Faithless Nelly Gray Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDC EFG HDI JKLK KMDM NON PQRQ STU KVD WCX KXRX YZA2 KB2C2B2 D2C2E2C2 F2DG2D H2C2I2C2 J2K2L2K2| A Pathetic Ballad | A |
| - | |
| Ben Battle was a soldier bold | B |
| And used to war's alarms | C |
| But a cannon ball took off his legs | D |
| So he laid down his arms | C |
| - | |
| Now as they bore him off the field | E |
| Said he 'Let others shoot | F |
| For here I leave my second leg | G |
| And the Forty second Foot ' | - |
| - | |
| The army surgeons made him limbs | H |
| Said he 'They're only pegs | D |
| But there's as wooden members quite | I |
| As represent my legs ' | - |
| - | |
| Now Ben he loved a pretty maid | J |
| Her name was Nelly Gray | K |
| So he went to pay her his devours | L |
| When he devoured his pay | K |
| - | |
| But when he called on Nelly Gray | K |
| She made him quite a scoff | M |
| And when she saw his wooden legs | D |
| Began to take them off | M |
| - | |
| 'O Nelly Gray O Nelly Gray ' | - |
| Is this your love so warm | N |
| The love that loves a scarlet coat | O |
| Should be a little more uniform | N |
| - | |
| Said she ' I loved a soldier once | P |
| For he was blithe and brave | Q |
| But I will never have a man | R |
| With both legs in the grave | Q |
| - | |
| 'Before you had those timber toes | S |
| Your love I did allow | T |
| But then you know you stand upon | U |
| Another footing now ' | - |
| - | |
| 'O Nelly Gray O Nelly Gray | K |
| For all your jeering speeches | V |
| At duty's call I left my legs | D |
| In Badajos's breaches ' | - |
| - | |
| 'Why then ' said she 'you've lost the feet | W |
| Of legs in war's alarms | C |
| And now you cannot wear your shoes | X |
| Upon your feats of arms ' | - |
| - | |
| 'O false and fickle Nelly Gray | K |
| I know why you refuse | X |
| Though I've no feet some other man | R |
| Is standing in my shoes | X |
| - | |
| 'I wish I ne'er had seen your face | Y |
| But now a long farewell | Z |
| For you will be my death' alas | A2 |
| You will not be my Nell ' | - |
| - | |
| Now when he went from Nelly Gray | K |
| His heart so heavy got | B2 |
| And life was such a burden grown | C2 |
| It made him take a knot | B2 |
| - | |
| So round his melancholy neck | D2 |
| A rope he did intwine | C2 |
| And for his second time in life | E2 |
| Enlisted in the Line | C2 |
| - | |
| One end he tied around a beam | F2 |
| And then removed his pegs | D |
| And as his legs were off of course | G2 |
| He soon was off his legs | D |
| - | |
| And there he hung till he was dead | H2 |
| As any nail in town | C2 |
| For though distress had cut him up | I2 |
| It could not cut him down | C2 |
| - | |
| A dozen men sat on his corpse | J2 |
| To find out why he died | K2 |
| And they buried Ben in four cross roads | L2 |
| With a stake in his inside | K2 |
Thomas Hood
(1)
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About Faithless Nelly Gray
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