Rizpah Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCD EFCG H IIAAJJKKLLMMNN IIHHNNOOAAPPQQIIGG HHRRSSNNAA TTUUJJHH VVWWXXJJYY GGNNOOZZHHNNMM

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites and theyA
hanged them in the hill before the Lord and they fell all sevenB
together and were put to death in the days of the harvest in theC
first days in the beginning of barley harvestD
-
And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it forE
her upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until the waterF
dropped upon them out of heaven and suffered neither the birds of theC
air to rest upon them by day nor the beasts of the field by nightG
-
SAMUEL xxiH
-
-
Hear what the desolate Rizpah saidI
As on Gibeah's rocks she watched the deadI
The sons of Michal before her layA
And her own fair children dearer than theyA
By a death of shame they all had diedJ
And were stretched on the bare rock side by sideJ
And Rizpah once the loveliest of allK
That bloomed and smiled in the court of SaulK
All wasted with watching and famine nowL
And scorched by the sun her haggard browL
Sat mournfully guarding their corpses thereM
And murmured a strange and solemn airM
The low heart broken and wailing strainN
Of a mother that mourns her children slainN
-
I have made the crags my home and spreadI
On their desert backs my sackcloth bedI
I have eaten the bitter herb of the rocksH
And drunk the midnight dew in my locksH
I have wept till I could not weep and the painN
Of my burning eyeballs went to my brainN
Seven blackened corpses before me lieO
In the blaze of the sun and the winds of the skyO
I have watched them through the burning dayA
And driven the vulture and raven awayA
And the cormorant wheeled in circles roundP
Yet feared to alight on the guarded groundP
And when the shadows of twilight cameQ
I have seen the hyena's eyes of flameQ
And heard at my side his stealthy treadI
But aye at my shout the savage fledI
And I threw the lighted brand to frightG
The jackal and wolf that yelled in the nightG
-
Ye were foully murdered my hapless sonsH
By the hands of wicked and cruel onesH
Ye fell in your fresh and blooming primeR
All innocent for your father's crimeR
He sinned but he paid the price of his guiltS
When his blood by a nameless hand was spiltS
When he strove with the heathen host in vainN
And fell with the flower of his people slainN
And the sceptre his children's hands should swayA
From his injured lineage passed awayA
-
But I hoped that the cottage roof would beT
A safe retreat for my sons and meT
And that while they ripened to manhood fastU
They should wean my thoughts from the woes of the pastU
And my bosom swelled with a mother's prideJ
As they stood in their beauty and strength by my sideJ
Tall like their sire with the princely graceH
Of his stately form and the bloom of his faceH
-
Oh what an hour for a mother's heartV
When the pitiless ruffians tore us apartV
When I clasped their knees and wept and prayedW
And struggled and shrieked to Heaven for aidW
And clung to my sons with desperate strengthX
Till the murderers loosed my hold at lengthX
And bore me breathless and faint asideJ
In their iron arms while my children diedJ
They died and the mother that gave them birthY
Is forbid to cover their bones with earthY
-
The barley harvest was nodding whiteG
When my children died on the rocky heightG
And the reapers were singing on hill and plainN
When I came to my task of sorrow and painN
But now the season of rain is nighO
The sun is dim in the thickening skyO
And the clouds in sullen darkness restZ
Where he hides his light at the doors of the westZ
I hear the howl of the wind that bringsH
The long drear storm on its heavy wingsH
But the howling wind and the driving rainN
Will beat on my houseless head in vainN
I shall stay from my murdered sons to scareM
The beasts of the desert and fowls of airM

William Cullen Bryant



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