The White Peacock Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEF GHGGI JKLMNOPQRRSG TUVW XY ZA2KB2C2 ZRGS MD2E2 F2F2G2F2 H2 I2J2MK2L2M2 MG N2GRKRRPO2P2SJMQ2R2S 2T2S2MMU2R S2V2W2 MMS2 F2S2S2S2M RMRQ2MMQ2MX2RS2Y2 MS2MMZ2X2 S2S2Q2 MMQ2R Q2MMS2S2Q2Q2S2Q2 RFrance Ancient Regime | A |
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I | - |
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Go away | B |
Go away I will not confess to you | C |
His black biretta clings like a hangman's cap under his twitching fingers the beads shiver and click | D |
As he mumbles in his corner the shadow deepens upon him | E |
I will not confess | F |
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Is he there or is it intenser shadow | G |
Dark huddled coilings from the obscene depths | H |
Black formless shadow | G |
Shadow | G |
Doors creak from secret parts of the chateau come the scuffle and worry of rats | I |
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Orange light drips from the guttering candles | J |
Eddying over the vast embroideries of the bed | K |
Stirring the monstrous tapestries | L |
Retreating before the sable impending gloom of the canopy | M |
With a swift thrust and sparkle of gold | N |
Lipping my hands | O |
Then | P |
Rippling back abashed before the ominous silences | Q |
Like the swift turns and starts of an overpowered fencer | R |
Who sees before him Horror | R |
Behind him darkness | S |
Shadow | G |
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The clock jars and strikes a thin sudden note like the sob of a child | T |
Clock buhl clock that ticked out the tortuous hours of my birth | U |
Clock evil wizened dwarf of a clock how many years of agony have you relentlessly measured | V |
Yardstick of my stifling shroud | W |
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I am Aumaury de Montreuil once quick soon to be eaten of worms | X |
You hear Father Hsh he is asleep in the night's cloak | Y |
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Over me too steals sleep | Z |
Sleep like a white mist on the rotting paintings of cupids and gods on the ceiling | A2 |
Sleep on the carven shields and knots at the foot of the bed | K |
Oozing blurring outlines obliterating colors | B2 |
Death | C2 |
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Father Father I must not sleep | Z |
It does not hear that shadow crouched in the corner | R |
Is it a shadow | G |
One might think so indeed save for the calm face yellow as wax that lifts like the face of a drowned man from the choking darkness | S |
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II | - |
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Out of the drowsy fog my body creeps back to me | M |
It is the white time before dawn | D2 |
Moonlight watery pellucid lifeless ripples over the world | E2 |
The grass beneath it is gray the stars pale in the sky | - |
The night dew has fallen | F2 |
An infinity of little drops crystals from which all light has been taken | F2 |
Glint on the sighing branches | G2 |
All is purity without color without stir without passion | F2 |
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Suddenly a peacock screams | H2 |
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My heart shocks and stops | I2 |
Sweat cold corpse sweat | J2 |
Covers my rigid body | M |
My hair stands on end I cannot stir I cannot speak | K2 |
It is terror terror that is walking the pale sick gardens | L2 |
And the eyeless face no man may see and live | M2 |
Ah h h h h | - |
Father Father wake wake and save me | M |
In his corner all is shadow | G |
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Dead things creep from the ground | N2 |
It is so long ago that she died so long ago | G |
Dust crushes her earth holds her mold grips her | R |
Fiends do you not know that she is dead | K |
Let us dance the pavon she said the waxlights glittered like swords on the polished floor | R |
Twinkling on jewelled snuffboxes beaming savagely from the crass gold of candelabra | R |
From the white shoulders of girls and the white powdered wigs of men | P |
All life was that dance | O2 |
The mocking resistless current | P2 |
The beauty the passion the perilous madness | S |
As she took my hand released it and spread her dresses like petals | J |
Turning swaying in beauty | M |
A lily bowed by the rain | Q2 |
Moonlight she was and her body of moonlight and foam | R2 |
And her eyes stars | S2 |
Oh the dance has a pattern | T2 |
But the clear grace of her thrilled through the notes of the viols | S2 |
Tremulous pleading escaping immortal untamed | M |
And as we ended | M |
She blew me a kiss from her hand like a drifting white blossom | U2 |
And the starshine was gone and she fled like a bird up the stair | R |
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Underneath the window a peacock screams | S2 |
And claws click scrape | V2 |
Like little lacquered boots on the rough stone | W2 |
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Oh the long fantasy of the kiss the ceaseless hunger ceaselessly divinely appeased | M |
The aching presence of the beloved's beauty | M |
The wisdom the incense the brightness | S2 |
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Once more on the ice bright floor they danced the pavon | F2 |
But I turned to the garden and her from the lighted candles | S2 |
Softly I trod the lush grass between the black hedges of box | S2 |
Softly for I should take her unawares and catch her arms | S2 |
And embrace her dear and startled | M |
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By the arbor all the moonlight flowed in silver | R |
And her head was on his breast | M |
She did not scream or shudder | R |
When my sword was where her head had lain | Q2 |
In the quiet moonlight | M |
But turned to me with one pale hand uplifted | M |
All her satins fiery with the starshine | Q2 |
Nacreous shimmering weeping iridescent | M |
Like the quivering plumage of a peacock | X2 |
Then her head drooped and I gripped her hair | R |
Oh soft scented cloud across my fingers | S2 |
Bending her white neck back | Y2 |
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Blood writhed on my hands I trod in blood | M |
Stupidly agaze | S2 |
At that crumpled heap of silk and moonlight | M |
Where like twitching pinions an arm twisted | M |
Palely and was still | Z2 |
As the face of chalk | X2 |
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The buhl clock strikes | S2 |
Thirty years Christ thirty years | S2 |
Agony Agony | Q2 |
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Something stirs in the window | M |
Shattering the moonlight | M |
White wings fan | Q2 |
Father Father | R |
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All its plumage fiery with the starshine | Q2 |
Nacreous shimmering weeping iridescent | M |
It drifts across the floor and mounts the bed | M |
To the tap of little satin shoes | S2 |
Gazing with infernal eyes | S2 |
Its quick beak thrusting rending devil's crimson | Q2 |
Screams great tortured screams shake the dark canopy | Q2 |
The light flickers the shadow in the corner stirs | S2 |
The wax face lifts the eyes open | Q2 |
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A thin trickle of blood worms darkly against the vast red coverlet and spreads to a pool on the floor | R |
Stephen Vincent Benet
(1)
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