The Chosen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC DCDC EFEF GHGH IJIJ CCCC KLKL MNNN OPOP QNQN RCRC STUT VWVW| Greek text which cannot be reproduced | A |
| - | |
| A woman for whom great gods might strive | B |
| I said and kissed her there | C |
| And then I thought of the other five | B |
| And of how charms outwear | C |
| - | |
| I thought of the first with her eating eyes | D |
| And I thought of the second with hers green gray | C |
| And I thought of the third experienced wise | D |
| And I thought of the fourth who sang all day | C |
| - | |
| And I thought of the fifth whom I'd called a jade | E |
| And I thought of them all tear fraught | F |
| And that each had shown her a passable maid | E |
| Yet not of the favour sought | F |
| - | |
| So I traced these words on the bark of a beech | G |
| Just at the falling of the mast | H |
| After scanning five yes each and each | G |
| I've found the woman desired at last | H |
| - | |
| I feel a strange benumbing spell | I |
| As one ill wished said she | J |
| And soon it seemed that something fell | I |
| Was starving her love for me | J |
| - | |
| I feel some curse O FIVE were there | C |
| And wanly she swerved and went away | C |
| I followed sick night numbed the air | C |
| And dark the mournful moorland lay | C |
| - | |
| I cried O darling turn your head | K |
| But never her face I viewed | L |
| O turn O turn again I said | K |
| And miserably pursued | L |
| - | |
| At length I came to a Christ cross stone | M |
| Which she had passed without discern | N |
| And I knelt upon the leaves there strown | N |
| And prayed aloud that she might turn | N |
| - | |
| I rose and looked and turn she did | O |
| I cried My heart revives | P |
| Look more she said I looked as bid | O |
| Her face was all the five's | P |
| - | |
| All the five women clear come back | Q |
| I saw in her with her made one | N |
| The while she drooped upon the track | Q |
| And her frail term seemed well nigh run | N |
| - | |
| She'd half forgot me in her change | R |
| Who are you Won't you say | C |
| Who you may be you man so strange | R |
| Following since yesterday | C |
| - | |
| I took the composite form she was | S |
| And carried her to an arbour small | T |
| Not passion moved but even because | U |
| In one I could atone to all | T |
| - | |
| And there she lies and there I tend | V |
| Till my life's threads unwind | W |
| A various womanhood in blend | V |
| Not one but all combined | W |
Thomas Hardy
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Chosen
The Chosen is a poem by Thomas Hardy. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Chosen poem by Thomas Hardy
Best Poems of Thomas Hardy