The Three Beggars Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDED EFGFGH HIJ JKLML NOPQGRRRSTSU RKRVRVRWKW KXRYRZRZRKRKR RA2RXRKR| 'Though to my feathers in the wet | A |
| I have stood here from break of day | B |
| I have not found a thing to eat | C |
| For only rubbish comes my way | B |
| Am I to live on lebeen lone ' | D |
| Muttered the old crane of Gort | E |
| 'For all my pains on lebeen lone ' | D |
| - | |
| King Guaire walked amid his court | E |
| The palace yard and river side | F |
| And there to three old beggars said | G |
| 'You that have wandered far and wide | F |
| Can ravel out what's in my head | G |
| Do men who least desire get most | H |
| Or get the most who most desire ' | - |
| A beggar said 'They get the most | H |
| Whom man or devil cannot tire | I |
| And what could make their muscles taut | J |
| Unless desire had made them so ' | - |
| But Guaire laughed with secret thought | J |
| 'If that be true as it seems true | K |
| One of you three is a rich man | L |
| For he shall have a thousand pounds | M |
| Who is first asleep if but he can | L |
| Sleep before the third noon sounds ' | - |
| And thereon merry as a bird | N |
| With his old thoughts King Guaire went | O |
| From river side and palace yard | P |
| And left them to their argument | Q |
| 'And if I win ' one beggar said | G |
| 'Though I am old I shall persuade | R |
| A pretty girl to share my bed' | R |
| The second 'I shall learn a trade' | R |
| The third 'I'll hurry' to the course | S |
| Among the other gentlemen | T |
| And lay it all upon a horse' | S |
| The second 'I have thought again | U |
| A farmer has more dignity ' | - |
| One to another sighed and cried | R |
| The exorbitant dreams of beggary | K |
| That idleness had borne to pride | R |
| Sang through their teeth from noon to noon | V |
| And when the sccond twilight brought | R |
| The frenzy of the beggars' moon | V |
| None closed his blood shot eyes but sought | R |
| To keep his fellows from their sleep | W |
| All shouted till their anger grew | K |
| And they were whirling in a heap | W |
| - | |
| They mauled and bit the whole night through | K |
| They mauled and bit till the day shone | X |
| They mauled and bit through all that day | R |
| And till another night had gone | Y |
| Or if they made a moment's stay | R |
| They sat upon their heels to rail | Z |
| And when old Guaire came and stood | R |
| Before the three to end this tale | Z |
| They were commingling lice and blood | R |
| 'Time's up ' he cried and all the three | K |
| With blood shot eyes upon him stared | R |
| 'Time's up ' he eried and all the three | K |
| Fell down upon the dust and snored | R |
| - | |
| 'Maybe I shall be lucky yet | R |
| Now they are silent ' said the crane | A2 |
| 'Though to my feathers in the wet | R |
| I've stood as I were made of stone | X |
| And seen the rubbish run about | R |
| It's certain there are trout somewhere | K |
| And maybe I shall take a trout | R |
| but I do not seem to care ' | - |
William Butler Yeats
(1)
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