Lost Mr. Blake Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCADEB FGHAG HEIHI HJKKHHKLMH HHHHHHH NLOAGPHQA CLRSHLHT EAQHPAUH GCIVBJIOEB ELHLLAAEHHWA LHHHLAHJHDHXEYEXHY ZA2AHCA2KH B2HHHC2KHA2H

Mr Blake was a regular out and out hardened sinnerA
Who was quite out of the pale of Christianity so to speakB
He was in the habit of smoking a long pipe and drinking a glass ofC
grog on a Sunday after dinnerA
And seldom thought of going to church more than twice or if GoodD
Friday or Christmas Day happened to come in it three times aE
weekB
-
He was quite indifferent as to the particular kinds of dressesF
That the clergyman wore at church where he used to go to prayG
And whatever he did in the way of relieving a chap's distressesH
He always did in a nasty sneaking underhanded hole and cornerA
sort of wayG
-
I have known him indulge in profane ungentlemanly emphaticsH
When the Protestant Church has been divided on the subject of theE
proper width of a chasuble's hemI
I have even known him to sneer at albs and as for dalmaticsH
Words can't convey an idea of the contempt he expressed for THEMI
-
He didn't believe in persons who not being well off themselvesH
are obliged to confine their charitable exertions to collectingJ
money from wealthier peopleK
And looked upon individuals of the former class as ecclesiasticalK
hawksH
He used to say that he would no more think of interfering with hisH
priest's robes than with his church or his steepleK
And that he did not consider his soul imperilled because somebodyL
over whom he had no influence whatever chose to dress himself upM
like an exaggerated GUY FAWKESH
-
This shocking old vagabond was so unutterably shamelessH
That he actually went a courting a very respectable and piousH
middle aged sister by the name of BIGGSH
She was a rather attractive widow whose life as such had alwaysH
been particularly blamelessH
Her first husband had left her a secure but moderate competenceH
owing to some fortunate speculations in the matter of figsH
-
She was an excellent person in every way and won the respect evenN
of MRS GRUNDYL
She was a good housewife too and wouldn't have wasted a penny ifO
she had owned the Koh i noorA
She was just as strict as he was lax in her observance of SundayG
And being a good economist and charitable besides she took allP
the bones and cold potatoes and broken pie crusts and candle endsH
when she had quite done with them and made them into anQ
excellent soup for the deserving poorA
-
I am sorry to say that she rather took to BLAKE that outcast ofC
societyL
And when respectable brothers who were fond of her began to lookR
dubious and to coughS
She would say Oh my friends it's because I hope to bring thisH
poor benighted soul back to virtue and proprietyL
And besides the poor benighted soul with all his faults wasH
uncommonly well offT
-
And when MR BLAKE'S dissipated friends called his attention to theE
frown or the pout of herA
Whenever he did anything which appeared to her to savour of anQ
unmentionable placeH
He would say that she would be a very decent old girl when allP
that nonsense was knocked out of herA
And his method of knocking it out of her is one that covered himU
with disgraceH
-
She was fond of going to church services four times every SundayG
and four or five times in the week and never seemed to pall ofC
themI
So he hunted out all the churches within a convenient distance thatV
had services at different hours so to speakB
And when he had married her he positively insisted upon their goingJ
to all of themI
So they contrived to do about twelve churches every Sunday and ifO
they had luck from twenty two to twenty three in the course of theE
weekB
-
She was fond of dropping his sovereigns ostentatiously into theE
plate and she liked to see them stand out rather conspicuouslyL
against the commonplace half crowns and shillingsH
So he took her to all the charity sermons and if by anyL
extraordinary chance there wasn't a charity sermon anywhere heL
would drop a couple of sovereigns one for him and one for herA
into the poor box at the doorA
And as he always deducted the sums thus given in charity from theE
housekeeping money and the money he allowed her for her bonnetsH
and frillingsH
She soon began to find that even charity if you allow it toW
interfere with your personal luxuries becomes an intolerable boreA
-
On Sundays she was always melancholy and anything but good societyL
For that day in her household was a day of sighings and sobbingsH
and wringing of hands and shaking of headsH
She wouldn't hear of a button being sewn on a glove because it wasH
a work neither of necessity nor of pietyL
And strictly prohibited her servants from amusing themselves orA
indeed doing anything at all except dusting the drawing roomsH
cleaning the boots and shoes cooking the parlour dinner waitingJ
generally on the family and making the bedsH
But BLAKE even went further than that and said that people shouldD
do their own works of necessity and not delegate them to personsH
in a menial situationX
So he wouldn't allow his servants to do so much as even answer aE
bellY
Here he is making his wife carry up the water for her bath to theE
second floor much against her inclinationX
And why in the world the gentleman who illustrates these balladsH
has put him in a cocked hat is more than I can tellY
-
After about three months of this sort of thing taking the smoothZ
with the rough of itA2
Blacking her own boots and peeling her own potatoes was not herA
notion of connubial blissH
MRS BLAKE began to find that she had pretty nearly had enough ofC
itA2
And came in course of time to think that BLAKE'S own originalK
line of conduct wasn't so much amissH
-
And now that wicked person that detestable sinner BELIAL BLAKEB2
his friends and well wishers call him for his atrocitiesH
And his poor deluded victim whom all her Christian brothersH
dislike and pity soH
Go to the parish church only on Sunday morning and afternoon andC2
occasionally on a week day and spend their evenings in connubialK
fondlings and affectionate reciprocitiesH
And I should like to know where in the world or rather out of itA2
they expect to goH

William Schwenck Gilbert



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