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 O2

The Knight had ridden down from Wensley MoorA
With the slow motion of a summer's cloudB
And now as he approached a vassal's doorC
quot Bring forth another horse quot he cried aloudB
-
quot Another horse quot That shout the vassal heardD
And saddled his best Steed a comely greyE
Sir Walter mounted him he was the thirdD
Which he had mounted on that glorious dayE
-
Joy sparkled in the prancing courser's eyesF
The horse and horseman are a happy pairG
But though Sir Walter like a falcon fliesF
There is a doleful silence in the airG
-
A rout this morning left Sir Walter's HallH
That as they galloped made the echoes roarC
But horse and man are vanished one and allH
Such race I think was never seen beforeC
-
Sir Walter restless as a veering windI
Calls to the few tired dogs that yet remainJ
Blanch Swift and Music noblest of their kindI
Follow and up the weary mountain strainJ
-
The Knight hallooed he cheered and chid them onK
With suppliant gestures and upbraidings sternL
But breath and eyesight fail and one by oneM
The dogs are stretched among the mountain fernL
-
Where is the throng the tumult of the raceN
The bugles that so joyfully were blownO
This chase it looks not like an earthly chaseN
Sir Walter and the Hart are left aloneO
-
The poor Hart toils along the mountainsideP
I will not stop to tell how far he fledQ
Nor will I mention by what death he diedP
But now the Knight beholds him lying deadQ
-
Dismounting then he leaned against a thornR
He had no follower dog nor man nor boyS
He neither cracked his whip nor blew his hornR
But gazed upon the spoil with silent joyS
-
Close to the thorn on which Sir Walter leanedT
Stood his dumb partner in this glorious featU
Weak as a lamb the hour that it is yeanedU
And white with foam as if with cleaving sleetU
-
Upon his side the Hart was lying stretchedU
His nostril touched a spring beneath a hillV
And with the last deep groan his breath had fetchedU
The waters of the spring were trembling stillV
-
And now too happy for repose or restU
Never had living man such joyful lotU
Sir Walter walked all round north south and westU
And gazed and gazed upon that darling spotU
-
And climbing up the hill it was at leastU
Four roods of sheer ascent Sir Walter foundU
Three several hoof marks which the hunted BeastU
Had left imprinted on the grassy groundU
-
Sir Walter wiped his face and cried quot Till nowW
Such sight was never seen by human eyesF
Three leaps have borne him from this lofty browW
Down to the very fountain where he liesF
-
quot I'll build a pleasure house upon this spotU
And a small arbour made for rural joyS
'Twill be the traveller's shed the pilgrim's cotU
A place of love for damsels that are coyS
-
quot A cunning artist will I have to frameX
A basin for that fountain in the dellY
And they who do make mention of the sameX
From this day forth shall call it HART LEAP WELLY
-
quot And gallant Stag to make thy praises knownO
Another monument shall here be raisedU
Three several pillars each a rough hewn stoneO
And planted where thy hoofs the turf have grazedU
-
quot And in the summer time when days are longZ
I will come hither with my ParamourW
And with the dancers and the minstrel's songZ
We will make merry in that pleasant bowerW
-
quot Till the foundations of the mountains failA2
My mansion with its arbour shall endureW
The joy of them who till the fields of SwaleA2
And them who dwell among the woods of Ure quotU
-
Then home he went and left the Hart stone deadU
With breathless nostrils stretched above the springB2
Soon did the Knight perform what he had saidU
And far and wide the fame thereof did ringB2
-
Ere thrice the Moon into her port had steeredU
A cup of stone received the living wellA2
Three pillars of rude stone Sir Walter rearedU
And built a house of pleasure in the dellA2
-
And near the fountain flowers of stature tallA2
With trailing plants and trees were intertwinedU
Which soon composed a little sylvan hallA2
A leafy shelter from the sun and windU
-
And thither when the summer days were longZ
Sir Walter led his wondering ParamourW
And with the dancers and the minstrel's songZ
Made merriment within that pleasant bowerW
-
The Knight Sir Walter died in course of timeC2
And his bones lie in his paternal valeA2
But there is matter for a second rhymeC2
And I to this would add another taleA2
-
PART SECONDU
-
THE moving accident is not my tradeU
To freeze the blood I have no ready artsD2
'Tis my delight alone in summer shadeU
To pipe a simple song for thinking heartsD2
-
As I from Hawes to Richmond did repairW
It chanced that I saw standing in a dellA2
Three aspens at three corners of a squareW
And one not four yards distant near a wellA2
-
What this imported I could ill divineE2
And pulling now the rein my horse to stopF2
I saw three pillars standing in a lineE2
The last stone pillar on a dark hill topF2
-
The trees were grey with neither arms nor headU
Half wasted the square mound of tawny greenG2
So that you just might say as then I saidU
quot Here in old time the hand of man hath been quotU
-
I looked upon the hill both far and nearW
More doleful place did never eye surveyE
It seemed as if the spring time came not hereW
And Nature here were willing to decayE
-
I stood in various thoughts and fancies lostU
When one who was in shepherd's garb attiredU
Came up the hollow him did I accostU
And what this place might be I then inquiredU
-
The Shepherd stopped and that same story toldU
Which in my former rhyme I have rehearsedU
quot A jolly place quot said he quot in times of oldU
But something ails it now the spot is curstU
-
quot You see these lifeless stumps of aspen woodU
Some say that they are beeches others elmsH2
These were the bower and here a mansion stoodU
The finest palace of a hundred realmsH2
-
quot The arbour does its own condition tellA2
You see the stones the fountain and the streamI2
But as to the great Lodge you might as wellA2
Hunt half a day for a forgotten dreamI2
-
quot There's neither dog nor heifer horse nor sheepJ2
Will wet his lips within that cup of stoneO
And oftentimes when all are fast asleepJ2
This water doth send forth a dolorous groanO
-
quot Some say that here a murder has been doneM
And blood cries out for blood but for my partU
I've guessed when I've been sitting in the sunM
That it was all for that unhappy HartU
-
quot What thoughts must through the creature's brain have pastU
Even from the topmost stone upon the steepJ2
Are but three bounds and look Sir at this lastU
O Master it has been a cruel leapJ2
-
quot For thirteen hours he ran a desperate raceN
And in my simple mind we cannot tellA2
What cause the Hart might have to love this placeN
And come and make his deathbed near the wellA2
-
quot Here on the grass perhaps asleep he sankK2
Lulled by the fountain in the summer tideU
This water was perhaps the first he drankK2
When he had wandered from his mother's sideU
-
quot In April here beneath the flowering thornR
He heard the birds their morning carols singB2
And he perhaps for aught we know was bornR
Not half a furlong from that self same springB2
-
quot Now here is neither grass nor pleasant shadeU
The sun on drearier hollow never shoneO
So will it be as I have often saidU
Till trees and stones and fountain all are gone quotU
-
quot Grey headed Shepherd thou hast spoken wellA2
Small difference lies between thy creed and mineE2
This Beast not unobserved by Nature fellA2
His death was mourned by sympathy divineE2
-
quot The Being that is in the clouds and airW
That is in the green leaves among the grovesL2
Maintains a deep and reverential careW
For the unoffending creatures whom he lovesM2
-
quot The pleasure house is dust behind beforeW
This is no common waste no common gloomN2
But Nature in due course of time once moreW
Shall here put on her beauty and her bloomN2
-
quot SO2

William Wordsworth



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