The Bishop Of Rum-ti-foo Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AA BBCDEEED FFFEFFFE GGGFHHHF IIIJKKKJ LLLMNNNO JJJBPPPB HHHFQQQF JJJJJJJJ EEEJJJJJ JJJRIIIR SSSTJJJT EEEUJJJUA | |
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From east and south the holy clan | B |
Of Bishops gathered to a man | B |
To Synod called Pan Anglican | C |
In flocking crowds they came | D |
Among them was a Bishop who | E |
Had lately been appointed to | E |
The balmy isle of Rum ti Foo | E |
And PETER was his name | D |
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His people twenty three in sum | F |
They played the eloquent tum tum | F |
And lived on scalps served up in rum | F |
The only sauce they knew | E |
When first good BISHOP PETER came | F |
For PETER was that Bishop's name | F |
To humour them he did the same | F |
As they of Rum ti Foo | E |
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His flock I've often heard him tell | G |
His name was PETER loved him well | G |
And summoned by the sound of bell | G |
In crowds together came | F |
Oh massa why you go away | H |
Oh MASSA PETER please to stay | H |
They called him PETER people say | H |
Because it was his name | F |
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He told them all good boys to be | I |
And sailed away across the sea | I |
At London Bridge that Bishop he | I |
Arrived one Tuesday night | J |
And as that night he homeward strode | K |
To his Pan Anglican abode | K |
He passed along the Borough Road | K |
And saw a gruesome sight | J |
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He saw a crowd assembled round | L |
A person dancing on the ground | L |
Who straight began to leap and bound | L |
With all his might and main | M |
To see that dancing man he stopped | N |
Who twirled and wriggled skipped and hopped | N |
Then down incontinently dropped | N |
And then sprang up again | O |
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The Bishop chuckled at the sight | J |
This style of dancing would delight | J |
A simple Rum ti Foozleite | J |
I'll learn it if I can | B |
To please the tribe when I get back | P |
He begged the man to teach his knack | P |
Right Reverend Sir in half a crack | P |
Replied that dancing man | B |
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The dancing man he worked away | H |
And taught the Bishop every day | H |
The dancer skipped like any fay | H |
Good PETER did the same | F |
The Bishop buckled to his task | Q |
With BATTEMENTS and PAS DE BASQUE | Q |
I'll tell you if you care to ask | Q |
That PETER was his name | F |
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Come walk like this the dancer said | J |
Stick out your toes stick in your head | J |
Stalk on with quick galvanic tread | J |
Your fingers thus extend | J |
The attitude's considered quaint | J |
The weary Bishop feeling faint | J |
Replied I do not say it ain't | J |
But 'Time ' my Christian friend | J |
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We now proceed to something new | E |
Dance as the PAYNES and LAURIS do | E |
Like this one two one two one two | E |
The Bishop never proud | J |
But in an overwhelming heat | J |
His name was PETER I repeat | J |
Performed the PAYNE and LAURI feat | J |
And puffed his thanks aloud | J |
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Another game the dancer planned | J |
Just take your ankle in your hand | J |
And try my lord if you can stand | J |
Your body stiff and stark | R |
If when revisiting your see | I |
You learnt to hop on shore like me | I |
The novelty would striking be | I |
And must attract remark | R |
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No said the worthy Bishop no | S |
That is a length to which I trow | S |
Colonial Bishops cannot go | S |
You may express surprise | T |
At finding Bishops deal in pride | J |
But if that trick I ever tried | J |
I should appear undignified | J |
In Rum ti Foozle's eyes | T |
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The islanders of Rum ti Foo | E |
Are well conducted persons who | E |
Approve a joke as much as you | E |
And laugh at it as such | U |
But if they saw their Bishop land | J |
His leg supported in his hand | J |
The joke they wouldn't understand | J |
'T would pain them very much | U |
William Schwenck Gilbert
(1)
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