Betsey And I Are Out. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIEE JJKK LLMM NNOO PPQQ RRSS EETT UUPP VVPP PPWW XXYY ZZA2A2 B2B2C2C2 D2D2E2E2 C2C2F2F2 G2G2F2F2 EEH2I2 P| Draw up the papers lawyer and make 'em good and stout | A |
| For things at home are crossways and Betsey and I are out | A |
| We who have worked together so long as man and wife | B |
| Must pull in single harness for the rest of our nat'ral life | B |
| - | |
| What is the matter say you I swan it's hard to tell | C |
| Most of the years behind us we've passed by very well | C |
| I have no other woman she has no other man | D |
| Only we've lived together as long as we ever can | D |
| - | |
| So I have talked with Betsey and Betsey has talked with me | E |
| And so we've agreed together that we can't never agree | E |
| Not that we've catched each other in any terrible crime | F |
| We've been a gathering this for years a little at a time | F |
| - | |
| There was a stock of temper we both had for a start | G |
| Although we never suspected 'twould take us two apart | G |
| I had my various failings bred in the flesh and bone | H |
| And Betsey like all good women had a temper of her own | H |
| - | |
| The first thing I remember whereon we disagreed | I |
| Was something concerning heaven a difference in our creed | I |
| We arg'ed the thing at breakfast we arg'ed the thing at tea | E |
| And the more we arg'ed the question the more we didn't agree | E |
| - | |
| And the next that I remember was when we lost a cow | J |
| She had kicked the bucket for certain the question was only How | J |
| I held my own opinion and Betsey another had | K |
| And when we were done a talkin' we both of us was mad | K |
| - | |
| And the next that I remember it started in a joke | L |
| But full for a week it lasted and neither of us spoke | L |
| And the next was when I scolded because she broke a bowl | M |
| And she said I was mean and stingy and hadn't any soul | M |
| - | |
| And so that bowl kept pourin' dissensions in our cup | N |
| And so that blamed cow critter was always a comin' up | N |
| And so that heaven we arg'ed no nearer to us got | O |
| But it gave us a taste of somethin' a thousand times as hot | O |
| - | |
| And so the thing kept workin' and all the self same way | P |
| Always somethin' to arg'e and somethin' sharp to say | P |
| And down on us came the neighbors a couple dozen strong | Q |
| And lent their kindest sarvice for to help the thing along | Q |
| - | |
| And there has been days together and many a weary week | R |
| We was both of us cross and spunky and both too proud to speak | R |
| And I have been thinkin' and thinkin' the whole of the winter and fall | S |
| If I can't live kind with a woman why then I won't at all | S |
| - | |
| And so I have talked with Betsey and Betsey has talked with me | E |
| And we have agreed together that we can't never agree | E |
| And what is hers shall be hers and what is mine shall be mine | T |
| And I'll put it in the agreement and take it to her to sign | T |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Write on the paper lawyer the very first paragraph | U |
| Of all the farm and live stock that she shall have her half | U |
| For she has helped to earn it through many a weary day | P |
| And it's nothing more than justice that Betsey has her pay | P |
| - | |
| Give her the house and homestead a man can thrive and roam | V |
| But women are skeery critters unless they have a home | V |
| And I have always determined and never failed to say | P |
| That Betsey never should want a home if I was taken away | P |
| - | |
| There is a little hard money that's drawin' tol'rable pay | P |
| A couple of hundred dollars laid by for a rainy day | P |
| Safe in the hands of good men and easy to get at | W |
| Put in another clause there and give her half of that | W |
| - | |
| Yes I see you smile Sir at my givin' her so much | X |
| Yes divorce is cheap Sir but I take no stock in such | X |
| True and fair I married her when she was blithe and young | Y |
| And Betsey was al'ays good to me exceptin' with her tongue | Y |
| - | |
| Once when I was young as you and not so smart perhaps | Z |
| For me she mittened a lawyer and several other chaps | Z |
| And all of them was flustered and fairly taken down | A2 |
| And I for a time was counted the luckiest man in town | A2 |
| - | |
| Once when I had a fever I won't forget it soon | B2 |
| I was hot as a basted turkey and crazy as a loon | B2 |
| Never an hour went by me when she was out of sight | C2 |
| She nursed me true and tender and stuck to me day and night | C2 |
| - | |
| And if ever a house was tidy and ever a kitchen clean | D2 |
| Her house and kitchen was tidy as any I ever seen | D2 |
| And I don't complain of Betsey or any of her acts | E2 |
| Exceptin' when we've quarreled and told each other facts | E2 |
| - | |
| So draw up the paper lawyer and I'll go home to night | C2 |
| And read the agreement to her and see if it's all right | C2 |
| And then in the mornin' I'll sell to a tradin' man I know | F2 |
| And kiss the child that was left to us and out in the world I'll go | F2 |
| - | |
| And one thing put in the paper that first to me didn't occur | G2 |
| That when I am dead at last she'll bring me back to her | G2 |
| And lay me under the maples I planted years ago | F2 |
| When she and I was happy before we quarreled so | F2 |
| - | |
| And when she dies I wish that she would be laid by me | E |
| And lyin' together in silence perhaps we will agree | E |
| And if ever we meet in heaven I wouldn't think it queer | H2 |
| If we loved each other the better because we quarreled here | I2 |
| - | |
| nbsp | P |
William Mckendree Carleton
(1)
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