The Plea Of The Midsummer Fairies Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCCDCDD A EFEFFGFHG A ICIJJCJCC KLKLLDLDD CJCJMDJDD NCNCCOCOO ICICCPCPP HCHCCCCCC C QGQGGRGRR C SISLICICC C TUTUUVUVV C CHCHCUHU C WJWJJCJC PCPCCCCC XU UUUUU UDUDYZDZ PA2PA2A2CA2C UUUUU U C B2PB2PPA2PA2A2 C U| I | A |
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| 'Twas in that mellow season of the year | B |
| When the hot sun singes the yellow leaves | C |
| Till they be gold and with a broader sphere | B |
| The Moon looks down on Ceres and her sheaves | C |
| When more abundantly the spider weaves | C |
| And the cold wind breathes from a chillier clime | D |
| That forth I fared on one of those still eves | C |
| Touch'd with the dewy sadness of the time | D |
| To think how the bright months had spent their prime | D |
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| II | A |
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| So that wherever I address'd my way | E |
| I seem'd to track the melancholy feet | F |
| Of him that is the Father of Decay | E |
| And spoils at once the sour weed and the sweet | F |
| Wherefore regretfully I made retreat | F |
| To some unwasted regions of my brain | G |
| Charm'd with the light of summer and the heat | F |
| And bade that bounteous season bloom again | H |
| And sprout fresh flowers in mine own domain | G |
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| III | A |
| - | |
| It was a shady and sequester'd scene | I |
| Like those famed gardens of Boccaccio | C |
| Planted with his own laurels evergreen | I |
| And roses that for endless summer blow | J |
| And there were fountain springs to overflow | J |
| Their marble basins and cool green arcades | C |
| Of tall o'erarching sycamores to throw | J |
| Athwart the dappled path their dancing shades | C |
| With timid coneys cropping the green blades | C |
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| IV | - |
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| And there were crystal pools peopled with fish | K |
| Argent and gold and some of Tyrian skin | L |
| Some crimson barr'd and ever at a wish | K |
| They rose obsequious till the wave grew thin | L |
| As glass upon their backs and then dived in | L |
| Quenching their ardent scales in watery gloom | D |
| Whilst others with fresh hues row'd forth to win | L |
| My changeable regard for so we doom | D |
| Things born of thought to vanish or to bloom | D |
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| V | - |
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| And there were many birds of many dyes | C |
| From tree to tree still faring to and fro | J |
| And stately peacocks with their splendid eyes | C |
| And gorgeous pheasants with their golden glow | J |
| Like Iris just bedabbled in her bow | M |
| Beside some vocalists without a name | D |
| That oft on fairy errands come and go | J |
| With accents magical and all were tame | D |
| And peckled at my hand where'er I came | D |
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| VI | - |
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| And for my sylvan company in lieu | N |
| Of Pampinea with her lively peers | C |
| Sate Queen Titania with her pretty crew | N |
| All in their liveries quaint with elfin gears | C |
| For she was gracious to my childish years | C |
| And made me free of her enchanted round | O |
| Wherefore this dreamy scene she still endears | C |
| And plants her court upon a verdant mound | O |
| Fenced with umbrageous woods and groves profound | O |
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| VII | - |
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| 'Ah me ' she cries 'was ever moonlight seen | I |
| So clear and tender for our midnight trips | C |
| Go some one forth and with a trump convene | I |
| My lieges all ' Away the goblin skips | C |
| A pace or two apart and deftly strips | C |
| The ruddy skin from a sweet rose's cheek | P |
| Then blows the shuddering leaf between his lips | C |
| Making it utter forth a shrill small shriek | P |
| Like a fray'd bird in the gray owlet's beak | P |
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| VIII | - |
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| And lo upon my fix'd delighted ken | H |
| Appear'd the loyal Fays Some by degrees | C |
| Crept from the primrose buds that open'd then | H |
| Ana some from bell shaped blossoms like the bees | C |
| Some from the dewy meads and rushy leas | C |
| Flew up like chafers when the rustics pass | C |
| Some from the rivers others from tall trees | C |
| Dropp'd like shed blossoms silent to the grass | C |
| Spirits and elfins small of every class | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| IX | C |
| - | |
| Peri and Pixy and quaint Puck the Antic | Q |
| Brought Robin Goodfellow that merry swain | G |
| And stealthy Mab queen of old realms romantic | Q |
| Came too from distance in her tiny wain | G |
| Fresh dripping from a cloud some bloomy rain | G |
| Then circling the bright Moon had wash'd her car | R |
| And still bedew'd it with a various stain | G |
| Lastly came Ariel shooting from a star | R |
| Who bears all fairy embassies afar | R |
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| X | C |
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| But Oberon that night elsewhere exiled | S |
| Was absent whether some distemper'd spleen | I |
| Kept him and his fair mate unreconciled | S |
| Or warfare with the Gnome whose race had been | L |
| Sometime obnoxious kept him from his queen | I |
| And made her now peruse the starry skies | C |
| Prophetical with such an absent mien | I |
| Howbeit the tears stole often to her eyes | C |
| And oft the Moon was incensed with her sighs | C |
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| XI | C |
| - | |
| Which made the elves sport drearily and soon | T |
| Their hushing dances languish'd to a stand | U |
| Like midnight leaves when as the Zephyrs swoon | T |
| All on their drooping stems they sink unfann'd | U |
| So into silence droop'd the fairy band | U |
| To see their empress dear so pale and still | V |
| Crowding her softly round on either hand | U |
| As pale as frosty snowdrops and as chill | V |
| To whom the sceptred dame reveals her ill | V |
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| - | |
| XII | C |
| - | |
| 'Alas ' quoth she 'ye know our fairy lives | C |
| Are leased upon the fickle faith of men | H |
| Not measured out against Fate's mortal knives | C |
| Like human gosamers we perish when | H |
| We fade and are forgot in worldly kens | C |
| Though poesy has thus prolong'd our date | U |
| Thanks be to the sweet Bard's auspicious pen | H |
| That rescued us so long howbeit of late | U |
| I feel some dark misgivings of our fate ' | - |
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| XIII | C |
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| 'And this dull day my melancholy sleep | W |
| Hath been so thronged with images of woe | J |
| That even now I cannot choose but weep | W |
| To think this was some sad prophetic show | J |
| Of future horror to befall us so | J |
| Of mortal wreck and uttermost distress | C |
| Yea our poor empire's fall and overthrow | J |
| For this was my long vision's dreadful stress | C |
| And when I waked my trouble was not less ' | - |
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| XIV | - |
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| 'Whenever to the clouds I tried to seek | P |
| Such leaden weight dragg'd these Icarian wings | C |
| My faithless wand was wavering and weak | P |
| And slimy toads had trespass'd in our rings | C |
| The birds refused to sing for me all things | C |
| Disown'd their old allegiance to our spells | C |
| The rude bees prick'd me with their rebel stings | C |
| And when I pass'd the valley lily's bells | C |
| Rang out methought most melancholy knells ' | - |
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| XV | - |
| - | |
| 'And ever on the faint and flagging air | X |
| A doleful spirit with a dreary note | U |
| Cried in my fearful ear 'Prepare prepare ' | - |
| Which soon I knew came from a raven's throat | U |
| Perch'd on a cypress bough not far remote | U |
| A cursed bird too crafty to be shot | U |
| That alway cometh with his soot black coat | U |
| To make hearts dreary for he is a blot | U |
| Upon the book of life as well ye wot ' | - |
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| XVI | - |
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| 'Wherefore some while I bribed him to be mute | U |
| With bitter acorns stuffing his foul maw | D |
| Which barely I appeased when some fresh bruit | U |
| Startled me all aheap and soon I saw | D |
| The horridest shape that ever raised my awe | Y |
| A monstrous giant very huge and tall | Z |
| Such as in elder times devoid of law | D |
| With wicked might grieved the primeval ball | Z |
| And this was sure the deadliest of them all ' | - |
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| XVII | - |
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| 'Gaunt was he as a wolf of Languedoc | P |
| With bloody jaws and frost upon his crown | A2 |
| So from his barren poll one hoary lock | P |
| Over his wrinkled front fell far adown | A2 |
| Well nigh to where his frosty brows did frown | A2 |
| Like jagged icicles at cottage eaves | C |
| And for his coronal he wore some brown | A2 |
| And bristled ears gather'd from Ceres' sheaves | C |
| Entwined with certain sere and russet leaves ' | - |
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| XVIII | - |
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| 'And lo upon a mast rear'd far aloft | U |
| He bore a very bright and crescent blade | U |
| The which he waved so dreadfully and oft | U |
| In meditative spite that sore dismay'd | U |
| I crept into an acorn cup for shade | U |
| Meanwhile the horrid effigy went by | - |
| I trow his look was dreadful for it made | U |
| The trembling birds betake them to the sky | - |
| For every leaf was lifted by his sigh ' | - |
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| XIX | C |
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| 'And ever as he sigh'd his foggy breath | B2 |
| Blurr'd out the landscape like a flight of smoke | P |
| Thence knew I this was either dreary Death | B2 |
| Or Time who leads all creatures to his stroke | P |
| Ah wretched me ' Here even as she spoke | P |
| The melancholy Shape came gliding in | A2 |
| And lean'd his back against an antique oak | P |
| Folding his wings that were so fine and thin | A2 |
| They scarce were seen against the Dryad's skin | A2 |
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| XX | C |
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| Then what a fear seized all the little rout | U |
| Look how a flock of | - |
Thomas Hood
(1)
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The Plea Of The Midsummer Fairies is a poem by Thomas Hood. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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