Three Day's Ride Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB CC DDEEFFGHHI JJA KKLLKK MMNN OOPPQQA RRSHT SUUPPPPV VCWWCXXY PPP YNZPPZZA2A2P B2B2C2C2QQP PD2FE2E2PPZZ PPPPF2G2G2YH2H2PI2I2 PJ2J2J2J2 WW PRRPDDZZPPP'From Belton Castle to Solway side | A |
Hard by the bridge is three days' ride ' | B |
- | |
We had fled full fast from her father's keep | C |
And the time was come that we must sleep | C |
- | |
The first day was an ecstasy | D |
A golden mist a burgeoning tree | D |
We rode like gods through a world new made | E |
The hawthorn scented hill and glade | E |
A faint still sweetness in the air | F |
And oh her face and the wind in her hair | F |
And the steady beat of our good steeds' hooves | G |
Bearing us northward strong and fast | H |
To my high black tower stark to the blast | H |
Like a swimmer stripped where the Solway moves | I |
- | |
And ever riding we chanted a song | J |
Challenging Fortune loud and long | J |
'From Belton Castle to Solway side | A |
Strive as you may is three days' ride ' | - |
- | |
She slept for an hour wrapped in my cloak | K |
And I watched her till the morning broke | K |
The second day and a harsher land | L |
And grey bare hills on either hand | L |
A surly land and a sullen folk | K |
And a fog that came like bitter smoke | K |
- | |
The road wound on like a twisted snake | M |
And our horses sobbed as they topped the brake | M |
Till we sprang to earth at Wyvern Fen | N |
Where fresh steeds stamped and were off again | N |
- | |
Weary and sleepless bruised and worn | O |
We still had strength for laughter and scorn | O |
Love held us up through the mire and mist | P |
Love fed us while we clasped and kissed | P |
And still we sang as the night closed in | Q |
Stealthy and slow as a hidden sin | Q |
'From Belton Castle to Solway side | A |
Ride how you will is three days' ride ' | - |
- | |
My love drooped low on the black mare's back | R |
Drowned in her hair the reins went slack | R |
Yet she could not sleep save to dream bad dreams | S |
And wake all trembling till at last | H |
Her golden head lay on my breast | T |
- | |
At last we saw the first faint gleams | S |
Of day Dawn broke A sickly light | U |
Came from the withered sun a blight | U |
Was on the land and poisonous mist | P |
Shrouded the rotting trees unkissed | P |
By any wind and the black crags glared | P |
Like sightless awful faces spared | P |
From death to live accursed for aye | V |
- | |
Dragging slow chains the hours went by | V |
We rode on drunk and drugged with sleep | C |
Too deadly weary now to say | W |
Whether our horses kept the way | W |
Or no like slaves stretched on a heap | C |
Of poisoned arrows Every limb | X |
Shot with sharp pain pain seemed to swim | X |
Like a red cloud before our eyes | Y |
- | |
The mist broke and a moment showed | P |
Sharp as the Devil's oxen goad | P |
The spear points where the hot chase rode | P |
- | |
Idly I watched them dance and rise | Y |
Till white wreaths wiped them out again | N |
My love jerked at the bridle rein | Z |
The black mare dying broke her heart | P |
In one swift gallop for my part | P |
I dozed and ever in my brain | Z |
Four hoofs of fire beat out refrain | Z |
A dirge to light us down to death | A2 |
A silly rhyme that saith and saith | A2 |
'From Belton Castle to Solway side | P |
Though great hearts break is three days' ride ' | - |
The black mare staggered reeled and fell | B2 |
Bearing my love down a great bell | B2 |
Began to toll and sudden fire | C2 |
Flared at me from the road a pyre | C2 |
It seemed to burn our bodies in | Q |
And I fell down far down within | Q |
The pit's mouth and my brain went blind | P |
- | |
I woke a cold sun rose behind | P |
Black evil hills my love knelt near | D2 |
Beside a stream her golden hair | F |
Streaming across the grass below | E2 |
The Solway eddied to and fro | E2 |
White with fierce whirlpools my love turned | P |
Thank God some hours of joy are burned | P |
Into the mind and will remain | Z |
Fierce blazing still in spite of pain | Z |
- | |
They came behind us as we kissed | P |
Stealthily from the dripping mist | P |
Her brothers and their evil band | P |
They bound me fast and made me stand | P |
They forced her down upon her knees | F2 |
She did not strive or cry or call | G2 |
But knelt there dumb before them all | G2 |
I could not turn away my eyes | Y |
There was no fear upon her face | H2 |
Although they slew her in that place | H2 |
The daggers rent and tore her breast | P |
Like dogs that snarl above a kill | I2 |
Her proud face gazed above them still | I2 |
Seeking rest Oh seeking rest | P |
The blood swept like a crimson dress | J2 |
Over her bosom's nakedness | J2 |
A curtain for her weary eyes | J2 |
A muffling cloth to stop her sighs | J2 |
- | |
And she was gone and a red thing lay | W |
Silent on the trampled clay | W |
- | |
Beneath my horse my feet are bound | P |
My hands are bound behind my back | R |
I feel the sinews start to crack | R |
And ever to the hoof beats' sound | P |
As we draw near the gallows tree | D |
Where I shall hang right speedily | D |
A crazy tune rings in my brain | Z |
Four hoofs of fire tramp the refrain | Z |
Crashing clear o'er the roaring crowd | P |
Steadily galloping strong and loud | P |
'From Belton Castle to Solway side | P |
Hard by the bridge is three days' ride ' | - |
Stephen Vincent Benet
(1)
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