The African Chief Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEDE FGHGIJIJ KLMLNONO PQPRJSJS TUTUVWXW PYPYUSUS TVTVZA2ZB2 QC2QC2OUOU| Chained in the market place he stood | A |
| A man of giant frame | B |
| Amid the gathering multitude | C |
| That shrunk to hear his name | B |
| All stern of look and strong of limb | D |
| His dark eye on the ground | E |
| And silently they gazed on him | D |
| As on a lion bound | E |
| - | |
| Vainly but well that chief had fought | F |
| He was a captive now | G |
| Yet pride that fortune humbles not | H |
| Was written on his brow | G |
| The scars his dark broad bosom wore | I |
| Showed warrior true and brave | J |
| A prince among his tribe before | I |
| He could not be a slave | J |
| - | |
| Then to his conqueror he spake | K |
| My brother is a king | L |
| Undo this necklace from my neck | M |
| And take this bracelet ring | L |
| And send me where my brother reigns | N |
| And I will fill thy hands | O |
| With store of ivory from the plains | N |
| And gold dust from the sands | O |
| - | |
| Not for thy ivory nor thy gold | P |
| Will I unbind thy chain | Q |
| That bloody hand shall never hold | P |
| The battle spear again | R |
| A price thy nation never gave | J |
| Shall yet be paid for thee | S |
| For thou shalt be the Christian's slave | J |
| In lands beyond the sea | S |
| - | |
| Then wept the warrior chief and bade | T |
| To shred his locks away | U |
| And one by one each heavy braid | T |
| Before the victor lay | U |
| Thick were the platted locks and long | V |
| And closely hidden there | W |
| Shone many a wedge of gold among | X |
| The dark and crisped hair | W |
| - | |
| Look feast thy greedy eye with gold | P |
| Long kept for sorest need | Y |
| Take it thou askest sums untold | P |
| And say that I am freed | Y |
| Take it my wife the long long day | U |
| Weeps by the cocoa tree | S |
| And my young children leave their play | U |
| And ask in vain for me | S |
| - | |
| I take thy gold but I have made | T |
| Thy fetters fast and strong | V |
| And ween that by the cocoa shade | T |
| Thy wife will wait thee long | V |
| Strong was the agony that shook | Z |
| The captive's frame to hear | A2 |
| And the proud meaning of his look | Z |
| Was changed to mortal fear | B2 |
| - | |
| His heart was broken crazed his brain | Q |
| At once his eye grew wild | C2 |
| He struggled fiercely with his chain | Q |
| Whispered and wept and smiled | C2 |
| Yet wore not long those fatal bands | O |
| And once at shut of day | U |
| They drew him forth upon the sands | O |
| The foul hyena's prey | U |
William Cullen Bryant
(1)
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