Peter Bell - A Tale (full) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B C D EFGGF GFAAF HIJJI KLMML NCOOC IPMMQ QMCCM RMQQM MBSSB TUVVU TBIIB TWXYW ZYA2A2Y B2C2MMC2 D2YHHY MFMMF MYJJY E2ILLI F2HHHH MYG2G2H2 YI2YYI2 J2YJ2J2Y MLMML K2HMMH MYMMY MML2L2M MJTTM2 HYYYY YMMMM MYMMY N2MO2O2M WYP2P2Y MYQ2Q2Y BYAAY R2WS2S2W P2YT2T2Y U2MMMM WAWWA M MWMMW V2HMMH MMMMM YYYYY UBW2W2B X2WYYW P2P2P2P2P2 P2P2NNP2 MBYYB MYYYY P2W2YYW2 YYBBY MWHHW YMWWM Y2NMMN MYWWY W2P2MMP2 O2P2Z2Z2P2 O2BW2W2B MYP2P2Y A3P2WWP2 P2P2P2P2P2 MP2YYP2 B3MMMM MW P2W C3NP2P2N P2AMMA P2WMMW D3AAAA E3YWWY MP2MMP2 MWE3E3W AP2P2P2P2 F3YMMY MLWWL P2MMMM P2WAAW YP2G3G3P2 MP2P2P2P2 MYMMY P2BMMB MMMMM H3YHHY MMMMM P2YAAY P2YAAY MAMMA I3P2MMP2 AAMMA G3YMMY P2MYYM MP2WWP2 AWA3A3W J3YK3K3Y MAL3L3A YM3P2P2M3 MWYYW P2AMMA MMYYM MMP2P2M BP2YYP2 P2P2MMP2 P2MMMM WAP2P2A D3D3AAW N3MD3D3M AWYYW WWD3D3W M P2YMMY O3WD3D3W O2YAAY MMMMM WMMMM D3P2P3P3P2 Q3P2P2P2P2 P2P2WWP2 D3MYYM WMMMM MP2YYP2 WD3WWD3 D3WALW P2P2AAP2 R3MWWM MS3MMS3 MAP2P2A P2WP2P2W MMMMM P2O2MMO2 YAP2P2A MMP2P2M YP2P2P2P2 MWMMW AAMMA P2T3P2P2T3 D3AAAA BAAAA P2U3LLU3 AWMMW MWP2P2W AAP2P2A AWMMW AP2P2MP2 MMMMM D3P2P2P2P2 AP2V3V3P2 AWWWW MWYYW MMP2P2M MP2P2P2P2 M AAMMA MD3MMD3 MWYYW MAAAA WMMMM D3YYYY WP2P2P2P2 LAWWA MMP2P2M MAAAA P2MMMM WWYYW AWD3D3W YMW WM WAP2P2A WD3MMD3 P2P2AAP2 P2MP2P2M MMMMM W3MTTM D3MMMM P2YD3D3Y YWMMW MO2WWO2 AP2YYP2 P2O2AAO2 WWLLW P2MAAM MP2WWP2 MP2YYP2 D3MAAM P2AWWA P2AWWA AO2YYO2 WWWWW MMWWM MAP2P2A P2AYYA P2YMMY P2WD3D3W MMP2P2M WD3MMD3 MO2MMO2 WWMMW P2P2YYP2 P2YMMY D3WMMW P2WMMW AMAAM P2LMML P2MP2P2M P2YAAY AMAAM MYAAY MYMMY TMAAM AMMMM MP2MMP2 P2AMMA J3WP2P2W MMMMM MP2AAP2 D3MWWM P2YMMY MMWWM MAMMA MP2AAP2 AD3J3J3D3 P2O2MMO2 AMP2P2M MP2WWP2 MP2X3X3P2 P2WWWW MP2YYP2 AD3Q3Q3D3 P2P2AAP2 MYMMY P2P2WMP2 P2P2WWP2 MWP2P2W

A TALE	A
	-
What's in a 'Name'	B
	-
Brutus will start a Spirit as soon as Caesar	C
	-
PROLOGUE	D
	-
There's something in a flying horse	E
There's something in a huge balloon	F
But through the clouds I'll never float	G
Until I have a little Boat	G
Shaped like the crescent moon	F
	-
And now I 'have' a little Boat	G
In shape a very crescent moon	F
Fast through the clouds my boat can sail	A
But if perchance your faith should fail	A
Look up and you shall see me soon	F
	-
The woods my Friends are round you roaring	H
Rocking and roaring like a sea	I
The noise of danger's in your ears	J
And ye have all a thousand fears	J
Both for my little Boat and me	I
	-
Meanwhile untroubled I admire	K
The pointed horns of my canoe	L
And did not pity touch my breast	M
To see how ye are all distrest	M
Till my ribs ached I'd laugh at you	L
	-
Away we go my Boat and I	N
Frail man ne'er sate in such another	C
Whether among the winds we strive	O
Or deep into the clouds we dive	O
Each is contented with the other	C
	-
Away we go and what care we	I
For treasons tumults and for wars	P
We are as calm in our delight	M
As is the crescent moon so bright	M
Among the scattered stars	Q
	-
Up goes my Boat among the stars	Q
Through many a breathless field of light	M
Through many a long blue field of ether	C
Leaving ten thousand stars beneath her	C
Up goes my little Boat so bright	M
	-
The Crab the Scorpion and the Bull	R
We pry among them all have shot	M
High o'er the red haired race of Mars	Q
Covered from top to toe with scars	Q
Such company I like it not	M
	-
The towns in Saturn are decayed	M
And melancholy Spectres throng them	B
The Pleiads that appear to kiss	S
Each other in the vast abyss	S
With joy I sail among them	B
	-
Swift Mercury resounds with mirth	T
Great Jove is full of stately bowers	U
But these and all that they contain	V
What are they to that tiny grain	V
That little Earth of ours	U
	-
Then back to Earth the dear green Earth	T
Whole ages if I here should roam	B
The world for my remarks and me	I
Would not a whit the better be	I
I've left my heart at home	B
	-
See there she is the matchless Earth	T
There spreads the famed Pacific Ocean	W
Old Andes thrusts yon craggy spear	X
Through the grey clouds the Alps are here	Y
Like waters in commotion	W
	-
Yon tawny slip is Libya's sands	Z
That silver thread the river Dnieper	Y
And look where clothed in brightest green	A2
Is a sweet Isle of isles the Queen	A2
Ye fairies from all evil keep her	Y
	-
And see the town where I was born	B2
Around those happy fields we span	C2
In boyish gambols I was lost	M
Where I have been but on this coast	M
I feel I am a man	C2
	-
Never did fifty things at once	D2
Appear so lovely never never	Y
How tunefully the forests ring	H
To hear the earth's soft murmuring	H
Thus could I hang for ever	Y
	-
Shame on you cried my little Boat	M
Was ever such a homesick Loon	F
Within a living Boat to sit	M
And make no better use of it	M
A Boat twin sister of the crescent moon	F
	-
Ne'er in the breast of full grown Poet	M
Fluttered so faint a heart before	Y
Was it the music of the spheres	J
That overpowered your mortal ears	J
Such din shall trouble them no more	Y
	-
These nether precincts do not lack	E2
Charms of their own then come with me	I
I want a comrade and for you	L
There's nothing that I would not do	L
Nought is there that you shall not see	I
	-
Haste and above Siberian snows	F2
We'll sport amid the boreal morning	H
Will mingle with her lustres gliding	H
Among the stars the stars now hiding	H
And now the stars adorning	H
	-
I know the secrets of a land	M
Where human foot did never stray	Y
Fair is that land as evening skies	G2
And cool though in the depth it lies	G2
Of burning Africa	H2
	-
Or we'll into the realm of Faery	Y
Among the lovely shades of things	I2
The shadowy forms of mountains bare	Y
And streams and bowers and ladies fair	Y
The shades of palaces and kings	I2
	-
Or if you thirst with hardy zeal	J2
Less quiet regions to explore	Y
Prompt voyage shall to you reveal	J2
How earth and heaven are taught to feel	J2
The might of magic lore	Y
	-
My little vagrant Form of light	M
My gay and beautiful Canoe	L
Well have you played your friendly part	M
As kindly take what from my heart	M
Experience forces then adieu	L
	-
Temptation lurks among your words	K2
But while these pleasures you're pursuing	H
Without impediment or let	M
No wonder if you quite forget	M
What on the earth is doing	H
	-
There was a time when all mankind	M
Did listen with a faith sincere	Y
To tuneful tongues in mystery versed	M
'Then' Poets fearlessly rehearsed	M
The wonders of a wild career	Y
	-
Go but the world's a sleepy world	M
And 'tis I fear an age too late	M
Take with you some ambitious Youth	L2
For restless Wanderer I in truth	L2
Am all unfit to be your mate	M
	-
Long have I loved what I behold	M
The night that calms the day that cheers	J
The common growth of mother earth	T
Suffices me her tears her mirth	T
Her humblest mirth and tears	M2
	-
The dragon's wing the magic ring	H
I shall not covet for my dower	Y
If I along that lowly way	Y
With sympathetic heart may stray	Y
And with a soul of power	Y
	-
These given what more need I desire	Y
To stir to soothe or elevate	M
What nobler marvels than the mind	M
May in life's daily prospect find	M
May find or there create	M
	-
A potent wand doth Sorrow wield	M
What spell so strong as guilty Fear	Y
Repentance is a tender Sprite	M
If aught on earth have heavenly might	M
'Tis lodged within her silent tear	Y
	-
But grant my wishes let us now	N2
Descend from this ethereal height	M
Then take thy way adventurous Skiff	O2
More daring far than Hippogriff	O2
And be thy own delight	M
	-
To the stone table in my garden	W
Loved haunt of many a summer hour	Y
The Squire is come his daughter Bess	P2
Beside him in the cool recess	P2
Sits blooming like a flower	Y
	-
With these are many more convened	M
They know not I have been so far	Y
I see them there in number nine	Q2
Beneath the spreading Weymouth pine	Q2
I see them there they are	Y
	-
There sits the Vicar and his Dame	B
And there my good friend Stephen Otter	Y
And ere the light of evening fail	A
To them I must relate the Tale	A
Of Peter Bell the Potter	Y
	-
Off flew the Boat away she flees	R2
Spurning her freight with indignation	W
And I as well as I was able	S2
On two poor legs toward my stone table	S2
Limped on with sore vexation	W
	-
O here he is cried little Bess	P2
She saw me at the garden door	Y
We've waited anxiously and long	T2
They cried and all around me throng	T2
Full nine of them or more	Y
	-
Reproach me not your fears be still	U2
Be thankful we again have met	M
Resume my Friends within the shade	M
Your seats and quickly shall be paid	M
The well remembered debt	M
	-
I spake with faltering voice like one	W
Not wholly rescued from the pale	A
Of a wild dream or worse illusion	W
But straight to cover my confusion	W
Began the promised Tale	A
	-
PART FIRST	M
	-
ALL by the moonlight river side	M
Groaned the poor Beast alas in vain	W
The staff was raised to loftier height	M
And the blows fell with heavier weight	M
As Peter struck and struck again	W
	-
Hold cried the Squire against the rules	V2
Of common sense you're surely sinning	H
This leap is for us all too bold	M
Who Peter was let that be told	M
And start from the beginning	H
	-
A Potter Sir he was by trade	M
Said I becoming quite collected	M
And wheresoever he appeared	M
Full twenty times was Peter feared	M
For once that Peter was respected	M
	-
He two and thirty years or more	Y
Had been a wild and woodland rover	Y
Had heard the Atlantic surges roar	Y
On farthest Cornwall's rocky shore	Y
And trod the cliffs of Dover	Y
	-
And he had seen Caernarvon's towers	U
And well he knew the spire of Sarum	B
And he had been where Lincoln bell	W2
Flings o'er the fen that ponderous knell	W2
A far renowned alarum	B
	-
At Doncaster at York and Leeds	X2
And merry Carlisle had be been	W
And all along the Lowlands fair	Y
All through the bonny shire of Ayr	Y
And far as Aberdeen	W
	-
And he had been at Inverness	P2
And Peter by the mountain rills	P2
Had danced his round with Highland lasses	P2
And he had lain beside his asses	P2
On lofty Cheviot Hills	P2
	-
And he had trudged through Yorkshire dales	P2
Among the rocks and winding 'scars'	P2
Where deep and low the hamlets lie	N
Beneath their little patch of sky	N
And little lot of stars	P2
	-
And all along the indented coast	M
Bespattered with the salt sea foam	B
Where'er a knot of houses lay	Y
On headland or in hollow bay	Y
Sure never man like him did roam	B
	-
As well might Peter in the Fleet	M
Have been fast bound a begging debtor	Y
He travelled here he travelled there	Y
But not the value of a hair	Y
Was heart or head the better	Y
	-
He roved among the vales and streams	P2
In the green wood and hollow dell	W2
They were his dwellings night and day	Y
But nature ne'er could find the way	Y
Into the heart of Peter Bell	W2
	-
In vain through every changeful year	Y
Did Nature lead him as before	Y
A primrose by a river's brim	B
A yellow primrose was to him	B
And it was nothing more	Y
	-
Small change it made on Peter's heart	M
To see his gentle panniered train	W
With more than vernal pleasure feeding	H
Where'er the tender grass was leading	H
Its earliest green along the lane	W
	-
In vain through water earth and air	Y
The soul of happy sound was spread	M
When Peter on some April morn	W
Beneath the broom or budding thorn	W
Made the warm earth his lazy bed	M
	-
At noon when by the forest's edge	Y2
He lay beneath the branches high	N
The soft blue shy did never melt	M
Into his heart he never felt	M
The witchery of the soft blue sky	N
	-
On a fair prospect some have looked	M
And felt as I have heard them say	Y
As if the moving time had been	W
A thing as steadfast as the scene	W
On which they gazed themselves away	Y
	-
Within the breast of Peter Bell	W2
These silent raptures found no place	P2
He was a Carl as wild and rude	M
As ever hue and cry pursued	M
As ever ran a felon's race	P2
	-
Of all that lead a lawless life	O2
Of all that love their lawless lives	P2
In city or in village small	Z2
He was the wildest far of all	Z2
He had a dozen wedded wives	P2
	-
Nay start not wedded wives and twelve	O2
But how one wife could e'er come near him	B
In simple truth I cannot tell	W2
For be it said of Peter Bell	W2
To see him was to fear him	B
	-
Though Nature could not touch his heart	M
By lovely forms and silent weather	Y
And tender sounds yet you might see	P2
At once that Peter Bell and she	P2
Had often been together	Y
	-
A savage wildness round him hung	A3
As of a dweller out of doors	P2
In his whole figure and his mien	W
A savage character was seen	W
Of mountains and of dreary moors	P2
	-
To all the unshaped half human thoughts	P2
Which solitary Nature feeds	P2
'Mid summer storms or winter's ice	P2
Had Peter joined whatever vice	P2
The cruel city breeds	P2
	-
His face was keen as is the wind	M
That cuts along the hawthorn fence	P2
Of courage you saw little there	Y
But in its stead a medley air	Y
Of cunning and of impudence	P2
	-
He had a dark and sidelong walk	B3
And long and slouching was his gait	M
Beneath his looks so bare and bold	M
You might perceive his spirit cold	M
Was playing with some inward bait	M
	-
His forehead wrinkled was and furred	M
A work one half of which was done	W
By thinking of his 'whens' and 'hows '	-
And half by knitting of his brows	P2
Beneath the glaring sun	W
	-
There was a hardness in his cheek	C3
There was a hardness in his eye	N
As if the man had fixed his face	P2
In many a solitary place	P2
Against the wind and open sky	N
	-
ONE NIGHT and now my little Bess	P2
We've reached at last the promised Tale	A
One beautiful November night	M
When the full moon was shining bright	M
Upon the rapid river Swale	A
	-
Along the river's winding banks	P2
Peter was travelling all alone	W
Whether to buy or sell or led	M
By pleasure running in his head	M
To me was never known	W
	-
He trudged along through copse and brake	D3
He trudged along o'er hill and dale	A
Nor for the moon cared he a tittle	A
And for the stars he cared as little	A
And for the murmuring river Swale	A
	-
But chancing to espy a path	E3
That promised to cut short the way	Y
As many a wiser man hath done	W
He left a trusty guide for one	W
That might his steps betray	Y
	-
To a thick wood he soon is brought	M
Where cheerily his course he weaves	P2
And whistling loud may yet be heard	M
Though often buried like a bird	M
Darkling among the boughs and leaves	P2
	-
But quickly Peter's mood is changed	M
And on he drives with cheeks that burn	W
In downright fury and in wrath	E3
There's little sign the treacherous path	E3
Will to the road return	W
	-
The path grows dim and dimmer still	A
Now up now down the Rover wends	P2
With all the sail that he can carry	P2
Till brought to a deserted quarry	P2
And there the pathway ends	P2
	-
He paused for shadows of strange shape	F3
Massy and black before him lay	Y
But through the dark and through the cold	M
And through the yawning fissures old	M
Did Peter boldly press his way	Y
	-
Right through the quarry and behold	M
A scene of soft and lovely hue	L
Where blue and grey and tender green	W
Together make as sweet a scene	W
As ever human eye did view	L
	-
Beneath the clear blue sky he saw	P2
A little field of meadow ground	M
But field or meadow name it not	M
Call it of earth a small green plot	M
With rocks encompassed round	M
	-
The Swale flowed under the grey rocks	P2
But he flowed quiet and unseen	W
You need a strong and stormy gale	A
To bring the noises of the Swale	A
To that green spot so calm and green	W
	-
And is there no one dwelling here	Y
No hermit with his beads and glass	P2
And does no little cottage look	G3
Upon this soft and fertile nook	G3
Does no one live near this green grass	P2
	-
Across the deep and quiet spot	M
Is Peter driving through the grass	P2
And now has reached the skirting trees	P2
When turning round his head he sees	P2
A solitary Ass	P2
	-
A Prize cries Peter but he first	M
Must spy about him far and near	Y
There's not a single house in sight	M
No woodman's hut no cottage light	M
Peter you need not fear	Y
	-
There's nothing to be seen but woods	P2
And rocks that spread a hoary gleam	B
And this one Beast that from the bed	M
Of the green meadow hangs his head	M
Over the silent stream	B
	-
His head is with a halter bound	M
The halter seizing Peter leapt	M
Upon the Creature's back and plied	M
With ready heels his shaggy side	M
But still the Ass his station kept	M
	-
Then Peter gave a sudden jerk	H3
A jerk that from a dungeon floor	Y
Would have pulled up an iron ring	H
But still the heavy headed Thing	H
Stood just as he had stood before	Y
	-
Quoth Peter leaping from his seat	M
There is some plot against me laid	M
Once more the little meadow ground	M
And all the hoary cliffs around	M
He cautiously surveyed	M
	-
All all is silent rocks and woods	P2
All still and silent far and near	Y
Only the Ass with motion dull	A
Upon the pivot of his skull	A
Turns round his long left ear	Y
	-
Thought Peter What can mean all this	P2
Some ugly witchcraft must be here	Y
Once more the Ass with motion dull	A
Upon the pivot of his skull	A
Turned round his long left ear	Y
	-
Suspicion ripened into dread	M
Yet with deliberate action slow	A
His staff high raising in the pride	M
Of skill upon the sounding hide	M
He dealt a sturdy blow	A
	-
The poor Ass staggered with the shock	I3
And then as if to take his ease	P2
In quiet uncomplaining mood	M
Upon the spot where he had stood	M
Dropped gently down upon his knees	P2
	-
As gently on his side he fell	A
And by the river's brink did lie	A
And while he lay like one that mourned	M
The patient Beast on Peter turned	M
His shining hazel eye	A
	-
'Twas but one mild reproachful look	G3
A look more tender than severe	Y
And straight in sorrow not in dread	M
He turned the eye ball in his head	M
Towards the smooth river deep and clear	Y
	-
Upon the Beast the sapling rings	P2
His lank sides heaved his limbs they stirred	M
He gave a groan and then another	Y
Of that which went before the brother	Y
And then he gave a third	M
	-
All by the moonlight river side	M
He gave three miserable groans	P2
And not till now hath Peter seen	W
How gaunt the Creature is how lean	W
And sharp his staring bones	P2
	-
With legs stretched out and stiff he lay	A
No word of kind commiseration	W
Fell at the sight from Peter's tongue	A3
With hard contempt his heart was wrung	A3
With hatred and vexation	W
	-
The meagre beast lay still as death	J3
And Peter's lips with fury quiver	Y
Quoth he You little mulish dog	K3
I'll fling your carcase like a log	K3
Head foremost down the river	Y
	-
An impious oath confirmed the threat	M
Whereat from the earth on which he lay	A
To all the echoes south and north	L3
And east and west the Ass sent forth	L3
A long and clamorous bray	A
	-
This outcry on the heart of Peter	Y
Seems like a note of joy to strike	M3
Joy at the heart of Peter knocks	P2
But in the echo of the rocks	P2
Was something Peter did not like	M3
	-
Whether to cheer his coward breast	M
Or that he could not break the chain	W
In this serene and solemn hour	Y
Twined round him by demoniac power	Y
To the blind work he turned again	W
	-
Among the rocks and winding crags	P2
Among the mountains far away	A
Once more the ass did lengthen out	M
More ruefully a deep drawn shout	M
The hard dry see saw of his horrible bray	A
	-
What is there now in Peter's heart	M
Or whence the might of this strange sound	M
The moon uneasy looked and dimmer	Y
The broad blue heavens appeared to glimmer	Y
And the rocks staggered all around	M
	-
From Peter's hand the sapling dropped	M
Threat has he none to execute	M
If any one should come and see	P2
That I am here they'll think quoth he	P2
I'm helping this poor dying brute	M
	-
He scans the Ass from limb to limb	B
And ventures now to uplift his eyes	P2
More steady looks the moon and clear	Y
More like themselves the rocks appear	Y
And touch more quiet skies	P2
	-
His scorn returns his hate revives	P2
He stoops the Ass's neck to seize	P2
With malice that again takes flight	M
For in the pool a startling sight	M
Meets him among the inverted trees	P2
	-
Is it the moon's distorted face	P2
The ghost like image of a cloud	M
Is it a gallows there portrayed	M
Is Peter of himself afraid	M
Is it a coffin or a shroud	M
	-
A grisly idol hewn in stone	W
Or imp from witch's lap let fall	A
Perhaps a ring of shining fairies	P2
Such as pursue their feared vagaries	P2
In sylvan bower or haunted hall	A
	-
Is it a fiend that to a stake	D3
Of fire his desperate self is tethering	D3
Or stubborn spirit doomed to yell	A
In solitary ward or cell	A
Ten thousand miles from all his brethren	W
	-
Never did pulse so quickly throb	N3
And never heart so loudly panted	M
He looks he cannot choose but look	D3
Like some one reading in a book	D3
A book that is enchanted	M
	-
Ah well a day for Peter Bell	A
He will be turned to iron soon	W
Meet Statue for the court of Fear	Y
His hat is up and every hair	Y
Bristles and whitens in the moon	W
	-
He looks he ponders looks again	W
He sees a motion hears a groan	W
His eyes will burst his heart will break	D3
He gives a loud and frightful shriek	D3
And back he falls as if his life were flown	W
	-
PART SECOND	M
	-
WE left our Hero in a trance	P2
Beneath the alders near the river	Y
The Ass is by the river side	M
And where the feeble breezes glide	M
Upon the stream the moonbeams quiver	Y
	-
A happy respite but at length	O3
He feels the glimmering of the moon	W
Wakes with glazed eve and feebly signing	D3
To sink perhaps where he is lying	D3
Into a second swoon	W
	-
He lifts his head he sees his staff	O2
He touches 'tis to him a treasure	Y
Faint recollection seems to tell	A
That he is yet where mortals dwell	A
A thought received with languid pleasure	Y
	-
His head upon his elbow propped	M
Becoming less and less perplexed	M
Sky ward he looks to rock and wood	M
And then upon the glassy flood	M
His wandering eye is fixed	M
	-
Thought he that is the face of one	W
In his last sleep securely bound	M
So toward the stream his head he bent	M
And downward thrust his staff intent	M
The river's depth to sound	M
	-
'Now' like a tempest shattered bark	D3
That overwhelmed and prostrate lies	P2
And in a moment to the verge	P3
Is lifted of a foaming surge	P3
Full suddenly the Ass doth rise	P2
	-
His staring bones all shake with joy	Q3
And close by Peter's side he stands	P2
While Peter o'er the river bends	P2
The little Ass his neck extends	P2
And fondly licks his hands	P2
	-
Such life is in the Ass's eyes	P2
Such life is in his limbs and ears	P2
That Peter Bell if he had been	W
The veriest coward ever seen	W
Must now have thrown aside his fears	P2
	-
The Ass looks on and to his work	D3
Is Peter quietly resigned	M
He touches here he touches there	Y
And now among the dead man's hair	Y
His sapling Peter has entwined	M
	-
He pulls and looks and pulls again	W
And he whom the poor Ass had lost	M
The man who had been four days dead	M
Head foremost from the river's bed	M
Uprises like a ghost	M
	-
And Peter draws him to dry land	M
And through the brain of Peter pass	P2
Some poignant twitches fast and faster	Y
No doubt quoth he he is the Master	Y
Of this poor miserable Ass	P2
	-
The meagre Shadow that looks on	W
What would he now what is he doing	D3
His sudden fit of joy is flown	W
He on his knees hath laid him down	W
As if he were his grief renewing	D3
	-
But no that Peter on his back	D3
Must mount he shows well as he can	W
Thought Peter then come weal or woe	A
I'll do what he would have me do	L
In pity to this poor drowned man	W
	-
With that resolve he boldly mounts	P2
Upon the pleased and thankful Ass	P2
And then without a moment's stay	A
That earnest Creature turned away	A
Leaving the body on the grass	P2
	-
Intent upon his faithful watch	R3
The Beast four days and nights had past	M
A sweeter meadow ne'er was seen	W
And there the Ass four days had been	W
Nor ever once did break his fast	M
	-
Yet firm his step and stout his heart	M
The mead is crossed the quarry's mouth	S3
Is reached but there the trusty guide	M
Into a thicket turns aside	M
And deftly ambles towards the south	S3
	-
When hark a burst of doleful sound	M
And Peter honestly might say	A
The like came never to his ears	P2
Though he has been full thirty years	P2
A rover night and day	A
	-
'Tis not a plover of the moors	P2
'Tis not a bittern of the fen	W
Nor can it be a barking fox	P2
Nor night bird chambered in the rocks	P2
Nor wild cat in a woody glen	W
	-
The Ass is startled and stops short	M
Right in the middle of the thicket	M
And Peter wont to whistle loud	M
Whether alone or in a crowd	M
Is silent as a silent cricket	M
	-
What ails you now my little Bess	P2
Well may you tremble and look grave	O2
This cry that rings along the wood	M
This cry that floats adown the flood	M
Comes from the entrance of a cave	O2
	-
I see a blooming Wood boy there	Y
And if I had the power to say	A
How sorrowful the wanderer is	P2
Your heart would be as sad as his	P2
Till you had kissed his tears away	A
	-
Grasping a hawthorn branch in hand	M
All bright with berries ripe and red	M
Into the cavern's mouth he peeps	P2
Thence back into the moonlight creeps	P2
Whom seeks he whom the silent dead	M
	-
His father Him doth he require	Y
Him hath he sought with fruitless pains	P2
Among the rocks behind the trees	P2
Now creeping on his hands and knees	P2
Now running o'er the open plains	P2
	-
And hither is he come at last	M
When he through such a day has gone	W
By this dark cave to be distrest	M
Like a poor bird her plundered nest	M
Hovering around with dolorous moan	W
	-
Of that intense and piercing cry	A
The listening Ass conjectures well	A
Wild as it is he there can read	M
Some intermingled notes that plead	M
With touches irresistible	A
	-
But Peter when he saw the Ass	P2
Not only stop but turn and change	T3
The cherished tenor of his pace	P2
That lamentable cry to chase	P2
It wrought in him conviction strange	T3
	-
A faith that for the dead man's sake	D3
And this poor slave who loved him well	A
Vengeance upon his head will fall	A
Some visitation worse than all	A
Which ever till this night befell	A
	-
Meanwhile the Ass to reach his home	B
Is striving stoutly as he may	A
But while he climbs the woody hill	A
The cry grows weak and weaker still	A
And now at last it dies away	A
	-
So with his freight the Creature turns	P2
Into a gloomy grove of beech	U3
Along the shade with footsteps true	L
Descending slowly till the two	L
The open moonlight reach	U3
	-
And there along the narrow dell	A
A fair smooth pathway you discern	W
A length of green and open road	M
As if it from a fountain flowed	M
Winding away between the fern	W
	-
The rocks that tower on either side	M
Build up a wild fantastic scene	W
Temples like those among the Hindoos	P2
And mosques and spires and abbey windows	P2
And castles all with ivy green	W
	-
And while the Ass pursues his way	A
Along this solitary dell	A
As pensively his steps advance	P2
The mosques and spires change countenance	P2
And look at Peter Bell	A
	-
That unintelligible cry	A
Hath left him high in preparation	W
Convinced that he or soon or late	M
This very night will meet his fate	M
And so he sits in expectation	W
	-
The strenuous Animal hath clomb	A
With the green path and now he wends	P2
Where shining like the smoothest sea	P2
In undisturbed immensity	M
A level plain extends	P2
	-
But whence this faintly rustling sound	M
By which the journeying pair are chased	M
A withered leaf is close behind	M
Light plaything for the sportive wind	M
Upon that solitary waste	M
	-
When Peter spied the moving thing	D3
It only doubled his distress	P2
Where there is not a bush or tree	P2
The very leaves they follow me	P2
So huge hath been my wickedness	P2
	-
To a close lane they now are come	A
Where as before the enduring Ass	P2
Moves on without a moment's stop	V3
Nor once turns round his head to crop	V3
A bramble leaf or blade of grass	P2
	-
Between the hedges as they go	A
The white dust sleeps upon the lane	W
And Peter ever and anon	W
Back looking sees upon a stone	W
Or in the dust a crimson stain	W
	-
A stain as of a drop of blood	M
By moonlight made more faint and wan	W
Ha why these sinkings of despair	Y
He knows not how the blood comes there	Y
And Peter is a wicked man	W
	-
At length he spies a bleeding wound	M
Where he had struck the Ass's head	M
He sees the blood knows what it is	P2
A glimpse of sudden joy was his	P2
But then it quickly fled	M
	-
Of him whom sudden death had seized	M
He thought of thee O faithful Ass	P2
And once again those ghastly pains	P2
Shoot to and fro through heart and reins	P2
And through his brain like lightning pass	P2
	-
PART THIRD	M
	-
I'VE heard of one a gentle Soul	A
Though given to sadness and to gloom	A
And for the fact will vouch one night	M
It chanced that by a taper's light	M
This man was reading in his room	A
	-
Bending as you or I might bend	M
At night o'er any pious book	D3
When sudden blackness overspread	M
The snow white page on which he read	M
And made the good man round him look	D3
	-
The chamber walls were dark all round	M
And to his book he turned again	W
The light had left the lonely taper	Y
And formed itself upon the paper	Y
Into large letters bright and plain	W
	-
The godly book was in his hand	M
And on the page more black than coal	A
Appeared set forth in strange array	A
A 'word' which to his dying day	A
Perplexed the good man's gentle soul	A
	-
The ghostly word thus plainly seen	W
Did never from his lips depart	M
But he hath said poor gentle wight	M
It brought full many a sin to light	M
Out of the bottom of his heart	M
	-
Dread Spirits to confound the meek	D3
Why wander from your course so far	Y
Disordering colour form and stature	Y
Let good men feel the soul of nature	Y
And see things as they are	Y
	-
Yet potent Spirits well I know	W
How ye that play with soul and sense	P2
Are not unused to trouble friends	P2
Of goodness for most gracious ends	P2
And this I speak in reverence	P2
	-
But might I give advice to you	L
Whom in my fear I love so well	A
From men of pensive virtue go	W
Dread Beings and your empire show	W
On hearts like that of Peter Bell	A
	-
Your presence often have I felt	M
In darkness and the stormy night	M
And with like force if need there be	P2
Ye can put forth your agency	P2
When earth is calm and heaven is bright	M
	-
Then coming from the wayward world	M
That powerful world in which ye dwell	A
Come Spirits of the Mind and try	A
To night beneath the moonlight sky	A
What may be done with Peter Bell	A
	-
O would that some more skilful voice	P2
My further labour might prevent	M
Kind Listeners that around me sit	M
I feel that I am all unfit	M
For such high argument	M
	-
I've played I've danced with my narration	W
I loitered long ere I began	W
Ye waited then on my good pleasure	Y
Pour out indulgence still in measure	Y
As liberal as ye can	W
	-
Our Travellers ye remember well	A
Are thridding a sequestered lane	W
And Peter many tricks is trying	D3
And many anodynes applying	D3
To ease his conscience of its pain	W
	-
By this his heart is lighter far	Y
And finding that he can account	M
So snugly for that crimson stain	W
	-
His evil spirit up again	W
Does like an empty bucket mount	M
	-
And Peter is a deep logician	W
Who hath no lack of wit mercurial	A
Blood drops leaves rustle yet quoth he	P2
This poor man never but for me	P2
Could have had Christian burial	A
	-
And say the best you can 'tis plain	W
That here has been some wicked dealing	D3
No doubt the devil in me wrought	M
I'm not the man who could have thought	M
An Ass like this was worth the stealing	D3
	-
So from his pocket Peter takes	P2
His shining horn tobacco box	P2
And in a light and careless way	A
As men who with their purpose play	A
Upon the lid he knocks	P2
	-
Let them whose voice can stop the clouds	P2
Whose cunning eye can see the wind	M
Tell to a curious world the cause	P2
Why making here a sudden pause	P2
The Ass turned round his head and 'grinned'	M
	-
Appalling process I have marked	M
The like on heath in lonely wood	M
And verily have seldom met	M
A spectacle more hideous yet	M
It suited Peter's present mood	M
	-
And grinning in his turn his teeth	W3
He in jocose defiance showed	M
When to upset his spiteful mirth	T
A murmur pent within the earth	T
In the dead earth beneath the road	M
	-
Rolled audibly it swept along	D3
A muffled noise a rumbling sound	M
'Twas by a troop of miners made	M
Plying with gunpowder their trade	M
Some twenty fathoms under ground	M
	-
Small cause of dire effect for surely	P2
If ever mortal King or Cotter	Y
Believed that earth was charged to quake	D3
And yawn for his unworthy sake	D3
'Twas Peter Bell the Potter	Y
	-
But as an oak in breathless air	Y
Will stand though to the centre hewn	W
Or as the weakest things if frost	M
Have stiffened them maintain their post	M
So he beneath the gazing moon	W
	-
The Beast bestriding thus he reached	M
A spot where in a sheltering cove	O2
A little chapel stands alone	W
With greenest ivy overgrown	W
And tufted with an ivy grove	O2
	-
Dying insensibly away	A
From human thoughts and purposes	P2
It seemed wall window roof and tower	Y
To bow to some transforming power	Y
And blend with the surrounding trees	P2
	-
As ruinous a place it was	P2
Thought Peter in the shire of Fife	O2
That served my turn when following still	A
From land to land a reckless will	A
I married my sixth wife	O2
	-
The unheeding Ass moves slowly on	W
And now is passing by an inn	W
Brim full of a carousing crew	L
That make with curses not a few	L
An uproar and a drunken din	W
	-
I cannot well express the thoughts	P2
Which Peter in those noises found	M
A stifling power compressed his frame	A
While as a swimming darkness came	A
Over that dull and dreary sound	M
	-
For well did Peter know the sound	M
The language of those drunken joys	P2
To him a jovial soul I ween	W
But a few hours ago had been	W
A gladsome and a welcome noise	P2
	-
'Now' turned adrift into the past	M
He finds no solace in his course	P2
Like planet stricken men of yore	Y
He trembles smitten to the core	Y
By strong compunction and remorse	P2
	-
But more than all his heart is stung	D3
To think of one almost a child	M
A sweet and playful Highland girl	A
As light and beauteous as a squirrel	A
As beauteous and as wild	M
	-
Her dwelling was a lonely house	P2
A cottage in a heathy dell	A
And she put on her gown of green	W
And left her mother at sixteen	W
And followed Peter Bell	A
	-
But many good and pious thoughts	P2
Had she and in the kirk to pray	A
Two long Scotch miles through rain or snow	W
To kirk she had been used to go	W
Twice every Sabbath day	A
	-
And when she followed Peter Bell	A
It was to lead an honest life	O2
For he with tongue not used to falter	Y
Had pledged his troth before the altar	Y
To love her as his wedded wife	O2
	-
A mother's hope is hers but soon	W
She drooped and pined like one forlorn	W
From Scripture she a name did borrow	W
Benoni or the child of sorrow	W
She called her babe unborn	W
	-
For she had learned how Peter lived	M
And took it in most grievous part	M
She to the very bone was worn	W
And ere that little child was born	W
Died of a broken heart	M
	-
And now the Spirits of the Mind	M
Are busy with poor Peter Bell	A
Upon the rights of visual sense	P2
Usurping with a prevalence	P2
More terrible than magic spell	A
	-
Close by a brake of flowering furze	P2
Above it shivering aspens play	A
He sees an unsubstantial creature	Y
His very self in form and feature	Y
Not four yards from the broad highway	A
	-
And stretched beneath the furze he sees	P2
The Highland girl it is no other	Y
And hears her crying as she cried	M
The very moment that she died	M
My mother oh my mother	Y
	-
The sweat pours down from Peter's face	P2
So grievous is his heart's contrition	W
With agony his eye balls ache	D3
While he beholds by the furze brake	D3
This miserable vision	W
	-
Calm is the well deserving brute	M
'His' peace hath no offence betrayed	M
But now while down that slope he wends	P2
A voice to Peter's ear ascends	P2
Resounding from the woody glade	M
	-
The voice though clamorous as a horn	W
Re echoed by a naked rock	D3
Comes from that tabernacle List	M
Within a fervent Methodist	M
Is preaching to no heedless flock	D3
	-
Repent repent he cries aloud	M
While yet ye may find mercy strive	O2
To love the Lord with all your might	M
Turn to him seek him day and night	M
And save your souls alive	O2
	-
Repent repent though ye have gone	W
Through paths of wickedness and woe	W
After the Babylonian harlot	M
And though your sins be red as scarlet	M
They shall be white as snow	W
	-
Even as he passed the door these words	P2
Did plainly come to Peter's ears	P2
And they such joyful tidings were	Y
The joy was more than he could bear	Y
He melted into tears	P2
	-
Sweet tears of hope and tenderness	P2
And fast they fell a plenteous shower	Y
His nerves his sinews seemed to melt	M
Through all his iron frame was felt	M
A gentle a relaxing power	Y
	-
Each fibre of his frame was weak	D3
Weak all the animal within	W
But in its helplessness grew mild	M
And gentle as an infant child	M
An infant that has known no sin	W
	-
'Tis said meek Beast that through Heaven's grace	P2
He not unmoved did notice now	W
The cross upon thy shoulder scored	M
For lasting impress by the Lord	M
To whom all human kind shall bow	W
	-
Memorial of his touch that day	A
When Jesus humbly deigned to ride	M
Entering the proud Jerusalem	A
By an immeasurable stream	A
Of shouting people deified	M
	-
Meanwhile the persevering Ass	P2
Turned towards a gate that hung in view	L
Across a shady lane his chest	M
Against the yielding gate he pressed	M
And quietly passed through	L
	-
And up the stony lane he goes	P2
No ghost more softly ever trod	M
Among the stones and pebbles he	P2
Sets down his hoofs inaudibly	P2
As if with felt his hoofs were shod	M
	-
Along the lane the trusty Ass	P2
Went twice two hundred yards or more	Y
And no one could have guessed his aim	A
Till to a lonely house he came	A
And stopped beside the door	Y
	-
Thought Peter 'tis the poor man's home	A
He listens not a sound is heard	M
Save from the trickling household rill	A
But stepping o'er the cottage sill	A
Forthwith a little Girl appeared	M
	-
She to the Meeting house was bound	M
In hopes some tidings there to gather	Y
No glimpse it is no doubtful gleam	A
She saw and uttered with a scream	A
My father here's my father	Y
	-
The very word was plainly heard	M
Heard plainly by the wretched Mother	Y
Her joy was like a deep affright	M
And forth she rushed into the light	M
And saw it was another	Y
	-
And instantly upon the earth	T
Beneath the full moon shining bright	M
Close to the Ass's feet she fell	A
At the same moment Peter Bell	A
Dismounts in most unhappy plight	M
	-
As he beheld the Woman lie	A
Breathless and motionless the mind	M
Of Peter sadly was confused	M
But though to such demands unused	M
And helpless almost as the blind	M
	-
He raised her up and while he held	M
Her body propped against his knee	P2
The Woman waked and when she spied	M
The poor Ass standing by her side	M
She moaned most bitterly	P2
	-
Oh God be praised my heart's at ease	P2
For he is dead I know it well	A
At this she wept a bitter flood	M
And in the best way that he could	M
His tale did Peter tell	A
	-
He trembles he is pale as death	J3
His voice is weak with perturbation	W
He turns aside his head he pauses	P2
Poor Peter from a thousand causes	P2
Is crippled sore in his narration	W
	-
At length she learned how he espied	M
The Ass in that small meadow ground	M
And that her Husband now lay dead	M
Beside that luckless river's bed	M
In which he had been drowned	M
	-
A piercing look the Widow cast	M
Upon the Beast that near her stands	P2
She sees 'tis he that 'tis the same	A
She calls the poor Ass by his name	A
And wrings and wrings her hands	P2
	-
O wretched loss untimely stroke	D3
If he had died upon his bed	M
He knew not one forewarning pain	W
He never will come home again	W
Is dead for ever dead	M
	-
Beside the woman Peter stands	P2
His heart is opening more and more	Y
A holy sense pervades his mind	M
He feels what he for human kind	M
Had never felt before	Y
	-
At length by Peter's arm sustained	M
The Woman rises from the ground	M
Oh mercy something must be done	W
My little Rachel you must run	W
Some willing neighbour must be found	M
	-
Make haste my little Rachel do	M
The first you meet with bid him come	A
Ask him to lend his horse to night	M
And this good Man whom Heaven requite	M
Will help to bring the body home	A
	-
Away goes Rachel weeping loud	M
An Infant waked by her distress	P2
Makes in the house a piteous cry	A
And Peter hears the Mother sigh	A
Seven are they and all fatherless	P2
	-
And now is Peter taught to feel	A
That man's heart is a holy thing	D3
And Nature through a world of death	J3
Breathes into him a second breath	J3
More searching than the breath of spring	D3
	-
Upon a stone the Woman sits	P2
In agony of silent grief	O2
From his own thoughts did Peter start	M
He longs to press her to his heart	M
From love that cannot find relief	O2
	-
But roused as if through every limb	A
Had past a sudden shock of dread	M
The Mother o'er the threshold flies	P2
And up the cottage stairs she hies	P2
And on the pillow lays her burning head	M
	-
And Peter turns his steps aside	M
Into a shade of darksome trees	P2
Where he sits down he knows not how	W
With his hands pressed against his brow	W
His elbows on his tremulous knees	P2
	-
There self involved does Peter sit	M
Until no sign of life he makes	P2
As if his mind were sinking deep	X3
Through years that have been long asleep	X3
The trance is passed away he wakes	P2
	-
He lifts his head and sees the Ass	P2
Yet standing in the clear moonshine	W
When shall I be as good as thou	W
Oh would poor beast that I had now	W
A heart but half as good as thine	W
	-
But 'He' who deviously hath sought	M
His Father through the lonesome woods	P2
Hath sought proclaiming to the ear	Y
Of night his grief and sorrowful fear	Y
He comes escaped from fields and floods	P2
	-
With weary pace is drawing nigh	A
He sees the Ass and nothing living	D3
Had ever such a fit of joy	Q3
As hath this little orphan Boy	Q3
For he has no misgiving	D3
	-
Forth to the gentle Ass he springs	P2
And up about his neck he climbs	P2
In loving words he talks to him	A
He kisses kisses face and limb	A
He kisses him a thousand times	P2
	-
This Peter sees while in the shade	M
He stood beside the cottage door	Y
And Peter Bell the ruffian wild	M
Sobs loud he sobs even like a child	M
O God I can endure no more	Y
	-
Here ends my Tale for in a trice	P2
Arrived a neighbour with his horse	P2
Peter went forth with him straightway	W
And with due care ere break of day	M
Together they brought back the Corse	P2
	-
And many years did this poor Ass	P2
Whom once it was my luck to see	P2
Cropping the shrubs of Leming Lane	W
Help by his labour to maintain	W
The Widow and her family	P2
	-
And Peter Bell who till that night	M
Had been the wildest of his clan	W
Forsook his crimes renounced his folly	P2
And after ten months' melancholy	P2
Became a good and honest man	W

William Wordsworth

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