The Hemp Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CDCD CCEEE FFF GG HHH II JJJ KK CCC DDD LL MMNN OO PPP CCC QQRQ STUT B VV WWW XX YYY ZZZ A2A2A2 CC FF ZZ CC CCC II CC FF B2B2 CC C2C2C2 CC ZZ CC D2D2D2 B CDCD EE E2E2 ZZZ GG F2F2 G2G2 JJ H2H2 E2E2 I2I2 ZZ J2J2 K2K2 KK L2L2L2 M2M2QM2 N2N2E2O2 P2P2E2P2 CCQ2CA Virginia Legend | A |
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The Planting of the Hemp | B |
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Captain Hawk scourged clean the seas | C |
Black is the gap below the plank | D |
From the Great North Bank to the Caribbees | C |
Down by the marsh the hemp grows rank | D |
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His fear was on the seaport towns | C |
The weight of his hand held hard the downs | C |
And the merchants cursed him bitter and black | E |
For a red flame in the sea fog's wrack | E |
Was all of their ships that might come back | E |
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For all he had one word alone | F |
One clod of dirt in their faces thrown | F |
The hemp that shall hang me is not grown | F |
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His name bestrode the seas like Death | G |
The waters trembled at his breath | G |
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This is the tale of how he fell | H |
Of the long sweep and the heavy swell | H |
And the rope that dragged him down to hell | H |
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The fight was done and the gutted ship | I |
Stripped like a shark the sea gulls strip | I |
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Lurched blindly eaten out with flame | J |
Back to the land from where she came | J |
A skimming horror an eyeless shame | J |
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And Hawk stood upon his quarter deck | K |
And saw the sky and saw the wreck | K |
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Below a butt for sailors' jeers | C |
White as the sky when a white squall nears | C |
Huddled the crowd of the prisoners | C |
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Over the bridge of the tottering plank | D |
Where the sea shook and the gulf yawned blank | D |
They shrieked and struggled and dropped and sank | D |
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Pinioned arms and hands bound fast | L |
One girl alone was left at last | L |
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Sir Henry Gaunt was a mighty lord | M |
He sat in state at the Council board | M |
The governors were as nought to him | N |
From one rim to the other rim | N |
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Of his great plantations flung out wide | O |
Like a purple cloak was a full month's ride | O |
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Life and death in his white hands lay | P |
And his only daughter stood at bay | P |
Trapped like a hare in the toils that day | P |
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He sat at wine in his gold and his lace | C |
And far away in a bloody place | C |
Hawk came near and she covered her face | C |
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He rode in the fields and the hunt was brave | Q |
And far away his daughter gave | Q |
A shriek that the seas cried out to hear | R |
And he could not see and he could not save | Q |
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Her white soul withered in the mire | S |
As paper shrivels up in fire | T |
And Hawk laughed and he kissed her mouth | U |
And her body he took for his desire | T |
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The Growing of the Hemp | B |
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Sir Henry stood in the manor room | V |
And his eyes were hard gems in the gloom | V |
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And he said Go dig me furrows five | W |
Where the green marsh creeps like a thing alive | W |
There at its edge where the rushes thrive | W |
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And where the furrows rent the ground | X |
He sowed the seed of hemp around | X |
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And the blacks shrink back and are sore afraid | Y |
At the furrows five that rib the glade | Y |
And the voodoo work of the master's spade | Y |
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For a cold wind blows from the marshland near | Z |
And white things move and the night grows drear | Z |
And they chatter and crouch and are sick with fear | Z |
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But down by the marsh where the gray slaves glean | A2 |
The hemp sprouts up and the earth is seen | A2 |
Veiled with a tenuous mist of green | A2 |
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And Hawk still scourges the Caribbees | C |
And many men kneel at his knees | C |
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Sir Henry sits in his house alone | F |
And his eyes are hard and dull like stone | F |
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And the waves beat and the winds roar | Z |
And all things are as they were before | Z |
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And the days pass and the weeks pass | C |
And nothing changes but the grass | C |
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But down where the fireflies are like eyes | C |
And the damps shudder and the mists rise | C |
The hemp stalks stand up toward the skies | C |
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And down from the poop of the pirate ship | I |
A body falls and the great sharks grip | I |
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Innocent lovely go in grace | C |
At last there is peace upon your face | C |
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And Hawk laughs loud as the corpse is thrown | F |
The hemp that shall hang me is not grown | F |
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Sir Henry's face is iron to mark | B2 |
And he gazes ever in the dark | B2 |
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And the days pass and the weeks pass | C |
And the world is as it always was | C |
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But down by the marsh the sickles beam | C2 |
Glitter on glitter gleam on gleam | C2 |
And the hemp falls down by the stagnant stream | C2 |
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And Hawk beats up from the Caribbees | C |
Swooping to pounce in the Northern seas | C |
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Sir Henry sits sunk deep in his chair | Z |
And white as his hand is grown his hair | Z |
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And the days pass and the weeks pass | C |
And the sands roll from the hour glass | C |
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But down by the marsh in the blazing sun | D2 |
The hemp is smoothed and twisted and spun | D2 |
The rope made and the work done | D2 |
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The Using of the Hemp | B |
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Captain Hawk scourged clean the seas | C |
Black is the gap below the plank | D |
From the Great North Bank to the Caribbees | C |
Down by the marsh the hemp grows rank | D |
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He sailed in the broad Atlantic track | E |
And the ships that saw him came not back | E |
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And once again where the wide tides ran | E2 |
He stooped to harry a merchantman | E2 |
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He bade her stop Ten guns spake true | Z |
From her hidden ports and a hidden crew | Z |
Lacking his great ship through and through | Z |
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Dazed and dumb with the sudden death | G |
He scarce had time to draw a breath | G |
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Before the grappling irons bit deep | F2 |
And the boarders slew his crew like sheep | F2 |
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Hawk stood up straight his breast to the steel | G2 |
His cutlass made a bloody wheel | G2 |
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His cutlass made a wheel of flame | J |
They shrank before him as he came | J |
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And the bodies fell in a choking crowd | H2 |
And still he thundered out aloud | H2 |
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The hemp that shall hang me is not grown | E2 |
They fled at last He was left alone | E2 |
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Before his foe Sir Henry stood | I2 |
The hemp is grown and my word made good | I2 |
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And the cutlass clanged with a hissing whir | Z |
On the lashing blade of the rapier | Z |
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Hawk roared and charged like a maddened buck | J2 |
As the cobra strikes Sir Henry struck | J2 |
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Pouring his life in a single thrust | K2 |
And the cutlass shivered to sparks and dust | K2 |
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Sir Henry stood on the blood stained deck | K |
And set his foot on his foe's neck | K |
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Then from the hatch where the rent decks slope | L2 |
Where the dead roll and the wounded grope | L2 |
He dragged the serpent of the rope | L2 |
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The sky was blue and the sea was still | M2 |
The waves lapped softly hill on hill | M2 |
And between one wave and another wave | Q |
The doomed man's cries were little and shrill | M2 |
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The sea was blue and the sky was calm | N2 |
The air dripped with a golden balm | N2 |
Like a wind blown fruit between sea and sun | E2 |
A black thing writhed at a yard arm | O2 |
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Slowly then and awesomely | P2 |
The ship sank and the gallows tree | P2 |
And there was nought between sea and sun | E2 |
Nought but the sun and the sky and the sea | P2 |
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But down by the marsh where the fever breeds | C |
Only the water chuckles and pleads | C |
For the hemp clings fast to a dead man's throat | Q2 |
And blind Fate gathers back her seeds | C |
Stephen Vincent Benet
(1)
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