The Dance At The Phoenix Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCCB DEFEGGE HIHIJJI KLKLEEL MNMOPPN QEQERRE JSJSTTS DUMUVVU WXWXYYX JDJDZZD LA2LA2B2B2A2 C2UC2UEEU D2ED2EE2E2C2 C2F2C2F2C2C2F2 G2H2G2H2I2I2H2 J2SK2SCCS L2EL2EC2C2E A2M2A2M2N2N2M2 EC2EC2C2C2C2 C2O2C2O2P2P2O2 K2EK2EC2C2E EC2EC2C2C2C2 EEEEN2N2E| To Jenny came a gentle youth | A |
| From inland leazes lone | B |
| His love was fresh as apple blooth | A |
| By Parrett Yeo or Tone | B |
| And duly he entreated her | C |
| To be his tender minister | C |
| And call him aye her own | B |
| - | |
| Fair Jenny's life had hardly been | D |
| A life of modesty | E |
| At Casterbridge experience keen | F |
| Of many loves had she | E |
| From scarcely sixteen years above | G |
| Among them sundry troopers of | G |
| The King's Own Cavalry | E |
| - | |
| But each with charger sword and gun | H |
| Had bluffed the Biscay wave | I |
| And Jenny prized her gentle one | H |
| For all the love he gave | I |
| She vowed to be if they were wed | J |
| His honest wife in heart and head | J |
| From bride ale hour to grave | I |
| - | |
| Wedded they were Her husband's trust | K |
| In Jenny knew no bound | L |
| And Jenny kept her pure and just | K |
| Till even malice found | L |
| No sin or sign of ill to be | E |
| In one who walked so decently | E |
| The duteous helpmate's round | L |
| - | |
| Two sons were born and bloomed to men | M |
| And roamed and were as not | N |
| Alone was Jenny left again | M |
| As ere her mind had sought | O |
| A solace in domestic joys | P |
| And ere the vanished pair of boys | P |
| Were sent to sun her cot | N |
| - | |
| She numbered near on sixty years | Q |
| And passed as elderly | E |
| When in the street with flush of fears | Q |
| On day discovered she | E |
| From shine of swords and thump of drum | R |
| Her early loves from war had come | R |
| The King's Own Cavalry | E |
| - | |
| She turned aside and bowed her head | J |
| Anigh Saint Peter's door | S |
| Alas for chastened thoughts she said | J |
| I'm faded now and hoar | S |
| And yet those notes they thrill me through | T |
| And those gay forms move me anew | T |
| As in the years of yore | S |
| - | |
| 'Twas Christmas and the Phoenix Inn | D |
| Was lit with tapers tall | U |
| For thirty of the trooper men | M |
| Had vowed to give a ball | U |
| As Theirs had done fame handed down | V |
| When lying in the self same town | V |
| Ere Buonapart eacute 's fall | U |
| - | |
| That night the throbbing Soldier's Joy | W |
| The measured tread and sway | X |
| Of Fancy Lad and Maiden Coy | W |
| Reached Jenny as she lay | X |
| Beside her spouse till springtide blood | Y |
| Seemed scouring through her like a flood | Y |
| That whisked the years away | X |
| - | |
| She rose and rayed and decked her head | J |
| To hide her ringlets thin | D |
| Upon her cap two bows of red | J |
| She fixed with hasty pin | D |
| Unheard descending to the street | Z |
| She trod the flags with tune led feet | Z |
| And stood before the Inn | D |
| - | |
| Save for the dancers' not a sound | L |
| Disturbed the icy air | A2 |
| No watchman on his midnight round | L |
| Or traveller was there | A2 |
| But over All Saints' high and bright | B2 |
| Pulsed to the music Sirius white | B2 |
| The Wain by Bullstake Square | A2 |
| - | |
| She knocked but found her further stride | C2 |
| Checked by a sergeant tall | U |
| Gay Granny whence come you he cried | C2 |
| This is a private ball | U |
| No one has more right here than me | E |
| Ere you were born man answered she | E |
| I knew the regiment all | U |
| - | |
| Take not the lady's visit ill | D2 |
| Upspoke the steward free | E |
| We lack sufficient partners still | D2 |
| So prithee let her be | E |
| They seized and whirled her 'mid the maze | E2 |
| And Jenny felt as in the days | E2 |
| Of her immodesty | C2 |
| - | |
| Hour chased each hour and night advanced | C2 |
| She sped as shod with wings | F2 |
| Each time and every time she danced | C2 |
| Reels jigs poussettes and flings | F2 |
| They cheered her as she soared and swooped | C2 |
| She'd learnt ere art in dancing drooped | C2 |
| From hops to slothful swings | F2 |
| - | |
| The favorite Quick step Speed the Plough | G2 |
| Cross hands cast off and wheel | H2 |
| The Triumph Sylph The Row dow dow | G2 |
| Famed Major Malley's Reel | H2 |
| The Duke of York's The Fairy Dance | I2 |
| The Bridge of Lodi brought from France | I2 |
| She beat out toe and heel | H2 |
| - | |
| The Fall of Paris clanged its close | J2 |
| And Peter's chime told four | S |
| When Jenny bosom beating rose | K2 |
| To seek her silent door | S |
| They tiptoed in escorting her | C |
| Lest stroke of heel or chink of spur | C |
| Should break her goodman's snore | S |
| - | |
| The fire that late had burnt fell slack | L2 |
| When lone at last stood she | E |
| Her nine and fifty years came back | L2 |
| She sank upon her knee | E |
| Beside the durn and like a dart | C2 |
| A something arrowed through her heart | C2 |
| In shoots of agony | E |
| - | |
| Their footsteps died as she leant there | A2 |
| Lit by the morning star | M2 |
| Hanging above the moorland where | A2 |
| The aged elm rows are | M2 |
| And as o'ernight from Pummery Ridge | N2 |
| To Maembury Ring and Standfast Bridge | N2 |
| No life stirred near or far | M2 |
| - | |
| Though inner mischief worked amain | E |
| She reached her husband's side | C2 |
| Where toil weary as he had lain | E |
| Beneath the patchwork pied | C2 |
| When yestereve she'd forthward crept | C2 |
| And as unwitting still he slept | C2 |
| Who did in her confide | C2 |
| - | |
| A tear sprang as she turned and viewed | C2 |
| His features free from guile | O2 |
| She kissed him long as when just wooed | C2 |
| She chose his domicile | O2 |
| Death menaced now yet less for life | P2 |
| She wished than that she were the wife | P2 |
| That she had been erstwhile | O2 |
| - | |
| Time wore to six Her husband rose | K2 |
| And struck the steel and stone | E |
| He glanced at Jenny whose repose | K2 |
| Seemed deeper than his own | E |
| With dumb dismay on closer sight | C2 |
| He gathered sense that in the night | C2 |
| Or morn her soul had flown | E |
| - | |
| When told that some too mighty strain | E |
| For one so many yeared | C2 |
| Had burst her bosom's master vein | E |
| His doubts remained unstirred | C2 |
| His Jenny had not left his side | C2 |
| Betwixt the eve and morning tide | C2 |
| The King's said not a word | C2 |
| - | |
| Well times are not as times were then | E |
| Nor fair ones half so free | E |
| And truly they were martial men | E |
| The King's Own Cavalry | E |
| And when they went from Casterbridge | N2 |
| And vanished over Mellstock Ridge | N2 |
| 'Twas saddest morn to see | E |
Thomas Hardy
(1)
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About The Dance At The Phoenix
The Dance At The Phoenix is a poem by Thomas Hardy. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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