The Well-beloved Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF BGBG GGGG HIHI DJDJ KLKM GJNJ ILIM GJGJ GHGH OBOB JPJP BQBQ IRIR GKGK| I wayed by star and planet shine | A |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Towards the dear one's home | B |
| At Kingsbere there to make her mine | A |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp When the next sun upclomb | B |
| - | |
| I edged the ancient hill and wood | C |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Beside the Ikling Way | D |
| Nigh where the Pagan temple stood | C |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp In the world's earlier day | D |
| - | |
| And as I quick and quicker walked | E |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp On gravel and on green | F |
| I sang to sky and tree or talked | E |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Of her I called my queen | F |
| - | |
| O faultless is her dainty form | B |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp And luminous her mind | G |
| She is the God created norm | B |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Of perfect womankind | G |
| - | |
| A shape whereon one star blink gleamed | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Glode softly by my side | G |
| A woman's and her motion seemed | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp The motion of my bride | G |
| - | |
| And yet methought she'd drawn erstwhile | H |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Adown the ancient leaze | I |
| Where once were pile and peristyle | H |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp For men's idolatries | I |
| - | |
| O maiden lithe and lone what may | D |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Thy name and lineage be | J |
| Who so resemblest by this ray | D |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp My darling Art thou she | J |
| - | |
| The Shape Thy bride remains within | K |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Her father's grange and grove | L |
| Thou speakest rightly I broke in | K |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Thou art not she I love | M |
| - | |
| Nay though thy bride remains inside | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Her father's walls said she | J |
| The one most dear is with thee here | N |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp For thou dost love but me | J |
| - | |
| Then I But she my only choice | I |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Is now at Kingsbere Grove | L |
| Again her soft mysterious voice | I |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp I am thy only Love | M |
| - | |
| Thus still she vouched and still I said | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp O sprite that cannot be | J |
| It was as if my bosom bled | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp So much she troubled me | J |
| - | |
| The sprite resumed Thou hast transferred | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp To her dull form awhile | H |
| My beauty fame and deed and word | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp My gestures and my smile | H |
| - | |
| O fatuous man this truth infer | O |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Brides are not what they seem | B |
| Thou lovest what thou dreamest her | O |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp I am thy very dream | B |
| - | |
| O then I answered miserably | J |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Speaking as scarce I knew | P |
| My loved one I must wed with thee | J |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp If what thou say'st be true | P |
| - | |
| She proudly thinning in the gloom | B |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Though since troth plight began | Q |
| I've ever stood as bride to groom | B |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp I wed no mortal man | Q |
| - | |
| Thereat she vanished by the Cross | I |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp That entering Kingsbere town | R |
| The two long lanes form near the fosse | I |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Below the faneless Down | R |
| - | |
| When I arrived and met my bride | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp Her look was pinched and thin | K |
| As if her soul had shrunk and died | G |
| nbsp nbsp nbsp And left a waste within | K |
Thomas Hardy
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