The Dream Of Eugene Aram.[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDCEC A FGHGIG A JKLKMK N OPQPRP N STUTVT N WXYXTX N TUTUZU N TA2B2A2C2 C2 C2D2C2E2TD2 C2 E2C2VC2F2C2 C2 E2TTTC2T C2 LD2C2D2C2D2 C2 G2H2I2H2TH2 N J2TTTTT N K2L2NITL2 N L2M2N2M2UM2 N HO2C2O2TO2 N C2D2P2D2TD2 C2 Q2C2D2C2TC2 C2 TTC2TTT C2 XH2R2H2C2H2 C2 S2CC2CT2C C2 C2U2HU2TU2 N MTD2TTT N D2XC2XSX N D2U2TU2TU2 N TNC2ND2N N D2TCTTT D2 UV2TV2D2V2 D2 D2D2ND2D2D2 D2 CHD2HD2H D2 D2XD2XD2X D2 TD2ND2W2D2 N U2X2D2X2TX2 N P2QQ2QD2Q N XTD2TD2TI | A |
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'Twas in the prime of summer time | B |
An evening calm and cool | C |
And four and twenty happy boys | D |
Came bounding out of school | C |
There were some that ran and some that leapt | E |
Like troutlets in a pool | C |
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II | A |
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Away they sped with gamesome minds | F |
And souls untouch'd by sin | G |
To a level mead they came and there | H |
They drave the wickets in | G |
Pleasantly shone the setting sun | I |
Over the town of Lynn | G |
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III | A |
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Like sportive deer they coursed about | J |
And shouted as they ran | K |
Turning to mirth all things of earth | L |
As only boyhood can | K |
But the Usher sat remote from all | M |
A melancholy man | K |
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IV | N |
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His hat was off his vest apart | O |
To catch heaven's blessed breeze | P |
For a burning thought was in his brow | Q |
And his bosom ill at ease | P |
So he lean'd his head on his hands and read | R |
The book between his knees | P |
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V | N |
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Leaf after leaf he turn'd it o'er | S |
Nor ever glanced aside | T |
For the peace of his soul he read that book | U |
In the golden eventide | T |
Much study had made him very lean | V |
And pale and leaden eyed | T |
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VI | N |
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At last he shut the ponderous tome | W |
With a fast and fervent grasp | X |
He strain'd the dusky covers close | Y |
And fix'd the brazen hasp | X |
Oh God could I so close my mind | T |
And clasp it with a clasp | X |
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VII | N |
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Then leaping on his feet upright | T |
Some moody turns he took | U |
Now up the mead then down the mead | T |
And past a shady nook | U |
And lo he saw a little boy | Z |
That pored upon a book | U |
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VIII | N |
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My gentle lad what is't you read | T |
Romance or fairy fable | A2 |
Of is it some historic page | B2 |
Or kings and crowns unstable | A2 |
The young boy gave an upward glance | C2 |
It is 'The Death of Abel ' | - |
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IX | C2 |
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The Usher took six hasty strides | C2 |
As smit with sudden pain | D2 |
Six hasty strides beyond the place | C2 |
Then slowly back again | E2 |
And down he sat beside the lad | T |
And talk'd with him of Cain | D2 |
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X | C2 |
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And long since then of bloody men | E2 |
Whose deeds tradition saves | C2 |
Of lonely folk cut off unseen | V |
And hid in sudden graves | C2 |
Of horrid stabs in groves forlorn | F2 |
And murders done in caves | C2 |
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XI | C2 |
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And how the sprites of injured men | E2 |
Shriek upward from the sod | T |
Ay how the ghostly hand will point | T |
To show the burial clod | T |
And unknown facts of guilty acts | C2 |
Are seen in dreams from God | T |
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XII | C2 |
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He told how murderers walk the earth | L |
Beneath the curse of Cain | D2 |
With crimson clouds before their eyes | C2 |
And flames about their brain | D2 |
For blood has left upon their souls | C2 |
Its everlasting stain | D2 |
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XIII | C2 |
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And well quoth he I know for truth | G2 |
Their pangs must be extreme | H2 |
Woe woe unutterable woe | I2 |
Who spill life's sacred stream | H2 |
For why Methought last night I wrought | T |
A murder in a dream | H2 |
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XIV | N |
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One that had never done me wrong | J2 |
A feeble man and old | T |
I led him to a lonely field | T |
The moon shone clear and cold | T |
Now here said I this man shall die | T |
And I will have his gold | T |
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XV | N |
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Two sudden blows with a ragged stick | K2 |
And one with a heavy stone | L2 |
One hurried gash with a hasty knife | N |
And then the deed was done | I |
There was nothing lying at my foot | T |
But lifeless flesh and bone | L2 |
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XVI | N |
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Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone | L2 |
That could not do me ill | M2 |
And yet I feared him all the more | N2 |
For lying there so still | M2 |
There was a manhood in his look | U |
That murder could not kill | M2 |
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XVII | N |
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And lo the universal air | H |
Seemed lit with ghastly flame | O2 |
Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes | C2 |
Were looking down in blame | O2 |
I took the dead man by his hand | T |
And called upon his name | O2 |
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XVIII | N |
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Oh God it made me quake to see | C2 |
Such sense within the slain | D2 |
But when I touched the lifeless clay | P2 |
The blood gush'd out amain | D2 |
For every clot a burning spot | T |
Was scorching in my brain | D2 |
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XIX | C2 |
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My head was like an ardent coal | Q2 |
My heart as solid ice | C2 |
My wretched wretched soul I knew | D2 |
Was at the Devil's price | C2 |
A dozen times I groan'd the dead | T |
Had never groan'd but twice | C2 |
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XX | C2 |
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And now from forth the frowning sky | T |
From the Heaven's topmost height | T |
I heard a voice the awful voice | C2 |
Of the blood avenging Sprite | T |
Thou guilty man take up thy dead | T |
And hide it from my sight | T |
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XXI | C2 |
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I took the dreary body up | X |
And cast it in a stream | H2 |
A sluggish water black as ink | R2 |
The depth was so extreme | H2 |
My gentle Boy remember this | C2 |
Is nothing but a dream | H2 |
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XXII | C2 |
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Down went the corse with a hollow plunge | S2 |
And vanish'd in the pool | C |
Anon I cleansed my bloody hands | C2 |
And wash'd my forehead cool | C |
And sat among the urchins young | T2 |
That evening in the school | C |
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XXIII | C2 |
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Oh Heaven to think of their white souls | C2 |
And mine so black and grim | U2 |
I could not share in childish prayer | H |
Nor join in Evening Hymn | U2 |
Like a Devil of the Pit I seem'd | T |
'Mid holy Cherubim | U2 |
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XXIV | N |
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And peace went with them one and all | M |
And each calm pillow spread | T |
But Guilt was my grim Chamberlain | D2 |
That lighted me to bed | T |
And drew my midnight curtains round | T |
With fingers bloody red | T |
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XXV | N |
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All night I lay in agony | D2 |
In anguish dark and deep | X |
My fever'd eyes I dared not close | C2 |
But stared aghast at Sleep | X |
For Sin had render'd unto her | S |
The keys of Hell to keep | X |
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XXVI | N |
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All night I lay in agony | D2 |
From weary chime to chime | U2 |
With one besetting horrid hint | T |
That rack'd me all the time | U2 |
A mighty yearning like the first | T |
Fierce impulse unto crime | U2 |
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XXVII | N |
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One stern tyrannic thought that made | T |
All other thoughts its slave | N |
Stronger and stronger every pulse | C2 |
Did that temptation crave | N |
Still urging me to go and see | D2 |
The Dead Man in his grave | N |
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XXVIII | N |
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Heavily I rose up as soon | D2 |
As light was in the sky | T |
And sought the black accursed pool | C |
With a wild misgiving eye | T |
And I saw the Dead in the river bed | T |
For the faithless stream was dry | T |
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XXIX | D2 |
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Merrily rose the lark and shook | U |
The dew drop from its wing | V2 |
But I never mark'd its morning flight | T |
I never heard it sing | V2 |
For I was stooping once again | D2 |
Under the horrid thing | V2 |
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XXX | D2 |
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With breathless speed like a soul in chase | D2 |
I took him up and ran | D2 |
There was no time to dig a grave | N |
Before the day began | D2 |
In a lonesome wood with heaps of leaves | D2 |
I hid the murder'd man | D2 |
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XXXI | D2 |
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And all that day I read in school | C |
But my thought was other where | H |
As soon as the mid day task was done | D2 |
In secret I was there | H |
And a mighty wind had swept the leaves | D2 |
And still the corse was bare | H |
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XXXII | D2 |
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Then down I cast me on my face | D2 |
And first began to weep | X |
For I knew my secret then was one | D2 |
That earth refused to keep | X |
Or land or sea though he should be | D2 |
Ten thousand fathoms deep | X |
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XXXIII | D2 |
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So wills the fierce avenging Sprite | T |
Till blood for blood atones | D2 |
Ay though he's buried in a cave | N |
And trodden down with stones | D2 |
And years have rotted off his flesh | W2 |
The world shall see his bones | D2 |
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XXXIV | N |
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Oh God that horrid horrid dream | U2 |
Besets me now awake | X2 |
Again again with dizzy brain | D2 |
The human life I take | X2 |
And my red right hand grows raging hot | T |
Like Cranmer's at the stake | X2 |
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XXXV | N |
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And still no peace for the restless clay | P2 |
Will wave or mould allow | Q |
The horrid thing pursues my soul | Q2 |
It stands before me now | Q |
The fearful Boy look'd up and saw | D2 |
Huge drops upon his brow | Q |
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XXXVI | N |
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That very night while gentle sleep | X |
The urchin eyelids kiss'd | T |
Two stern faced men set out from Lynn | D2 |
Through the cold and heavy mist | T |
And Eugene Aram walk'd between | D2 |
With gyves upon his wrist | T |
Thomas Hood
(1)
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