The Lay Of The Laborer Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDED FGHGIJIJ KLMLNONOPO QRSRTUAU ABABAVTV WXYXZAA2A B2C2WC2D2E2F2E2 G2H2MH2I2XCJ2 K2GL2GM2N2O2N2 P2Q2R2Q2S2O2T2O2 ABABU2D2V2D2 W2X2W2X2Y2Z2BB

A spade a rake a hoeA
A pickaxe or a billB
A hook to reap or a scythe to mowA
A flail or what ye willB
And here's a ready handC
To ply the needful toolD
And skill'd enough by lessons roughE
In Labor's rugged schoolD
-
To hedge or dig the ditchF
To lop or fell the treeG
To lay the swarth on the sultry fieldH
Or plough the stubborn leaG
The harvest stack to bindI
The wheaten rick to thatchJ
And never fear in my pouch to findI
The tinder or the matchJ
-
To a flaming barn or farmK
My fancies never roamL
The fire I yearn to kindle and burnM
Is on the hearth of HomeL
Where children huddle and crouchN
Through dark long winter daysO
Where starving children huddle and crouchN
To see the cheerful raysO
A glowing on the haggard cheekP
And not in the haggard's blazeO
-
To Him who sends a droughtQ
To parch the fields forlornR
The rain to flood the meadows with mudS
The blight to blast the cornR
To Him I leave to guideT
The bolt in its crooked pathU
To strike the miser's rick and showA
The skies blood red with wrathU
-
A spade a rake a hoeA
A pickaxe or a billB
A hook to reap or a scythe to mowA
A flail or what ye willB
The corn to thrash or the hedge to plashA
The market team to driveV
Or mend the fence by the cover sideT
And leave the game aliveV
-
Ay only give me workW
And then you need not fearX
That I shall snare his Worship's hareY
Or kill his Grace's deerX
Break into his lordship's houseZ
To steal the plate so richA
Or leave the yeoman that had a purseA2
To welter in a ditchA
-
Wherever Nature needsB2
Wherever Labor callsC2
No job I'll shirk of the hardest workW
To shun the workhouse wallsC2
Where savage laws begrudgeD2
The pauper babe its breathE2
And doom a wife to a widow's lifeF2
Before her partner's deathE2
-
My only claim is thisG2
With labor stiff and starkH2
By lawful turn my living to earnM
Between the light and darkH2
My daily bread and nightly bedI2
My bacon and drop of beerX
But all from the hand that holds the landC
And none from the overseerJ2
-
No parish money or loafK2
No pauper badges for meG
A son of the soil by right of toilL2
Entitled to my feeG
No alms I ask give me my taskM2
Here are the arm the legN2
The strength the sinews of a ManO2
To work and not to begN2
-
Still one of Adam's heirsP2
Though doom'd by chance of birthQ2
To dress so mean and to eat the leanR2
Instead of the fat of the earthQ2
To make such humble mealsS2
As honest labor canO2
A bone and a crust with a grace to GodT2
And little thanks to manO2
-
A spade a rake a hoeA
A pickaxe or a billB
A hook to reap or a scythe to mowA
A flail or what ye willB
Whatever the tool to plyU2
Here is a willing drudgeD2
With muscle and limb and woe to himV2
Who does their pay begrudgeD2
-
Who every weekly scoreW2
Docks labor's little miteX2
Bestows on the poor at the temple doorW2
But robb'd them over nightX2
The very shilling he hoped to saveY2
As health and morals failZ2
Shall visit me in the new BastilleB
The Spital or the GaolB

Thomas Hood



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