Lament For The Decline Of Chivalry.[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCCB DDEDDE FFFGGH IIJKKJ DDIDDI LLDDDD FFMNNM DDOFFO DDDPPD FFFQQF FFRSTR DDFSSF UUDVVD DDFWPF FFDFFD FFXYYNWell hast thou cried departed Burke | A |
All chivalrous romantic work | A |
Is ended now and past | B |
That iron age which some have thought | C |
Of metal rather overwrought | C |
Is now all overcast | B |
- | |
Ay where are those heroic knights | D |
Of old those armadillo wights | D |
Who wore the plated vest | E |
Great Charlemagne and all his peers | D |
Are cold enjoying with their spears | D |
An everlasting rest | E |
- | |
The bold King Arthur sleepeth sound | F |
So sleep his knights who gave that Round | F |
Old Table such clat | F |
Oh Time has pluck'd the plumy brow | G |
And none engage at tourneys now | G |
But those that go to law | H |
- | |
Grim John o' Gaunt is quite gone by | I |
And Guy is nothing but a Guy | I |
Orlando lies forlorn | J |
Bold Sidney and his kidney nay | K |
Those early champions what are they | K |
But Knights without a morn | J |
- | |
No Percy branch now perseveres | D |
Like those of old in breaking spears | D |
The name is now a lie | I |
Surgeons alone by any chance | D |
Are all that ever couch a lance | D |
To couch a body's eye | I |
- | |
Alas for Lion Hearted Dick | L |
That cut the Moslems to the quick | L |
His weapon lies in peace | D |
Oh it would warm them in a trice | D |
If they could only have a spice | D |
Of his old mace in Greece | D |
- | |
The famed Rinaldo lies a cold | F |
And Tancred too and Godfrey bold | F |
That scaled the holy wall | M |
No Saracen meets Paladin | N |
We hear of no great Saladin | N |
But only grow the small | M |
- | |
Our Cressys too have dwindled since | D |
To penny things at our Black Prince | D |
Historic pens would scoff | O |
The only one we moderns had | F |
Was nothing but a Sandwich lad | F |
And measles took him off | O |
- | |
Where are those old and feudal clans | D |
Their pikes and bills and partisans | D |
Their hauberks jerkins buffs | D |
A battle was a battle then | P |
A breathing piece of work but men | P |
Fight now with powder puffs | D |
- | |
The curtal axe is out of date | F |
The good old crossbow bends to Fate | F |
'Tis gone the archer's craft | F |
No tough arm bends the spinning yew | Q |
And jolly draymen ride in lieu | Q |
Of Death upon the shaft | F |
- | |
The spear the gallant tilter's pride | F |
The rusty spear is laid aside | F |
Oh spits now domineer | R |
The coat of mail is left alone | S |
And where is all chain armor gone | T |
Go ask at Brighton Pier | R |
- | |
We fight in ropes and not in lists | D |
Bestowing hand cuffs with our fists | D |
A low and vulgar art | F |
No mounted man is overthrown | S |
A tilt it is a thing unknown | S |
Except upon a cart | F |
- | |
Methinks I see the bounding barb | U |
Clad like his Chief in steely garb | U |
For warding steel's appliance | D |
Methinks I hear the trumpet stir | V |
'Tis but the guard to Exeter | V |
That bugles the Defiance | D |
- | |
In cavils when will cavaliers | D |
Set ringing helmets by the ears | D |
And scatter plumes about | F |
Or blood if they are in the vein | W |
That tap will never run again | P |
Alas the Casque is out | F |
- | |
No iron crackling now is scored | F |
By dint of battle axe or sword | F |
To find a vital place | D |
Though certain doctors still pretend | F |
Awhile before they kill a friend | F |
To labor through his case | D |
- | |
Farewell then ancient men of might | F |
Crusader errant squire and knight | F |
Our coats and customs soften | X |
To rise would only make you weep | Y |
Sleep on in rusty iron sleep | Y |
As in a safety coffin | N |
Thomas Hood
(1)
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