisted and spun | C2 |
The rope made and the work done | C2 |
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The Using of the Hemp | A |
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Captain Hawk scourged clean the seas | B |
Black is the gap below the plank | C |
From the Great North Bank to the Caribbees | B |
Down by the marsh the hemp grows rank | C |
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He sailed in the broad Atlantic track | D |
And the ships that saw him came not back | D |
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And once again where the wide tides ran | D2 |
He stooped to harry a merchantman | D2 |
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He bade her stop Ten guns spake true | Y |
From her hidden ports and a hidden crew | Y |
Lacking his great ship through and through | Y |
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Dazed and dumb with the sudden death | F |
He scarce had time to draw a breath | F |
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Before the grappling irons bit deep | E2 |
And the boarders slew his crew like sheep | E2 |
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Hawk stood up straight his breast to the steel | F2 |
His cutlass made a bloody wheel | F2 |
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His cutlass made a wheel of flame | I |
They shrank before him as he came | I |
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And the bodies fell in a choking crowd | G2 |
And still he thundered out aloud | G2 |
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The hemp that shall hang me is not grown | D2 |
They fled at last He was left alone | D2 |
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Before his foe Sir Henry stood | H2 |
The hemp is grown and my word made good | H2 |
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And the cutlass clanged with a hissing whir | Y |
On the lashing blade of the rapier | Y |
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Hawk roared and charged like a maddened buck | I2 |
As the cobra strikes Sir Henry struck | I2 |
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Pouring his life in a single thrust | J2 |
And the cutlass shivered to sparks and dust | J2 |
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Sir Henry stood on the blood stained deck | J |
And set his foot on his foe's neck | J |
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Then from the hatch where the rent decks slope | K2 |
Where the dead roll and the wounded grope | K2 |
He dragged the serpent of the rope | K2 |
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The sky was blue and the sea was still | L2 |
The waves lapped softly hill on hill | L2 |
And between one wave and another wave | P |
The doomed man's cries were little and shrill | L2 |
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The sea was blue and the sky was calm | M2 |
The air dripped with a golden balm | M2 |
Like a wind blown fruit between sea and sun | D2 |
A black thing writhed at a yard arm | N2 |
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Slowly then and awesomely | O2 |
The ship sank and the gallows tree | O2 |
And there was nought between sea and sun | D2 |
Nought but the sun and the sky and the sea | O2 |
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But down by the marsh where the fever breeds | B |
Only the water chuckles and pleads | B |
For the hemp clings fast to a dead man's throat | P2 |
And blind Fate gathers back her seeds | B |
Stephen Vincent Benet
(1)
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