Death's Ramble.[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEFE GHIH JFKF LFHF MFNF OBPB QRSR BTUT VFWF XYTY BZBZ A2FAF B2C2D2C2| One day the dreary old King of Death | A |
| Inclined for some sport with the carnal | B |
| So he tied a pack of darts on his back | C |
| And quietly stole from his charnel | B |
| - | |
| His head was bald of flesh and of hair | D |
| His body was lean and lank | E |
| His joints at each stir made a crack and the cur | F |
| Took a gnaw by the way at his shank | E |
| - | |
| And what did he do with his deadly darts | G |
| This goblin of grisly bone | H |
| He dabbled and spill'd man's blood and he kill'd | I |
| Like a butcher that kills his own | H |
| - | |
| The first he slaughter'd it made him laugh | J |
| For the man was a coffin maker | F |
| To think how the mutes and men in black suits | K |
| Would mourn for an undertaker | F |
| - | |
| Death saw two Quakers sitting at church | L |
| Quoth he We shall not differ | F |
| And he let them alone like figures of stone | H |
| For he could not make them stiffer | F |
| - | |
| He saw two duellists going to fight | M |
| In fear they could not smother | F |
| And he shot one through at once for he knew | N |
| They never would shoot each other | F |
| - | |
| He saw a watchman fast in his box | O |
| And he gave a snore infernal | B |
| Said Death He may keep his breath for his sleep | P |
| Can never be more eternal | B |
| - | |
| He met a coachman driving his coach | Q |
| So slow that his fare grew sick | R |
| But he let him stray on his tedious way | S |
| For Death only wars on the quick | R |
| - | |
| Death saw a toll man taking a toll | B |
| In the spirit of his fraternity | T |
| But he knew that sort of man would extort | U |
| Though summon'd to all eternity | T |
| - | |
| He found an author writing his life | V |
| But he let him write no further | F |
| For Death who strikes whenever he likes | W |
| Is jealous of all self murther | F |
| - | |
| Death saw a patient that pull'd out his purse | X |
| And a doctor that took the sum | Y |
| But he let them be for he knew that the fee | T |
| Was a prelude to faw and fum | Y |
| - | |
| He met a dustman ringing a bell | B |
| And he gave him a mortal thrust | Z |
| For himself by law since Adam's flaw | B |
| Is contractor for all our dust | Z |
| - | |
| He saw a sailor mixing his grog | A2 |
| And he marked him out for slaughter | F |
| For on water he scarcely had cared for Death | A |
| And never on rum and water | F |
| - | |
| Death saw two players playing at cards | B2 |
| But the game wasn't worth a dump | C2 |
| For he quickly laid them flat with a spade | D2 |
| To wait for the final trump | C2 |
Thomas Hood
(1)
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