The Man Forsworn Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDD EFEFGG HIHIJK LMLMNN OPOPQQ RSTSLL UVUWXX YZYZQA2 EB2EB2C2C2 D2E2D2E2F2F2 G2RG2RH2H2 I2C2I2C2J2J2 K2L2K2L2M2M2| Who draws to day the unrighteous sword | A |
| Behold him stand the Man Forsworn | B |
| The warrior of the faithless word | C |
| The pledge disowned the covenant torn | B |
| Who prates of honour truth and trust | D |
| Ere he profanes them in the dust | D |
| - | |
| When to yon fabric grey in fame | E |
| That Windsor lifts against the sky | F |
| In martial cloak the Kaiser came | E |
| We did not dream it cloaked a spy | F |
| Yet there he sat as now we know | G |
| A guest a kinsman and a foe | G |
| - | |
| France was a gallant foe and fair | H |
| That looked us proudly in the face | I |
| With her frank eyes and freeborn air | H |
| And valour half concealed in grace | I |
| Noblest of all with whom we strove | J |
| At last she gives us noble love | K |
| - | |
| But he that took our proffered hand | L |
| Thinking to take our birthright too | M |
| He in this hospitable land | L |
| Bore him as only dastards do | M |
| Here where the Earth still nurtures men | N |
| His hand shall soil not ours again | N |
| - | |
| We know his people great and strong | O |
| On such as these we cast no slur | P |
| Our wonder is that they so long | O |
| Suffer ungalled his bit and spur | P |
| 'Tis with no heart of joy that we | Q |
| Arise to smite them on the sea | Q |
| - | |
| Glory we count of lesser worth | R |
| Than wife and babe and hearth and home | S |
| Theirs is the mandate speeding forth | T |
| Our steps of thunder on the foam | S |
| For them we fight for them we stand | L |
| Yea and for faith 'twixt land and land | L |
| - | |
| You that have linked your might with ours | U |
| To break his pride who breaks the laws | V |
| You wear today 'mid perjured Powers | U |
| The armour of a spotless cause | W |
| Your legions march in Truth arrayed | X |
| And knightly Honour whets your blade | X |
| - | |
| From Baltic or Biscayan shores | Y |
| Where Loire to the Atlantic runs | Z |
| Where Volga to the Caspian pours | Y |
| You have not poured in vain your sons | Z |
| From laughing lands of Rhone and Seine | Q |
| You have not poured your sons in vain | A2 |
| - | |
| Let us a League of Man proclaim | E |
| Against such knavery 'neath a crown | B2 |
| As would be rightly held to shame | E |
| A swineherd and his fellow clown | B2 |
| Shall all the false and creeping things | C2 |
| Find a last refuge among Kings | C2 |
| - | |
| At least on this unageing throne | D2 |
| That baffles the long siege of Time | E2 |
| We have a monarch of our own | D2 |
| To whom a crime is still a crime | E2 |
| And pure in aim there sits afar | F2 |
| The patient silent storm worn Czar | F2 |
| - | |
| For one sole mortal it remained | G2 |
| One rash insulter of the Earth | R |
| To teach the world wherein he reigned | G2 |
| How much a Kaiser's word is worth | R |
| A Kaiser's word a Caitiff's vow | H2 |
| Well have we learned their value now | H2 |
| - | |
| Over the bland and kindly Day | I2 |
| Unseasonable Night he flings | C2 |
| Sinister darkness blear and grey | I2 |
| A horror of malignant wings | C2 |
| Pain and red havoc he bestows | J2 |
| On them that only asked repose | J2 |
| - | |
| He is not hungrier for your lands | K2 |
| Than he is thirsty for your seas | L2 |
| Smite him with all your thunderous hands | K2 |
| Fight him and smite him to his knees | L2 |
| You that on him and falsehood hurled | M2 |
| Shall guard the fortress of the world | M2 |
William Watson
(1)
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