The Photograph Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAAB CDCCD EAEEA FGHFG IJIIJ| The flame crept up the portrait line by line | A |
| As it lay on the coals in the silence of night's profound | B |
| And over the arm's incline | A |
| And along the marge of the silkwork superfine | A |
| And gnawed at the delicate bosom's defenceless round | B |
| - | |
| Then I vented a cry of hurt and averted my eyes | C |
| The spectacle was one that I could not bear | D |
| To my deep and sad surprise | C |
| But compelled to heed I again looked furtive wise | C |
| Till the flame had eaten her breasts and mouth and hair | D |
| - | |
| Thank God she is out of it now I said at last | E |
| In a great relief of heart when the thing was done | A |
| That had set my soul aghast | E |
| And nothing was left of the picture unsheathed from the past | E |
| But the ashen ghost of the card it had figured on | A |
| - | |
| She was a woman long hid amid packs of years | F |
| She might have been living or dead she was lost to my sight | G |
| And the deed that had nigh drawn tears | H |
| Was done in a casual clearance of life's arrears | F |
| But I felt as if I had put her to death that night | G |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Well she knew nothing thereof did she survive | I |
| And suffered nothing if numbered among the dead | J |
| Yet yet if on earth alive | I |
| Did she feel a smart and with vague strange anguish strive | I |
| If in heaven did she smile at me sadly and shake her head | J |
Thomas Hardy
(1)
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