The Pedigree Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBBDBBC A EBFEGFB A HGIJGJH C KBIBBKI C LBALBAMM| I | A |
| - | |
| I bent in the deep of night | B |
| Over a pedigree the chronicler gave | C |
| As mine and as I bent there half unrobed | B |
| The uncurtained panes of my window square let in the watery light | B |
| Of the moon in its old age | D |
| And green rheumed clouds were hurrying past where mute and cold it | B |
| globed | B |
| Like a drifting dolphin's eye seen through a lapping wave | C |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| So scanning my sire sown tree | E |
| And the hieroglyphs of this spouse tied to that | B |
| With offspring mapped below in lineage | F |
| Till the tangles troubled me | E |
| The branches seemed to twist into a seared and cynic face | G |
| Which winked and tokened towards the window like a Mage | F |
| Enchanting me to gaze again thereat | B |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| It was a mirror now | H |
| And in it a long perspective I could trace | G |
| Of my begetters dwindling backward each past each | I |
| All with the kindred look | J |
| Whose names had since been inked down in their place | G |
| On the recorder's book | J |
| Generation and generation of my mien and build and brow | H |
| - | |
| IV | C |
| - | |
| And then did I divine | K |
| That every heave and coil and move I made | B |
| Within my brain and in my mood and speech | I |
| Was in the glass portrayed | B |
| As long forestalled by their so making it | B |
| The first of them the primest fuglemen of my line | K |
| Being fogged in far antiqueness past surmise and reason's reach | I |
| - | |
| V | C |
| - | |
| Said I then sunk in tone | L |
| I am merest mimicker and counterfeit | B |
| Though thinking I AM I | A |
| AND WHAT I DO I DO MYSELF ALONE | L |
| The cynic twist of the page thereat unknit | B |
| Back to its normal figure having wrought its purport wry | A |
| The Mage's mirror left the window square | M |
| And the stained moon and drift retook their places there | M |
| - | |
| - |
Thomas Hardy
(1)
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About The Pedigree
The Pedigree is a poem by Thomas Hardy. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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