January Morning Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCD BEFGE A HGIJ A KLMN B OBOMP B QRS B TUV B WBO B EEXYZA2B2CC2 O D2CCCCCOE2CB O OZOOF2G2H2O B CDI2BEBE B PBEJ2K2BE B BPYL2M2N2BY B C2K2 B BEO2P2BQ2R2S2T2PU2RV 2T2I | A |
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I have discovered that most of | B |
the beauties of travel are due to | C |
the strange hours we keep to see them | D |
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the domes of the Church of | B |
the Paulist Fathers in Weehawken | E |
against a smoky dawn the heart stirred | F |
are beautiful as Saint Peters | G |
approached after years of anticipation | E |
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II | A |
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Though the operation was postponed | H |
I saw the tall probationers | G |
in their tan uniforms | I |
hurrying to breakfast | J |
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III | A |
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and from basement entries | K |
neatly coiffed middle aged gentlemen | L |
with orderly moustaches and | M |
well brushed coats | N |
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IV | B |
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and the sun dipping into the avenues | O |
streaking the tops of | B |
the irregular red houselets | O |
and | M |
the gay shadows drooping and drooping | P |
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V | B |
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and a young horse with a green bed quilt | Q |
on his withers shaking his head | R |
bared teeth and nozzle high in the air | S |
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VI | B |
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and a semicircle of dirt colored men | T |
about a fire bursting from an old | U |
ash can | V |
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VII | B |
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and the worn | W |
blue car rails like the sky | B |
gleaming among the cobbles | O |
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VIII | B |
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and the rickety ferry boat Arden | E |
What an object to be called Arden | E |
among the great piers on the | X |
ever new river | Y |
Put me a Touchstone | Z |
at the wheel white gulls and we'll | A2 |
follow the ghost of the Half Moon | B2 |
to the North West Passage and through | C |
at Albany for all that | C2 |
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IX | O |
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Exquisite brown waves long | D2 |
circlets of silver moving over you | C |
enough with crumbling ice crusts among you | C |
The sky has come down to you | C |
lighter than tiny bubbles face to | C |
face with you | C |
His spirit is | O |
a white gull with delicate pink feet | E2 |
and a snowy breast for you to | C |
hold to your lips delicately | B |
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X | O |
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The young doctor is dancing with happiness | O |
in the sparkling wind alone | Z |
at the prow of the ferry He notices | O |
the curdy barnacles and broken ice crusts | O |
left at the slip's base by the low tide | F2 |
and thinks of summer and green | G2 |
shell crusted ledges among | H2 |
the emerald eel grass | O |
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XI | B |
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Who knows the Palisades as I do | C |
knows the river breaks east from them | D |
above the city but they continue south | I2 |
under the sky to bear a crest of | B |
little peering houses that brighten | E |
with dawn behind the moody | B |
water loving giants of Manhattan | E |
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XII | B |
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Long yellow rushes bending | P |
above the white snow patches | B |
purple and gold ribbon | E |
of the distant wood | J2 |
what an angle | K2 |
you make with each other as | B |
you lie there in contemplation | E |
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XIII | B |
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Work hard all your young days | B |
and they'll find you too some morning | P |
staring up under | Y |
your chiffonier at its warped | L2 |
bass wood bottom and your soul | M2 |
out | N2 |
among the little sparrows | B |
behind the shutter | Y |
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XIV | B |
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and the flapping flags are at | C2 |
half mast for the dead admiral | K2 |
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XV | B |
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All this | B |
was for you old woman | E |
I wanted to write a poem | O2 |
that you would understand | P2 |
For what good is it to me | B |
if you can't understand it | Q2 |
But you got to try hard | R2 |
But | S2 |
Well you know how | T2 |
the young girls run giggling | P |
on Park Avenue after dark | U2 |
when they ought to be home in bed | R |
Well | V2 |
that's the way it is with me somehow | T2 |
William Carlos Williams
(1)
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