Hart-leap Well Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEDE FGFG HCHC IJIJ KLML NONO PQPQ RSRS TUUU UVUV UUUU UUUU WFWF USUS XYXY OUOU ZWZW A2WA2U UB2UB2 UA2UA2 A2UA2U ZWZW C2A2C2A2 U UD2UD2 WA2WA2 E2F2E2F2 UG2UU WEWE UUUU UUUU UH2UH2 A2I2A2I2 J2OJ2O MUMU UJ2UJ2 NA2NA2 K2UK2U RB2RB2 UOUU A2E2A2E2 WL2WM2 WN2WN2 O2The Knight had ridden down from Wensley Moor | A |
With the slow motion of a summer's cloud | B |
And now as he approached a vassal's door | C |
quot Bring forth another horse quot he cried aloud | B |
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quot Another horse quot That shout the vassal heard | D |
And saddled his best Steed a comely grey | E |
Sir Walter mounted him he was the third | D |
Which he had mounted on that glorious day | E |
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Joy sparkled in the prancing courser's eyes | F |
The horse and horseman are a happy pair | G |
But though Sir Walter like a falcon flies | F |
There is a doleful silence in the air | G |
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A rout this morning left Sir Walter's Hall | H |
That as they galloped made the echoes roar | C |
But horse and man are vanished one and all | H |
Such race I think was never seen before | C |
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Sir Walter restless as a veering wind | I |
Calls to the few tired dogs that yet remain | J |
Blanch Swift and Music noblest of their kind | I |
Follow and up the weary mountain strain | J |
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The Knight hallooed he cheered and chid them on | K |
With suppliant gestures and upbraidings stern | L |
But breath and eyesight fail and one by one | M |
The dogs are stretched among the mountain fern | L |
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Where is the throng the tumult of the race | N |
The bugles that so joyfully were blown | O |
This chase it looks not like an earthly chase | N |
Sir Walter and the Hart are left alone | O |
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The poor Hart toils along the mountainside | P |
I will not stop to tell how far he fled | Q |
Nor will I mention by what death he died | P |
But now the Knight beholds him lying dead | Q |
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Dismounting then he leaned against a thorn | R |
He had no follower dog nor man nor boy | S |
He neither cracked his whip nor blew his horn | R |
But gazed upon the spoil with silent joy | S |
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Close to the thorn on which Sir Walter leaned | T |
Stood his dumb partner in this glorious feat | U |
Weak as a lamb the hour that it is yeaned | U |
And white with foam as if with cleaving sleet | U |
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Upon his side the Hart was lying stretched | U |
His nostril touched a spring beneath a hill | V |
And with the last deep groan his breath had fetched | U |
The waters of the spring were trembling still | V |
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And now too happy for repose or rest | U |
Never had living man such joyful lot | U |
Sir Walter walked all round north south and west | U |
And gazed and gazed upon that darling spot | U |
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And climbing up the hill it was at least | U |
Four roods of sheer ascent Sir Walter found | U |
Three several hoof marks which the hunted Beast | U |
Had left imprinted on the grassy ground | U |
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Sir Walter wiped his face and cried quot Till now | W |
Such sight was never seen by human eyes | F |
Three leaps have borne him from this lofty brow | W |
Down to the very fountain where he lies | F |
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quot I'll build a pleasure house upon this spot | U |
And a small arbour made for rural joy | S |
'Twill be the traveller's shed the pilgrim's cot | U |
A place of love for damsels that are coy | S |
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quot A cunning artist will I have to frame | X |
A basin for that fountain in the dell | Y |
And they who do make mention of the same | X |
From this day forth shall call it HART LEAP WELL | Y |
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quot And gallant Stag to make thy praises known | O |
Another monument shall here be raised | U |
Three several pillars each a rough hewn stone | O |
And planted where thy hoofs the turf have grazed | U |
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quot And in the summer time when days are long | Z |
I will come hither with my Paramour | W |
And with the dancers and the minstrel's song | Z |
We will make merry in that pleasant bower | W |
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quot Till the foundations of the mountains fail | A2 |
My mansion with its arbour shall endure | W |
The joy of them who till the fields of Swale | A2 |
And them who dwell among the woods of Ure quot | U |
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Then home he went and left the Hart stone dead | U |
With breathless nostrils stretched above the spring | B2 |
Soon did the Knight perform what he had said | U |
And far and wide the fame thereof did ring | B2 |
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Ere thrice the Moon into her port had steered | U |
A cup of stone received the living well | A2 |
Three pillars of rude stone Sir Walter reared | U |
And built a house of pleasure in the dell | A2 |
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And near the fountain flowers of stature tall | A2 |
With trailing plants and trees were intertwined | U |
Which soon composed a little sylvan hall | A2 |
A leafy shelter from the sun and wind | U |
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And thither when the summer days were long | Z |
Sir Walter led his wondering Paramour | W |
And with the dancers and the minstrel's song | Z |
Made merriment within that pleasant bower | W |
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The Knight Sir Walter died in course of time | C2 |
And his bones lie in his paternal vale | A2 |
But there is matter for a second rhyme | C2 |
And I to this would add another tale | A2 |
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PART SECOND | U |
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THE moving accident is not my trade | U |
To freeze the blood I have no ready arts | D2 |
'Tis my delight alone in summer shade | U |
To pipe a simple song for thinking hearts | D2 |
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As I from Hawes to Richmond did repair | W |
It chanced that I saw standing in a dell | A2 |
Three aspens at three corners of a square | W |
And one not four yards distant near a well | A2 |
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What this imported I could ill divine | E2 |
And pulling now the rein my horse to stop | F2 |
I saw three pillars standing in a line | E2 |
The last stone pillar on a dark hill top | F2 |
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The trees were grey with neither arms nor head | U |
Half wasted the square mound of tawny green | G2 |
So that you just might say as then I said | U |
quot Here in old time the hand of man hath been quot | U |
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I looked upon the hill both far and near | W |
More doleful place did never eye survey | E |
It seemed as if the spring time came not here | W |
And Nature here were willing to decay | E |
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I stood in various thoughts and fancies lost | U |
When one who was in shepherd's garb attired | U |
Came up the hollow him did I accost | U |
And what this place might be I then inquired | U |
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The Shepherd stopped and that same story told | U |
Which in my former rhyme I have rehearsed | U |
quot A jolly place quot said he quot in times of old | U |
But something ails it now the spot is curst | U |
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quot You see these lifeless stumps of aspen wood | U |
Some say that they are beeches others elms | H2 |
These were the bower and here a mansion stood | U |
The finest palace of a hundred realms | H2 |
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quot The arbour does its own condition tell | A2 |
You see the stones the fountain and the stream | I2 |
But as to the great Lodge you might as well | A2 |
Hunt half a day for a forgotten dream | I2 |
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quot There's neither dog nor heifer horse nor sheep | J2 |
Will wet his lips within that cup of stone | O |
And oftentimes when all are fast asleep | J2 |
This water doth send forth a dolorous groan | O |
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quot Some say that here a murder has been done | M |
And blood cries out for blood but for my part | U |
I've guessed when I've been sitting in the sun | M |
That it was all for that unhappy Hart | U |
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quot What thoughts must through the creature's brain have past | U |
Even from the topmost stone upon the steep | J2 |
Are but three bounds and look Sir at this last | U |
O Master it has been a cruel leap | J2 |
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quot For thirteen hours he ran a desperate race | N |
And in my simple mind we cannot tell | A2 |
What cause the Hart might have to love this place | N |
And come and make his deathbed near the well | A2 |
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quot Here on the grass perhaps asleep he sank | K2 |
Lulled by the fountain in the summer tide | U |
This water was perhaps the first he drank | K2 |
When he had wandered from his mother's side | U |
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quot In April here beneath the flowering thorn | R |
He heard the birds their morning carols sing | B2 |
And he perhaps for aught we know was born | R |
Not half a furlong from that self same spring | B2 |
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quot Now here is neither grass nor pleasant shade | U |
The sun on drearier hollow never shone | O |
So will it be as I have often said | U |
Till trees and stones and fountain all are gone quot | U |
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quot Grey headed Shepherd thou hast spoken well | A2 |
Small difference lies between thy creed and mine | E2 |
This Beast not unobserved by Nature fell | A2 |
His death was mourned by sympathy divine | E2 |
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quot The Being that is in the clouds and air | W |
That is in the green leaves among the groves | L2 |
Maintains a deep and reverential care | W |
For the unoffending creatures whom he loves | M2 |
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quot The pleasure house is dust behind before | W |
This is no common waste no common gloom | N2 |
But Nature in due course of time once more | W |
Shall here put on her beauty and her bloom | N2 |
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quot S | O2 |
William Wordsworth
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