Rapunzel Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDC E DF D CCCF G HIJ E DF D KKKF G LIJ E DF D MMMF G NIJI E DF D MMMF G OPQP E DF D RRRF A SJSJ TUTU AVAV DWDW DDDD JPJP XYXY ZFZF A2B2A2B2 C2D2C2D2 E2VFV F2G2F2G2 APAP H2RH2R I2 PF G H2FH2F J2FJ2F FSFS K2AL2A MPMP RXRX M2 FFF G N2ZO2Z E2H2E2H2 P2Q2P2Q2 DR2DR2 S2I2S2I2 I2 T2U2T2U2V2W2W2V2W2W2 W2JSSJS2S2JV2V2 W2W2NNW2W2 X2FX2FY2Y2RRQ2Q2Z2Z2 A3B3B3B3B3P Z2A3C3I2D3D3D3 I2 P SHSJ G E3V2E3V2 P PPPP F3IF3I WV2WV2 FD3FD3 PSPS G3H3G3H3 APAP FP G N2FN2 I3 P J3I3J3 PK3PK3 P G L3PL3 FS2FM3 AFAF PZPZ PKPK V2B3V2B3 N3 P JO3LO3 G XYXY P3 Q3Q3L FFL Q3Q3L R3S2L M3S2L Q3Q3L L PLPL S3 T3 WRLR P LF L PPPF T3 LIU3I E LF L LLLF T3 K2IAI E LF L I3I3I3F E FFFTHE PRINCE being in the wood near the tower in the evening | A |
- | |
I could not even think | B |
What made me weep that day | C |
When out of the council hall | D |
The courtiers pass'd away | C |
- | |
THE WITCH | E |
- | |
Rapunzel Rapunzel | D |
Let down your hair | F |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | D |
- | |
Is it not true that every day | C |
She climbeth up the same strange way | C |
Her scarlet cloak spread broad and gay | C |
Over my golden hair | F |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
And left me there alone | H |
To think on what they said | I |
'Thou art a king's own son | J |
'Tis fit that thou should'st wed ' | - |
- | |
THE WITCH | E |
- | |
Rapunzel Rapunzel | D |
Let down your hair | F |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | D |
- | |
When I undo the knotted mass | K |
Fathoms below the shadows pass | K |
Over my hair along the grass | K |
O my golden hair | F |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
I put my armour on | L |
Thinking on what they said | I |
'Thou art a king's own son | J |
'Tis fit that thou should'st wed ' | - |
- | |
THE WITCH | E |
- | |
Rapunzel Rapunzel | D |
Let down your hair | F |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | D |
- | |
See on the marble parapet | M |
I lean my brow strive to forget | M |
That fathoms below my hair grows wet | M |
With the dew my golden hair | F |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
I rode throughout the town | N |
Men did not bow the head | I |
Though I was the king's own son | J |
He rides to dream they said | I |
- | |
THE WITCH | E |
- | |
Rapunzel Rapunzel | D |
Wind up your hair | F |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | D |
- | |
See on the marble parapet | M |
The faint red stains with tears are wet | M |
The long years pass no help comes yet | M |
To free my golden hair | F |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
For leagues and leagues I rode | O |
Till hot my armour grew | P |
Till underneath the leaves | Q |
I felt the evening dew | P |
- | |
THE WITCH | E |
- | |
Rapunzel Rapunzel | D |
Weep through your hair | F |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | D |
- | |
And yet but I am growing old | R |
For want of love my heart is cold | R |
Years pass the while I loose and fold | R |
The fathoms of my hair | F |
- | |
- | |
THE PRINCE in the morning | A |
- | |
I have heard tales of men who in the night | S |
Saw paths of stars let down to earth from heaven | J |
Who followed them until they reach'd the light | S |
Wherein they dwell whose sins are all forgiven | J |
- | |
But who went backward when they saw the gate | T |
Of diamond nor dared to enter in | U |
All their life long they were content to wait | T |
Purging them patiently of every sin | U |
- | |
I must have had a dream of some such thing | A |
And now am just awaking from that dream | V |
For even in grey dawn those strange words ring | A |
Through heart and brain and still I see that gleam | V |
- | |
For in my dream at sunset time I lay | D |
Beneath these beeches mail and helmet off | W |
Right full of joy that I had come away | D |
From court for I was patient of the scoff | W |
- | |
That met me always there from day to day | D |
From any knave or coward of them all | D |
I was content to live that wretched way | D |
For truly till I left the council hall | D |
- | |
And rode forth arm'd beneath the burning sun | J |
My gleams of happiness were faint and few | P |
But then I saw my real life had begun | J |
And that I should be strong quite well I knew | P |
- | |
For I was riding out to look for love | X |
Therefore the birds within the thickets sung | Y |
Even in hot noontide as I pass'd above | X |
The elms o'ersway'd with longing towards me hung | Y |
- | |
Now some few fathoms from the place where I | Z |
Lay in the beech wood was a tower fair | F |
The marble corners faint against the sky | Z |
And dreamily I wonder'd what lived there | F |
- | |
Because it seem'd a dwelling for a queen | A2 |
No belfry for the swinging of great bells | B2 |
No bolt or stone had ever crush'd the green | A2 |
Shafts amber and rose walls no soot that tells | B2 |
- | |
Of the Norse torches burning up the roofs | C2 |
On the flower carven marble could I see | D2 |
But rather on all sides I saw the proofs | C2 |
Of a great loneliness that sicken'd me | D2 |
- | |
Making me feel a doubt that was not fear | E2 |
Whether my whole life long had been a dream | V |
And I should wake up soon in some place where | F |
The piled up arms of the fighting angels gleam | V |
- | |
Not born as yet but going to be born | F2 |
No naked baby as I was at first | G2 |
But an armed knight whom fire hate and scorn | F2 |
Could turn from nothing my heart almost burst | G2 |
- | |
Beneath the beeches as I lay a dreaming | A |
I tried so hard to read this riddle through | P |
To catch some golden cord that I saw gleaming | A |
Like gossamer against the autumn blue | P |
- | |
But while I ponder'd these things from the wood | H2 |
There came a black hair'd woman tall and bold | R |
Who strode straight up to where the tower stood | H2 |
And cried out shrilly words whereon behold | R |
- | |
THE WITCH from the tower | I2 |
- | |
Rapunzel Rapunzel | P |
Let down your hair | F |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
Ah Christ it was no dream then but there stood | H2 |
She comes again a maiden passing fair | F |
Against the roof with face turn'd to the wood | H2 |
Bearing within her arms waves of her yellow hair | F |
- | |
I read my riddle when I saw her stand | J2 |
Poor love her face quite pale against her hair | F |
Praying to all the leagues of empty land | J2 |
To save her from the woe she suffer'd there | F |
- | |
To think they trod upon her golden hair | F |
In the witches' sabbaths it was a delight | S |
For these foul things while she with thin feet bare | F |
Stood on the roof upon the winter night | S |
- | |
To plait her dear hair into many plaits | K2 |
And then while God's eye look'd upon the thing | A |
In the very likenesses of Devil's bats | L2 |
Upon the ends of her long hair to swing | A |
- | |
And now she stood above the parapet | M |
And spreading out her arms let her hair flow | P |
Beneath that veil her smooth white forehead set | M |
Upon the marble more I do not know | P |
- | |
Because before my eyes a film of gold | R |
Floated as now it floats O unknown love | X |
Would that I could thy yellow stair behold | R |
If still thou standest the lead roof above | X |
- | |
THE WITCH as she passes | M2 |
- | |
Is there any who will dare | F |
To climb up the yellow stair | F |
Glorious Rapunzel's golden hair | F |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
If it would please God make you sing again | N2 |
I think that I might very sweetly die | Z |
My soul somehow reach heaven in joyous pain | O2 |
My heavy body on the beech nuts lie | Z |
- | |
Now I remember what a most strange year | E2 |
Most strange and awful in the beechen wood | H2 |
I have pass'd now I still have a faint fear | E2 |
It is a kind of dream not understood | H2 |
- | |
I have seen no one in this wood except | P2 |
The witch and her have heard no human tones | Q2 |
But when the witches' revelry has crept | P2 |
Between the very jointing of my bones | Q2 |
- | |
Ah I know now I could not go away | D |
But needs must stop to hear her sing that song | R2 |
She always sings at dawning of the day | D |
I am not happy here for I am strong | R2 |
- | |
And every morning do I whet my sword | S2 |
Yet Rapunzel still weeps within the tower | I2 |
And still God ties me down to the green sward | S2 |
Because I cannot see the gold stair floating lower | I2 |
- | |
RAPUNZEL sings from the tower | I2 |
- | |
My mother taught me prayers | T2 |
To say when I had need | U2 |
I have so many cares | T2 |
That I can take no heed | U2 |
Of many words in them | V2 |
But I remember this | W2 |
Christ bring me to thy bliss | W2 |
Mary maid withouten wem | V2 |
Keep me I am lone I wis | W2 |
Yet besides I have made this | W2 |
By myself Give me a kiss | W2 |
Dear God dwelling up in heaven | J |
Also Send me a true knight | S |
Lord Christ with a steel sword bright | S |
Broad and trenchant yea and seven | J |
Spans from hilt to point O Lord | S2 |
And let the handle of his sword | S2 |
Be gold on silver Lord in heaven | J |
Such a sword as I see gleam | V2 |
Sometimes when they let me dream | V2 |
- | |
Yea besides I have made this | W2 |
Lord give Mary a dear kiss | W2 |
And let gold Michael who looked down | N |
When I was there on Rouen town | N |
From the spire bring me that kiss | W2 |
On a lily Lord do this | W2 |
- | |
These prayers on the dreadful nights | X2 |
When the witches plait my hair | F |
And the fearfullest of sights | X2 |
On the earth and in the air | F |
Will not let me close my eyes | Y2 |
I murmur often mix'd with sighs | Y2 |
That my weak heart will not hold | R |
At some things that I behold | R |
Nay not sighs but quiet groans | Q2 |
That swell out the little bones | Q2 |
Of my bosom till a trance | Z2 |
God sends in middle of that dance | Z2 |
And I behold the countenance | A3 |
Of Michael and can feel no more | B3 |
The bitter east wind biting sore | B3 |
My naked feet can see no more | B3 |
The crayfish on the leaden floor | B3 |
That mock with feeler and grim claw | P |
- | |
Yea often in that happy trance | Z2 |
Beside the blessed countenance | A3 |
Of golden Michael on the spire | C3 |
Glowing all crimson in the fire | I2 |
Of sunset I behold a face | D3 |
Which sometime if God give me grace | D3 |
May kiss me in this very place | D3 |
- | |
- | |
Evening in the tower | I2 |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | P |
- | |
It grows half way between the dark and light | S |
Love we have been six hours here alone | H |
I fear that she will come before the night | S |
And if she finds us thus we are undone | J |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
Nay draw a little nearer that your breath | E3 |
May touch my lips let my cheek feel your arm | V2 |
Now tell me did you ever see a death | E3 |
Or ever see a man take mortal harm | V2 |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | P |
- | |
Once came two knights and fought with swords below | P |
And while they fought I scarce could look at all | P |
My head swam so after a moaning low | P |
Drew my eyes down I saw against the wall | P |
- | |
One knight lean dead bleeding from head and breast | F3 |
Yet seem'd it like a line of poppies red | I |
In the golden twilight as he took his rest | F3 |
In the dusky time he scarcely seemed dead | I |
- | |
But the other on his face six paces off | W |
Lay moaning and the old familiar name | V2 |
He mutter'd through the grass seem'd like a scoff | W |
Of some lost soul remembering his past fame | V2 |
- | |
His helm all dinted lay beside him there | F |
The visor bars were twisted towards the face | D3 |
The crest which was a lady very fair | F |
Wrought wonderfully was shifted from its place | D3 |
- | |
The shower'd mail rings on the speedwell lay | P |
Perhaps my eyes were dazzled with the light | S |
That blazed in the west yet surely on that day | P |
Some crimson thing had changed the grass from bright | S |
- | |
Pure green I love so But the knight who died | G3 |
Lay there for days after the other went | H3 |
Until one day I heard a voice that cried | G3 |
Fair knight I see Sir Robert we were sent | H3 |
- | |
To carry dead or living to the king | A |
So the knights came and bore him straight away | P |
On their lance truncheons such a batter'd thing | A |
His mother had not known him on that day | P |
- | |
But for his helm crest a gold lady fair | F |
Wrought wonderfully | P |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
Ah they were brothers then | N2 |
And often rode together doubtless where | F |
The swords were thickest and were loyal men | N2 |
- | |
Until they fell in these same evil dreams | I3 |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | P |
- | |
Yea love but shall we not depart from hence | J3 |
The white moon groweth golden fast and gleams | I3 |
Between the aspens stems I fear and yet a sense | J3 |
- | |
Of fluttering victory comes over me | P |
That will not let me fear aright my heart | K3 |
Feel how it beats love strives to get to thee | P |
I breathe so fast that my lips needs must part | K3 |
- | |
Your breath swims round my mouth but let us go | P |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
I Sebald also pluck from off the staff | L3 |
The crimson banner let it lie below | P |
Above it in the wind let grasses laugh | L3 |
- | |
Now let us go love down the winding stair | F |
With fingers intertwined ay feel my sword | S2 |
I wrought it long ago with golden hair | F |
Flowing about the hilts because a word | M3 |
- | |
Sung by a minstrel old had set me dreaming | A |
Of a sweet bow'd down face with yellow hair | F |
Betwixt green leaves I used to see it gleaming | A |
A half smile on the lips though lines of care | F |
- | |
Had sunk the cheeks and made the great eyes hollow | P |
What other work in all the world had I | Z |
But through all turns of fate that face to follow | P |
But wars and business kept me there to die | Z |
- | |
O child I should have slain my brother too | P |
My brother Love lain moaning in the grass | K |
Had I not ridden out to look for you | P |
When I had watch'd the gilded courtiers pass | K |
- | |
From the golden hall But it is strange your name | V2 |
Is not the same the minstrel sung of yore | B3 |
You call'd it Rapunzel 'tis not the name | V2 |
See love the stems shine through the open door | B3 |
- | |
- | |
Morning in the woods | N3 |
- | |
RAPUNZEL | P |
- | |
O love me and my unknown name you have well won | J |
The witch's name was Rapunzel eh not so sweet | O3 |
No but is this real grass love that I tread upon | L |
What call they these blue flowers that lean across my feet | O3 |
- | |
THE PRINCE | G |
- | |
Dip down your dear face in the dewy grass O love | X |
And ever let the sweet slim harebells tenderly hung | Y |
Kiss both your parted lips and I will hang above | X |
And try to sing that song the dreamy harper sung | Y |
- | |
He sings | P3 |
- | |
'Twixt the sunlight and the shade | Q3 |
Float up memories of my maid | Q3 |
God remember Guendolen | L |
- | |
Gold or gems she did not wear | F |
But her yellow rippled hair | F |
Like a veil hid Guendolen | L |
- | |
'Twixt the sunlight and the shade | Q3 |
My rough hands so strangely made | Q3 |
Folded Golden Guendolen | L |
- | |
Hands used to grip the sword hilt hard | R3 |
Framed her face while on the sward | S2 |
Tears fell down from Guendolen | L |
- | |
Guendolen now speaks no word | M3 |
Hands fold round about the sword | S2 |
Now no more of Guendolen | L |
- | |
Only 'twixt the light and shade | Q3 |
Floating memories of my maid | Q3 |
Make me pray for Guendolen | L |
- | |
GUENDOLEN | L |
- | |
I kiss thee new found name but I will never go | P |
Your hands need never grip the hammer'd sword again | L |
But all my golden hair shall ever round you flow | P |
Between the light and shade from Golden Guendolen | L |
- | |
- | |
Afterwards in the Palace | S3 |
- | |
KING SEBALD | T3 |
- | |
I took my armour off | W |
Put on king's robes of gold | R |
Over the kirtle green | L |
The gold fell fold on fold | R |
- | |
THE WITCH out of hell | P |
- | |
Guendolen Guendolen | L |
One lock of hair | F |
- | |
GUENDOLEN | L |
- | |
I am so glad for every day | P |
He kisses me much the same way | P |
As in the tower under the sway | P |
Of all my golden hair | F |
- | |
KING SEBALD | T3 |
- | |
We rode throughout the town | L |
A gold crown on my head | I |
Through all the gold hung streets | U3 |
Praise God the people said | I |
- | |
THE WITCH | E |
- | |
Gwendolen Guendolen | L |
Lend me your hair | F |
- | |
GUENDOLEN | L |
- | |
Verily I seem like one | L |
Who when day is almost done | L |
Through a thick wood meets the sun | L |
That blazes in her hair | F |
- | |
KING SEBALD | T3 |
- | |
Yea at the palace gates | K2 |
Praise God the great knights said | I |
For Sebald the high king | A |
And the lady's golden head | I |
- | |
THE WITCH | E |
- | |
Woe is me Guendolen | L |
Sweeps back her hair | F |
- | |
GUENDOLEN | L |
- | |
Nothing wretched now no screams | I3 |
I was unhappy once in dreams | I3 |
And even now a harsh voice seems | I3 |
To hang about my hair | F |
- | |
THE WITCH | E |
- | |
WOE THAT ANY MAN COULD DARE | F |
TO CLIMB UP THE YELLOW STAIR | F |
GLORIOUS GUENDOLEN'S GOLDEN HAIR | F |
William Morris
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Rapunzel poem by William Morris
Best Poems of William Morris