The Haunted House Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFGF HFHF IJIJ KDKD LMNO PBPB QDQD RSRS TSTS USUS VSVS WDWD XJXJ GBGB YSYS GBGB ZMZO A2SA2S SMSO YB2YB2 C2DC2D CD2CD2 YJYJ

Oh very gloomy is the house of woeA
Where tears are falling while the bell is knellingB
With all the dark solemnities that showA
That Death is in the dwellingB
-
Oh very very dreary is the roomC
Where Love domestic Love no longer nestlesD
But smitten by the common stroke of doomC
The corpse lies on the trestlesD
-
But house of woe and hearse and sable pallE
The narrow home of the departed mortalF
Ne er looked so gloomy as that Ghostly HallG
With its deserted portalF
-
The centipede along the threshold creptH
The cobweb hung across in mazy tangleF
And in its winding sheet the maggot sleptH
At every nook and angleF
-
The keyhole lodged the earwig and her broodI
The emmets of the steps has old possessionJ
And marched in search of their diurnal foodI
In undisturbed processionJ
-
As undisturbed as the prehensile cellK
Of moth or maggot or the spider s tissueD
For never foot upon that threshold fellK
To enter or to issueD
-
O er all there hung the shadow of a fearL
A sense of mystery the spirit dauntedM
And said as plain as whisper in the earN
The place is hauntedO
-
Howbeit the door I pushed or so I dreamedP
Which slowly slowly gaped the hinges creakingB
With such a rusty eloquence it seemedP
That Time himself was speakingB
-
But Time was dumb within that mansion oldQ
Or left his tale to the heraldic bannersD
That hung from the corroded walls and toldQ
Of former men and mannersD
-
Those tattered flags that with the opened doorR
Seemed the old wave of battle to rememberS
While fallen fragments danced upon the floorR
Like dead leaves in DecemberS
-
The startled bats flew out bird after birdT
The screech owl overhead began to flutterS
And seemed to mock the cry that she had heardT
Some dying victim utterS
-
A shriek that echoed from the joisted roofU
And up the stair and further still and furtherS
Till in some ringing chamber far aloofU
In ceased its tale of murtherS
-
Meanwhile the rusty armor rattled roundV
The banner shuddered and the ragged streamerS
All things the horrid tenor of the soundV
Acknowledged with a tremorS
-
The antlers where the helmet hung and beltW
Stirred as the tempest stirs the forest branchesD
Or as the stag had trembled when he feltW
The bloodhound at his haunchesD
-
The window jingled in its crumbled frameX
And through its many gaps of destitutionJ
Dolorous moans and hollow sighings cameX
Like those of dissolutionJ
-
The wood louse dropped and rolled into a ballG
Touched by some impulse occult or mechanicB
And nameless beetles ran along the wallG
In universal panicB
-
The subtle spider that from overheadY
Hung like a spy on human guilt and errorS
Suddenly turned and up its slender threadY
Ran with a nimble terrorS
-
The very stains and fractures on the wallG
Assuming features solemn and terrificB
Hinted some tragedy of that old hallG
Locked up in hieroglyphicB
-
Some tale that might perchance have solved the doubtZ
Wherefore among those flags so dull and lividM
The banner of the bloody hand shone outZ
So ominously vividO
-
Some key to that inscrutable appealA2
Which made the very frame of Nature quiverS
And every thrilling nerve and fiber feelA2
So ague like a shiverS
-
For over all there hung a cloud of fearS
A sense of mystery the spirit dauntedM
And said as plain as whisper in the earS
The place is hauntedO
-
Prophetic hints that filled the soul with dreadY
But through one gloomy entrance pointing mostlyB2
The while some secret inspiration saidY
That chamber is the ghostlyB2
-
Across the door no gossamer festoonC2
Swung pendulous no web no dusty fringesD
No silky chrysalis or white cocoonC2
About its nooks and hingesD
-
The spider shunned the interdicted roomC
The moth the beetle and the fly were banishedD2
And when the sunbeam fell athwart the gloomC
The very midge had vanishedD2
-
One lonely ray that glanced upon a bedY
As if with awful aim direct and certainJ
To show the Bloody Hand in burning redY
Embroidered on the curtainJ

Thomas Hood



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