The Peasent's Confession Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDEFA DADA BABC DBDB ABAB BDBD BGBG HDHD IAIA JDJD BBBB BBBB BBBB JDJD DJDA JJDJ ABAB JBJB KDKD BBBB BBBB DADA BLBL DADD BMBM BBBB BDBD ABBJ JJNJ BADA JBJB BOBO DDDD DBDB PJPJ BJBJSi le mar chal Grouchy avait t rejoint par l'officier que | A |
Napol on lui avait exp di la veille dix heures du soir toute | B |
question e t disparu Mais cet officier n' tait point parvenu sa | C |
destination ainsi que le mar chal n'a cess de l'affirmer toute sa | C |
vie et il faut l'en croire car autrement il n'aurait eu aucune | D |
raison pour h siter Cet officier avait il t pris avait il pass | E |
l'ennemi C'est ce qu'on a toujours ignor | F |
Thiers Histoire de l'Empire Waterloo | A |
- | |
GOOD Father 'Twas an eve in middle June | D |
And war was waged anew | A |
By great Napoleon who for years had strewn | D |
Men's bones all Europe through | A |
- | |
Three nights ere this with columned corps he'd crossed | B |
The Sambre at Charleroi | A |
To move on Brussels where the English host | B |
Dallied in Parc and Bois | C |
- | |
The yestertide we'd heard the gloomy gun | D |
Growl through the long sunned day | B |
From Quatre Bras and Ligny till the dun | D |
Twilight suppressed the fray | B |
- | |
Albeit therein as lated tongues bespoke | A |
Brunswick's high heart was drained | B |
And Prussia's Line and Landwehr though unbroke | A |
Stood cornered and constrained | B |
- | |
And at next noon time Grouchy slowly passed | B |
With thirty thousand men | D |
We hoped thenceforth no army small or vast | B |
Would trouble us again | D |
- | |
My hut lay deeply in a vale recessed | B |
And never a soul seemed nigh | G |
When reassured at length we went to rest | B |
My children wife and I | G |
- | |
But what was this that broke our humble ease | H |
What noise above the rain | D |
Above the dripping of the poplar trees | H |
That smote along the pane | D |
- | |
A call of mastery bidding me arise | I |
Compelled me to the door | A |
At which a horseman stood in martial guise | I |
Splashed sweating from every pore | A |
- | |
Had I seen Grouchy Yes Which track took he | J |
Could I lead thither on | D |
Fulfilment would ensure gold pieces three | J |
Perchance more gifts anon | D |
- | |
I bear the Emperor's mandate then he said | B |
Charging the Marshal straight | B |
To strike between the double host ahead | B |
Ere they co operate | B |
- | |
Engaging Bl cher till the Emperor put | B |
Lord Wellington to flight | B |
And next the Prussians This to set afoot | B |
Is my emprise to night | B |
- | |
I joined him in the mist but pausing sought | B |
To estimate his say | B |
Grouchy had made for Wavre and yet on thought | B |
I did not lead that way | B |
- | |
I mused If Grouchy thus instructed be | J |
The clash comes sheer hereon | D |
My farm is stript While as for pieces three | J |
Money the French have none | D |
- | |
Grouchy unwarned moreo'er the English win | D |
And mine is left to me | J |
They buy not borrow Hence did I begin | D |
To lead him treacherously | A |
- | |
By Joidoigne near to east as we ondrew | J |
Dawn pierced the humid air | J |
And eastward faced I with him though I knew | D |
Never marched Grouchy there | J |
- | |
Near Ottignies we passed across the Dyle | A |
Lim'lette left far aside | B |
And thence direct toward Pervez and Noville | A |
Through green grain till he cried | B |
- | |
I doubt thy conduct man no track is here | J |
I doubt they gag d word | B |
Thereat he scowled on me and pranced me near | J |
And pricked me with his sword | B |
- | |
Nay Captain hold We skirt not trace the course | K |
Of Grouchy said I then | D |
As we go yonder went he with his force | K |
Of thirty thousand men | D |
- | |
At length noon nighed when west from Saint John's Mound | B |
A hoarse artillery boomed | B |
And from Saint Lambert's upland chapel crowned | B |
The Prussian squadrons loomed | B |
- | |
Then to the wayless wet gray ground he leapt | B |
My mission fails he cried | B |
Too late for Grouchy now to intercept | B |
For peasant you have lied | B |
- | |
He turned to pistol me I sprang and drew | D |
The sabre from his flank | A |
And 'twixt his nape and shoulder ere he knew | D |
I struck and dead he sank | A |
- | |
I hid him deep in nodding rye and oat | B |
His shroud green stalks and loam | L |
His requiem the corn blade's husky note | B |
And then I hastened home | L |
- | |
Two armies writhe in coils of red and blue | D |
And brass and iron clang | A |
From Goumont past the front of Waterloo | D |
To Pap'lotte and Smohain | D |
- | |
The Guard Imperial wavered on the height | B |
The Emperor's face grew glum | M |
I sent he said to Grouchy yesternight | B |
And yet he does not come | M |
- | |
'Twas then Good Father that the French espied | B |
Streaking the summer land | B |
The men of Bl cher But the Emperor cried | B |
Grouchy is now at hand | B |
- | |
And meanwhile Vand'leur Vivian Maitland Kempt | B |
Met d'Erlon Friant Ney | D |
But Grouchy mis sent blamed yet blame exempt | B |
Grouchy was far away | D |
- | |
Be even slain or struck Michel the strong | A |
Bold Travers Dnop Delord | B |
Smart Guyot Reil le l'Heriter Friant | B |
Scattered that champaign o'er | J |
- | |
Fallen likewise wronged Duhesme and skilled Lobau | J |
Did that red sunset see | J |
Colbert Legros Blancard And of the foe | N |
Picton and Ponsonby | J |
- | |
With Gordon Canning Blackman Ompteda | B |
L'Estrange Delancey Packe | A |
Grose D'Oyly Stables Morice Howard Hay | D |
Von Schwerin Watzdorf Boek | A |
- | |
Smith Phelips Fuller Lind and Battersby | J |
And hosts of ranksmen round | B |
Memorials linger yet to speak to thee | J |
Of those that bit the ground | B |
- | |
The Guards' last column yielded dykes of dead | B |
Lay between vale and ridge | O |
As thinned yet closing faint yet fierce they sped | B |
In packs to Genappe Bridge | O |
- | |
Safe was my stock my capple cow unslain | D |
Intact each cock and hen | D |
But Grouchy far at Wavre all day had lain | D |
And thirty thousand men | D |
- | |
O Saints had I but lost my earing corn | D |
And saved the cause once prized | B |
O Saints why such false witness had I borne | D |
When late I'd sympathized | B |
- | |
So now being old my children eye askance | P |
My slowly dwindling store | J |
And crave my mite till worn with tarriance | P |
I care for life no more | J |
- | |
To Almighty God henceforth I stand confessed | B |
And Virgin Saint Marie | J |
O Michael John and Holy Ones in rest | B |
Entreat the Lord for me | J |
Thomas Hardy
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Peasent's Confession poem by Thomas Hardy
Best Poems of Thomas Hardy