The Ride Back Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABBCCA BDBEB FGFGF HIHIH JKJKJ LMLML NOPON MIMIM QMQMQ RSRSR TMTMT IMIUI IVIVI

Before the coming of the dark he dreamedA
An old world faded story of a knightB
Much like in need to him who was no knightB
And of a road much like the road his soulC
Groped over desperate to meet Her soulC
Beside the bed Death waited And he dreamedA
-
-
His limbs were heavy from the fightB
His mail was dark with dust and bloodD
On his good horse they bound him tightB
And on his breast they bound the roodE
To help him in the ride that nightB
-
When he crashed through the wood's wet rimF
About the dabbled reeds a breezeG
Went moaning broken words and dimF
The haggard shapes of twilight treesG
Caught with their scrawny hands at himF
-
Between the doubtful aisles of dayH
Strange folk and lamentable stoodI
To maze and beckon him astrayH
But through the grey wrath of the woodI
He held right on his bitter wayH
-
When he came where the trees were thinJ
The moon sat waiting there to seeK
On her worn palm she laid her chinJ
And laughed awhile in sober gleeK
To think how strong this knight had beenJ
-
When he rode past the pallid lakeL
The withered yellow stems of flagsM
Stood breast high for his horse to breakL
Lewd as the palsied lips of hagsM
The petals in the moon did shakeL
-
When he came by the mountain wallN
The snow upon the heights looked downO
And said The sight is pitifulP
The nostrils of his steed are brownO
With frozen blood and he will fallN
-
The iron passes of the hillsM
With question were importunateI
And but the sharp tongued icy rillsM
Had grown for once compassionateI
The spiteful shades had had their willsM
-
Just when the ache in breast and brainQ
And the frost smiting at his faceM
Had sealed his spirit up with painQ
He came out in a better placeM
And morning lay across the plainQ
-
He saw the wet snails crawl and clingR
On fern stalks where the rime had runS
The careless birds went wing and wingR
And in the low smile of the sunS
Life seemed almost a pleasant thingR
-
Right on the panting charger swungT
Through the bright depths of quiet grassM
The knight's lips moved as if they sungT
And through the peace there came to passM
The flattery of lute and tongueT
-
From the mid flowering of the meadI
There swelled a sob of minstrelsyM
Faint sackbuts and the dreamy reedI
And plaintive lips of maids therebyU
And songs blown out like thistle seedI
-
Forth from her maidens came the brideI
And as his loosened rein fell slackV
He muttered In their throats they liedI
Who said that I should ne'er win backV
To kiss her lips before I diedI

William Vaughn Moody



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