The Irish Schoolmaster Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Thomas Hood

The Irish Schoolmaster Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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I	A
	-
Alack 'tis melancholy theme to think	B
How Learning doth in rugged states abide	C
And like her bashful owl obscurely blink	B
In pensive glooms and corners scarcely spied	C
Not as in Founders' Halls and domes of pride	C
Served with grave homage like a tragic queen	D
But with one lonely priest compell'd to hide	C
In midst of foggy moors and mosses green	D
In that clay cabin hight the College of Kilreen	D
	-
	-
II	A
	-
This College looketh South and West alsoe	E
Because it hath a cast in windows twain	D
Crazy and crack'd they be and wind doth blow	F
Through transparent holes in every pane	D
Which Pan with many paines makes whole again	D
With nether garments which his thrift doth teach	G
To stand for glass like pronouns and when rain	D
Stormeth he puts once more unto the breach	G
Outside and in tho' broke yet so he mendeth each	G
	-
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III	A
	-
And in the midst a little door there is	E
Whereon a board that doth congratulate	H
With painted letters red as blood I wis	E
Thus written	D
CHILDREN TAKEN IN TO BATE	H
And oft indeed the inward of that gate	H
Most ventriloque doth utter tender squeak	I
And moans of infants that bemoan their fate	H
In midst of sounds of Latin French and Greek	I
Which all i' the Irish tongue he teacheth them to speak	I
	-
	-
IV	J
	-
For some are meant to right illegal wrongs	E
And some for Doctors of Divinitie	H
Whom he doth teach to murder the dead tongues	E
And soe win academical degree	K
But some are bred for service of the sea	K
Howbeit their store of learning is but small	L
For mickle waste he counteth it would be	K
To stock a head with bookish wares at all	L
Only to be knock'd off by ruthless cannon ball	L
	-
	-
V	K
	-
Six babes he sways some little and some big	M
Divided into classes six alsoe	K
He keeps a parlor boarder of a pig	M
That in the College fareth to and fro	F
And picketh up the urchins' crumbs below	F
And eke the learned rudiments they scan	D
And thus his A B C doth wisely know	F
Hereafter to be shown in caravan	D
And raise the wonderment of many a learned man	D
	-
	-
VI	J
	-
Alsoe he schools some tame familiar fowls	K
Whereof above his head some two or three	K
Sit darkly squatting like Minerva's owls	K
But on the branches of no living tree	K
And overlook the learned family	K
While sometimes Partlet from her gloomy perch	N
Drops feather on the nose of Dominie	D
Meanwhile with serious eye he makes research	N
In leaves of that sour tree of knowledge now a birch	N
	-
	-
VII	J
	-
No chair he hath the awful Pedagogue	M
Such as would magisterial hams imbed	H
But sitteth lowly on a beechen log	M
Secure in high authority and dread	H
Large as a dome for Learning seems his head	H
And like Apollo's all beset with rays	K
Because his locks are so unkempt and red	H
And stand abroad in many several ways	K
No laurel crown he wears howbeit his cap is baize	K
	-
	-
VIII	J
	-
And underneath a pair of shaggy brows	K
O'erhang as many eyes of gizzard hue	O
That inward giblet of a fowl which shows	K
A mongrel tint that is ne brown ne blue	O
His nose it is a coral to the view	O
Well nourish'd with Pierian Potheen	D
For much he loves his native mountain dew	O
But to depict the dye would lack I ween	D
A bottle red in terms as well as bottle green	D
	-
	-
IX	K
	-
As for his coat 'tis such a jerkin short	H
As Spenser had ere he composed his Tales	K
But underneath he hath no vest nor aught	H
So that the wind his airy breast assails	K
Below he wears the nether garb of males	K
Of crimson plush but non plushed at the knee	D
Thence further down the native red prevails	K
Of his own naked fleecy hosierie	K
Two sandals without soles complete his cap a pie	J
	-
	-
X	K
	-
Nathless for dignity he now doth lap	P
His function in a magisterial gown	D
That shows more countries in it than a map	P
Blue tinct and red and green and russet brown	D
Besides some blots standing for country town	D
And eke some rents for streams and rivers wide	H
But sometimes bashful when he looks adown	D
He turns the garment of the other side	H
Hopeful that so the holes may never be espied	H
	-
	-
XI	D
	-
And soe he sits amidst the little pack	M
That look for shady or for sunny noon	D
Within his visage like an almanack	M
His quiet smile foretelling gracious boon	D
But when his mouth droops down like rainy moon	D
With horrid chill each little heart unwarms	D
Knowing that infant show'rs will follow soon	D
And with forebodings of near wrath and storms	D
They sit like timid hares all trembling on their forms	D
	-
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XII	D
	-
Ah luckless wight who cannot then repeat	H
Corduroy Colloquy or Ki K Kod	H
Full soon his tears shall make his turfy seat	H
More sodden tho' already made of sod	H
For Dan shall whip him with the word of God	H
Severe by rule and not by nature mild	H
He never spoils the child and spares the rod	H
But spoils the rod and never spares the child	H
And soe with holy rule deems he is reconcil'd	H
	-
	-
XIII	D
	-
But surely the just sky will never wink	M
At men who take delight in childish throe	K
And stripe the nether urchin like a pink	M
Or tender hyacinth inscribed with woe	F
Such bloody Pedagogues when they shall know	F
By useless birches that forlorn recess	D
Which is no holiday in Pit below	F
Will hell not seem design'd for their distress	D
A melancholy place that is all bottomlesse	D
	-
	-
XIV	O
	-
Yet would the Muse not chide the wholesome use	D
Of needful discipline in due degree	K
Devoid of sway what wrongs will time produce	D
Whene'er the twig untrained grows up a tree	K
This shall a Carder that a Whiteboy be	K
Ferocious leaders of atrocious bands	D
And Learning's help be used for infamie	Q
By lawless clerks that with their bloody hands	D
In murder'd English write Rock's murderous commands	D
	-
	-
XV	O
	-
But ah what shrilly cry doth now alarm	Q
The sooty fowls that dozed upon the beam	Q
All sudden fluttering from the brandish'd arm	Q
And cackling chorus with the human scream	Q
Meanwhile the scourge plies that unkindly seam	Q
In Phelim's brogues which bares his naked skin	D
Like traitor gap in warlike fort I deem	Q
That falsely lets the fierce besieger in	D
Nor seeks the Pedagogue by other course to win	D
	-
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XVI	O
	-
No parent dear he hath to heed his cries	D
Alas his parent dear is far aloof	O
And deep in Seven Dial cellar lies	D
Killed by kind cudgel play or gin of proof	O
Or climbeth catwise on some London roof	O
Singing perchance a lay of Erin's Isle	R
Or whilst he labors weaves a fancy woof	O
Dreaming he sees his home his Phelim smile	R
Ah me that luckless imp who weepeth all the while	R
	-
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XVII	O
	-
Ah who can paint that hard and heavy time	Q
When first the scholar lists in Learning's train	D
And mounts her rugged steep enforc'd to climb	Q
Like sooty imp by sharp posterior pain	D
From bloody twig and eke that Indian cane	D
Wherein alas no sugar'd juices dwell	S
For this the while one stripling's sluices drain	D
Another weepeth over chilblains fell	S
Always upon the heel yet never to be well	S
	-
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XVIII	O
	-
Anon a third for his delicious root	H
Late ravish'd from his tooth by elder chit	H
So soon is human violence afoot	H
So hardly is the harmless biter bit	H
Meanwhile the tyrant with untimely wit	H
And mouthing face derides the small one's moan	D
Who all lamenting for his loss doth sit	H
Alack mischance comes seldomtimes alone	D
But aye the worried dog must rue more curs than one	D
	-
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XIX	D
	-
For lo the Pedagogue with sudden drub	T
Smites his scald head that is already sore	K
Superfluous wound such is Misfortune's rub	T
Who straight makes answer with redoubled roar	K
And sheds salt tears twice faster than before	K
That still with backward fist he strives to dry	K
Washing with brackish moisture o'er and o'er	K
His muddy cheek that grows more foul thereby	K
Till all his rainy face looks grim as rainy sky	K
	-
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XX	D
	-
So Dan by dint of noise obtains a peace	D
And with his natural untender knack	M
By new distress bids former grievance cease	D
Like tears dried up with rugged huckaback	M
That sets the mournful visage all awrack	M
Yet soon the childish countenance will shine	D
Even as thorough storms the soonest slack	M
For grief and beef in adverse ways incline	D
This keeps and that decays when duly soak'd in brine	D
	-
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XXI	D
	-
Now all is hushed and with a look profound	H
The Dominie lays ope the learned page	U
So be it called although he doth expound	H
Without a book both Greek and Latin sage	U
Now telleth he of Rome's rude infant age	U
How Romulus was bred in savage wood	H
By wet nurse wolf devoid of wolfish rage	U
And laid foundation stone of walls of mud	H
But watered it alas with warm fraternal blood	H
	-
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XXII	D
	-
Anon he turns to that Homeric war	K
How Troy was sieged like Londonderry town	D
And stout Achilles at his jaunting car	K
Dragged mighty Hector with a bloody crown	D
And eke the bard that sung of their renown	D
In garb of Greece most beggar like and torn	D
He paints with colly wand'ring up and down	D
Because at once in seven cities born	D
And so of parish rights was all his days forlorn	D
	-
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XXIII	D
	-
Anon through old Mythology he goes	D
Of Gods defunct and all their pedigrees	D
But shuns their scandalous amours and shows	D
How Plato wise and clear ey'd Socrates	D
Confess'd not to those heathen hes and shes	D
But thro' the clouds of the Olympic cope	V
Beheld St Peter with his holy keys	D
And own'd their love was naught and bow'd to Pope	V
Whilst all their purblind race in Pagan mist did grope	V
	-
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XXIV	O
	-
From such quaint themes he turns at last aside	H
To new philosophies that still are green	D
And shows what railroads have been track'd to guide	H
The wheels of great political machine	D
If English corn should grow abroad I ween	D
And gold be made of gold or paper sheet	H
How many pigs be born to each spalpeen	D
And ah how man shall thrive beyond his meat	H
With twenty souls alive to one square sod of peat	H
	-
	-
XXV	O
	-
Here he makes end and all the fry of youth	W
That stood around with serious look intense	D
Close up again their gaping eyes and mouth	X
Which they had opened to his eloquence	D
As if their hearing were a threefold sense	D
But now the current of his words is done	D
And whether any fruits shall spring from thence	D
In future time with any mother's son	D
It is a thing God wot that can be told by none	D
	-
	-
XXVI	O
	-
Now by the creeping shadows of the noon	D
The hour is come to lay aside their lore	K
The cheerful Pedagogue perceives it soon	D
And cries Begone unto the imps and four	K
Snatch their two hats and struggle for the door	K
Like ardent spirits vented from a cask	M
All blithe and boisterous but leave two more	K
With Reading made Uneasy for a task	M
To weep whilst all their mates in merry sunshine bask	M
	-
	-
XXVII	O
	-
Like sportive Elfins on the verdant sod	H
With tender moss so sleekly overgrown	D
That doth not hurt but kiss the sole unshod	H
So soothly kind is Erin to her own	D
And one at Hare and Hound plays all alone	D
For Phelim's gone to tend his step dame's cow	M
Ah Phelim's step dame is a canker'd crone	D
Whilst other twain play at an Irish row	F
And with shillelah small break one another's brow	M
	-
	-
XXVIII	O
	-
But careful Dominie with ceaseless thrift	H
Now changeth ferula for rural hoe	F
But first of all with tender hand doth shift	H
His college gown because of solar glow	F
And hangs it on a bush to scare the crow	F
Meanwhile he plants in earth the dappled bean	D
Or trains the young potatoes all a row	F
Or plucks the fragrant leek for pottage green	D
With that crisp curly herb call'd Kale in Aberdeen	D
	-
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XXIX	D
	-
And so he wisely spends the fruitful hours	D
Linked each to each by labor like a bee	K
Or rules in Learning's hall or trims her bow'rs	D
Would there were many more such wights as he	K
To sway each capital academie	Q
Of Cam and Isis for alack at each	G
There dwells I wot some dronish Dominie	D
That does no garden work nor yet doth teach	G
But wears a floury head and talks in flow'ry speech	G