Shepherd And Goatheard Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABBCDEFGHIHJIJKLMJNO JPQRSCTUVWXYZA2B2C2D D2YYE2F2G2H2I2J2LK2Y L2PM2N2O2P2D2Q2AJQR2 K2S2T2ZU2K2CR2V2TW2X 2TY2V2TX2CY2JV2Y2CZ2 E2PA3IB3C3Y2D3E3PF3G 3H3I3YB3TW2J3J3K3K3L 3L3D2D2IIM3M3N3N3O3O 3C2C2F3F3WWP3Z2Q3R3D 2ZS3YD

Shepherd That cry's from the first cuckoo of the yearA
I wished before it ceasedB
Goatherd Nor bird nor beastB
Could make me wish for anything this dayC
Being old but that the old alone might dieD
And that would be against God's providenceE
Let the young wish But what has brought you hereF
Never until this moment have we metG
Where my goats browse on the scarce grass or leapH
From stone to StoneI
Shepherd I am looking for strayed sheepH
Something has troubled me and in my rroubleJ
I let them stray I thought of rhyme aloneI
For rhme can beat a measure out of troubleJ
And make the daylight sweet once more but whenK
I had driven every rhyme into its PlaceL
The sheep had gone from theirsM
Goatherd I know right wellJ
What turned so good a shepherd from his chargeN
Shepherd He that was best in every country sportO
And every country craft and of us allJ
Most courteous to slow age and hasty youthP
Is deadQ
Goatherd The boy that brings my griddle cakeR
Brought the bare newsS
Shepherd He had thrown the crook awayC
And died in the great war beyond the seaT
Goatherd He had often played his pipes among my hillsU
And when he played it was their lonelinessV
The exultation of their stone that diedW
Under his fingersX
Shepherd I had it from his motherY
And his own flock was browsing at the doorZ
Goatherd How does she bear her grief There is not aA2
shepherdB2
But grows more gentle when he speaks her nameC2
Remembering kindness done and how can ID
That found when I had neither goat nor grazingD2
New welcome and old wisdom at her fireY
Till winter blasts were gone but speak of herY
Even before his children and his wifeE2
Shepherd She goes about her house erect and calmF2
Between the pantry and the linen chestG2
Or else at meadow or at grazing overlooksH2
Her labouring men as though her darling livedI2
But for her grandson now there is no changeJ2
But such as I have Seen upon her faceL
Watching our shepherd sports at harvest timeK2
When her son's turn was overY
Goatherd Sing your songL2
I too have rhymed my reveries but youthP
Is hot to show whatever it has foundM2
And till that's done can neither work nor waitN2
Old goatherds and old goats if in all elseO2
Youth can excel them in accomplishmentP2
Are learned in waitingD2
Shepherd You cannot but have seenQ2
That he alone had gathered up no gearA
Set carpenters to work on no wide tableJ
On no long bench nor lofty milking shedQ
As others will when first they take possessionR2
But left the house as in his father's timeK2
As though he knew himself as it were a cuckooS2
No settled man And now that he is goneT2
There's nothing of him left but half a scoreZ
Of sorrowful austere sweet lofty pipe tunesU2
Goatherd You have put the thought in rhymeK2
Shepherd I worked all dayC
And when 'twas done so little had I doneR2
That maybe 'I am sorry' in plain proseV2
Had Sounded better to your mountain fancyT
He singsW2
'Like the speckled bird that steersX2
Thousands of leagues overseaT
And runs or a while half fliesY2
On his yellow legs through our meadowsV2
He stayed for a while and weT
Had scarcely accustomed our earsX2
To his speech at the break of dayC
Had scarcely accustomed our eyesY2
To his shape at the rinsing poolJ
Among the evening shadowsV2
When he vanished from ears and eyesY2
I might have wished on the dayC
He came but man is a fool 'Z2
Goatherd You sing as always of the natural lifeE2
And I that made like music in my youthP
Hearing it now have sighed for that young manA3
And certain lost companions of my ownI
Shepherd They say that on your barren mountain ridgeB3
You have measured out the road that the soul treadsC3
When it has vanished from our natural eyesY2
That you have talked with apparitionsD3
Goatherd IndeedE3
My daily thoughts since the first stupor of youthP
Have found the path my goats' feet cannot findF3
Shepherd Sing for it may be that your thoughts haveG3
pluckedH3
Some medicable herb to make our griefI3
Less bitterY
Goatherd They have brought me from that ridgeB3
Seed pods and flowers that are not all wild poppyT
SingsW2
'He grows younger every secondJ3
That were all his birthdays reckonedJ3
Much too solemn seemedK3
Because of what he had dreamedK3
Or the ambitions that he servedL3
Much too solemn and reservedL3
Jaunting journeyingD2
To his own dayspringD2
He unpacks the loaded pernI
Of all 'twas pain or joy to learnI
Of all that he had madeM3
The outrageous war shall fadeM3
At some old winding whitethorn rootN3
He'll practise on the shepherd's fluteN3
Or on the close cropped grassO3
Court his shepherd lassO3
Or put his heart into some gameC2
Till daytime playtime seem the sameC2
Knowledge he shall unwindF3
Through victories of the mindF3
Till clambering at the cradle sideW
He dreams himself hsi mother's prideW
All knowledge lost in tranceP3
Of sweeter ignorance 'Z2
Shepherd When I have shut these ewes and this old ramQ3
Into the fold we'll to the woods and thereR3
Cut out our rhymes on strips of new torn barkD2
But put no name and leave them at her doorZ
To know the mountain and the valley have grievedS3
May be a quiet thought to wife and motherY
And children when they spring up shoulder highD

William Butler Yeats



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