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

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDDC EFEEF EGHHI EBJJB KEEEE LMHHM NOPPQ RSNNS EETTE ESUUS VEEEE WXHHX SIYYI MEIGE WZTTZ IYEEY A2B2JJB2 C2ED2E2E EEEEE F2EG2G2E H2EEEE THI2I2H J2K2EEK2 EL2M2M2L2 JN2HHO2 D2P2Q2Q2P2 R2S2RRS2 T2EU2U2E EV2S2S2V2 EW2X2X2W2 Y2EZ2ZE A3SS2S2S T2JS2S2J SP2HHP2 S2S2S2S2S2 EES2S2E ESOQS QJHHJ QHEEH QS2I2I2S2 EEQQE S2B3EEB3 EC3EEC3 S2S2EES2 QQHJ2Q QHEEH LS2EES2 QS2EES2 JED3E3E QREER QETTE QX2U2U2X2 F3EQ2Q2E EHE3E3H EHEEH G2ESSE UEEEE ETEET QSEES G3S2QQS2 EEEEE EQU2U2Q H3ES2S2E QX2EEX2 EES2S2E ED3EEF3 EQUUQ I3YG3G3Y QJ3EEJ3 K3EQQE EQS2S2Q EQL3L3Q QS2S2S2S2 EQM3N3Q UYO3O3Y QQK3K3Q EX2EEX2 QQS2EQ QQS2S2Q ES2QQS2

PART THIRD	A
	-
I've heard of one a gentle Soul	B
Though given to sadness and to gloom	C
And for the fact will vouch one night	D
It chanced that by a taper's light	D
This man was reading in his room	C
	-
Bending as you or I might bend	E
At night o'er any pious book	F
When sudden blackness overspread	E
The snow white page on which he read	E
And made the good man round him look	F
	-
The chamber walls were dark all round	E
And to his book he turned again	G
The light had left the lonely taper	H
And formed itself upon the paper	H
Into large letters bright and plain	I
	-
The godly book was in his hand	E
And on the page more black than coal	B
Appeared set forth in strange array	J
A 'word' which to his dying day	J
Perplexed the good man's gentle soul	B
	-
The ghostly word thus plainly seen	K
Did never from his lips depart	E
But he hath said poor gentle wight	E
It brought full many a sin to light	E
Out of the bottom of his heart	E
	-
Dread Spirits to confound the meek	L
Why wander from your course so far	M
Disordering colour form and stature	H
Let good men feel the soul of nature	H
And see things as they are	M
	-
Yet potent Spirits well I know	N
How ye that play with soul and sense	O
Are not unused to trouble friends	P
Of goodness for most gracious ends	P
And this I speak in reverence	Q
	-
But might I give advice to you	R
Whom in my fear I love so well	S
From men of pensive virtue go	N
Dread Beings and your empire show	N
On hearts like that of Peter Bell	S
	-
Your presence often have I felt	E
In darkness and the stormy night	E
And with like force if need there be	T
Ye can put forth your agency	T
When earth is calm and heaven is bright	E
	-
Then coming from the wayward world	E
That powerful world in which ye dwell	S
Come Spirits of the Mind and try	U
To night beneath the moonlight sky	U
What may be done with Peter Bell	S
	-
O would that some more skilful voice	V
My further labour might prevent	E
Kind Listeners that around me sit	E
I feel that I am all unfit	E
For such high argument	E
	-
I've played I've danced with my narration	W
I loitered long ere I began	X
Ye waited then on my good pleasure	H
Pour out indulgence still in measure	H
As liberal as ye can	X
	-
Our Travellers ye remember well	S
Are thridding a sequestered lane	I
And Peter many tricks is trying	Y
And many anodynes applying	Y
To ease his conscience of its pain	I
	-
By this his heart is lighter far	M
And finding that he can account	E
So snugly for that crimson stain	I
His evil spirit up again	G
Does like an empty bucket mount	E
	-
And Peter is a deep logician	W
Who hath no lack of wit mercurial	Z
Blood drops leaves rustle yet quoth he	T
This poor man never but for me	T
Could have had Christian burial	Z
	-
And say the best you can 'tis plain	I
That here has been some wicked dealing	Y
No doubt the devil in me wrought	E
I'm not the man who could have thought	E
An Ass like this was worth the stealing	Y
	-
So from his pocket Peter takes	A2
His shining horn tobacco box	B2
And in a light and careless way	J
As men who with their purpose play	J
Upon the lid he knocks	B2
	-
Let them whose voice can stop the clouds	C2
Whose cunning eye can see the wind	E
Tell to a curious world the cause	D2
Why making here a sudden pause	E2
The Ass turned round his head and 'grinned'	E
	-
Appalling process I have marked	E
The like on heath in lonely wood	E
And verily have seldom met	E
A spectacle more hideous yet	E
It suited Peter's present mood	E
	-
And grinning in his turn his teeth	F2
He in jocose defiance showed	E
When to upset his spiteful mirth	G2
A murmur pent within the earth	G2
In the dead earth beneath the road	E
	-
Rolled audibly it swept along	H2
A muffled noise a rumbling sound	E
'Twas by a troop of miners made	E
Plying with gunpowder their trade	E
Some twenty fathoms under ground	E
	-
Small cause of dire effect for surely	T
If ever mortal King or Cotter	H
Believed that earth was charged to quake	I2
And yawn for his unworthy sake	I2
'Twas Peter Bell the Potter	H
	-
But as an oak in breathless air	J2
Will stand though to the centre hewn	K2
Or as the weakest things if frost	E
Have stiffened them maintain their post	E
So he beneath the gazing moon	K2
	-
The Beast bestriding thus he reached	E
A spot where in a sheltering cove	L2
A little chapel stands alone	M2
With greenest ivy overgrown	M2
And tufted with an ivy grove	L2
	-
Dying insensibly away	J
From human thoughts and purposes	N2
It seemed wall window roof and tower	H
To bow to some transforming power	H
And blend with the surrounding trees	O2
	-
As ruinous a place it was	D2
Thought Peter in the shire of Fife	P2
That served my turn when following still	Q2
From land to land a reckless will	Q2
I married my sixth wife	P2
	-
The unheeding Ass moves slowly on	R2
And now is passing by an inn	S2
Brim full of a carousing crew	R
That make with curses not a few	R
An uproar and a drunken din	S2
	-
I cannot well express the thoughts	T2
Which Peter in those noises found	E
A stifling power compressed his frame	U2
While as a swimming darkness came	U2
Over that dull and dreary sound	E
	-
For well did Peter know the sound	E
The language of those drunken joys	V2
To him a jovial soul I ween	S2
But a few hours ago had been	S2
A gladsome and a welcome noise	V2
	-
'Now' turned adrift into the past	E
He finds no solace in his course	W2
Like planet stricken men of yore	X2
He trembles smitten to the core	X2
By strong compunction and remorse	W2
	-
But more than all his heart is stung	Y2
To think of one almost a child	E
A sweet and playful Highland girl	Z2
As light and beauteous as a squirrel	Z
As beauteous and as wild	E
	-
Her dwelling was a lonely house	A3
A cottage in a heathy dell	S
And she put on her gown of green	S2
And left her mother at sixteen	S2
And followed Peter Bell	S
	-
But many good and pious thoughts	T2
Had she and in the kirk to pray	J
Two long Scotch miles through rain or snow	S2
To kirk she had been used to go	S2
Twice every Sabbath day	J
	-
And when she followed Peter Bell	S
It was to lead an honest life	P2
For he with tongue not used to falter	H
Had pledged his troth before the altar	H
To love her as his wedded wife	P2
	-
A mother's hope is hers but soon	S2
She drooped and pined like one forlorn	S2
From Scripture she a name did borrow	S2
Benoni or the child of sorrow	S2
She called her babe unborn	S2
	-
For she had learned how Peter lived	E
And took it in most grievous part	E
She to the very bone was worn	S2
And ere that little child was born	S2
Died of a broken heart	E
	-
And now the Spirits of the Mind	E
Are busy with poor Peter Bell	S
Upon the rights of visual sense	O
Usurping with a prevalence	Q
More terrible than magic spell	S
	-
Close by a brake of flowering furze	Q
Above it shivering aspens play	J
He sees an unsubstantial creature	H
His very self in form and feature	H
Not four yards from the broad highway	J
	-
And stretched beneath the furze he sees	Q
The Highland girl it is no other	H
And hears her crying as she cried	E
The very moment that she died	E
My mother oh my mother	H
	-
The sweat pours down from Peter's face	Q
So grievous is his heart's contrition	S2
With agony his eye balls ache	I2
While he beholds by the furze brake	I2
This miserable vision	S2
	-
Calm is the well deserving brute	E
'His' peace hath no offence betrayed	E
But now while down that slope he wends	Q
A voice to Peter's ear ascends	Q
Resounding from the woody glade	E
	-
The voice though clamorous as a horn	S2
Re echoed by a naked rock	B3
Comes from that tabernacle List	E
Within a fervent Methodist	E
Is preaching to no heedless flock	B3
	-
Repent repent he cries aloud	E
While yet ye may find mercy strive	C3
To love the Lord with all your might	E
Turn to him seek him day and night	E
And save your souls alive	C3
	-
Repent repent though ye have gone	S2
Through paths of wickedness and woe	S2
After the Babylonian harlot	E
And though your sins be red as scarlet	E
They shall be white as snow	S2
	-
Even as he passed the door these words	Q
Did plainly come to Peter's ears	Q
And they such joyful tidings were	H
The joy was more than he could bear	J2
He melted into tears	Q
	-
Sweet tears of hope and tenderness	Q
And fast they fell a plenteous shower	H
His nerves his sinews seemed to melt	E
Through all his iron frame was felt	E
A gentle a relaxing power	H
	-
Each fibre of his frame was weak	L
Weak all the animal within	S2
But in its helplessness grew mild	E
And gentle as an infant child	E
An infant that has known no sin	S2
	-
'Tis said meek Beast that through Heaven's grace	Q
He not unmoved did notice now	S2
The cross upon thy shoulder scored	E
For lasting impress by the Lord	E
To whom all human kind shall bow	S2
	-
Memorial of his touch that day	J
When Jesus humbly deigned to ride	E
Entering the proud Jerusalem	D3
By an immeasurable stream	E3
Of shouting people deified	E
	-
Meanwhile the persevering Ass	Q
Turned towards a gate that hung in view	R
Across a shady lane his chest	E
Against the yielding gate he pressed	E
And quietly passed through	R
	-
And up the stony lane he goes	Q
No ghost more softly ever trod	E
Among the stones and pebbles he	T
Sets down his hoofs inaudibly	T
As if with felt his hoofs were shod	E
	-
Along the lane the trusty Ass	Q
Went twice two hundred yards or more	X2
And no one could have guessed his aim	U2
Till to a lonely house he came	U2
And stopped beside the door	X2
	-
Thought Peter 'tis the poor man's home	F3
He listens not a sound is heard	E
Save from the trickling household rill	Q2
But stepping o'er the cottage sill	Q2
Forthwith a little Girl appeared	E
	-
She to the Meeting house was bound	E
In hopes some tidings there to gather	H
No glimpse it is no doubtful gleam	E3
She saw and uttered with a scream	E3
My father here's my father	H
	-
The very word was plainly heard	E
Heard plainly by the wretched Mother	H
Her joy was like a deep affright	E
And forth she rushed into the light	E
And saw it was another	H
	-
And instantly upon the earth	G2
Beneath the full moon shining bright	E
Close to the Ass's feet she fell	S
At the same moment Peter Bell	S
Dismounts in most unhappy plight	E
	-
As he beheld the Woman lie	U
Breathless and motionless the mind	E
Of Peter sadly was confused	E
But though to such demands unused	E
And helpless almost as the blind	E
	-
He raised her up and while he held	E
Her body propped against his knee	T
The Woman waked and when she spied	E
The poor Ass standing by her side	E
She moaned most bitterly	T
	-
Oh God be praised my heart's at ease	Q
For he is dead I know it well	S
At this she wept a bitter flood	E
And in the best way that he could	E
His tale did Peter tell	S
	-
He trembles he is pale as death	G3
His voice is weak with perturbation	S2
He turns aside his head he pauses	Q
Poor Peter from a thousand causes	Q
Is crippled sore in his narration	S2
	-
At length she learned how he espied	E
The Ass in that small meadow ground	E
And that her Husband now lay dead	E
Beside that luckless river's bed	E
In which he had been drowned	E
	-
A piercing look the Widow cast	E
Upon the Beast that near her stands	Q
She sees 'tis he that 'tis the same	U2
She calls the poor Ass by his name	U2
And wrings and wrings her hands	Q
	-
O wretched loss untimely stroke	H3
If he had died upon his bed	E
He knew not one forewarning pain	S2
He never will come home again	S2
Is dead for ever dead	E
	-
Beside the woman Peter stands	Q
His heart is opening more and more	X2
A holy sense pervades his mind	E
He feels what he for human kind	E
Had never felt before	X2
	-
At length by Peter's arm sustained	E
The Woman rises from the ground	E
Oh mercy something must be done	S2
My little Rachel you must run	S2
Some willing neighbour must be found	E
	-
Make haste my little Rachel do	E
The first you meet with bid him come	D3
Ask him to lend his horse to night	E
And this good Man whom Heaven requite	E
Will help to bring the body home	F3
	-
Away goes Rachel weeping loud	E
An Infant waked by her distress	Q
Makes in the house a piteous cry	U
And Peter hears the Mother sigh	U
Seven are they and all fatherless	Q
	-
And now is Peter taught to feel	I3
That man's heart is a holy thing	Y
And Nature through a world of death	G3
Breathes into him a second breath	G3
More searching than the breath of spring	Y
	-
Upon a stone the Woman sits	Q
In agony of silent grief	J3
From his own thoughts did Peter start	E
He longs to press her to his heart	E
From love that cannot find relief	J3
	-
But roused as if through every limb	K3
Had past a sudden shock of dread	E
The Mother o'er the threshold flies	Q
And up the cottage stairs she hies	Q
And on the pillow lays her burning head	E
	-
And Peter turns his steps aside	E
Into a shade of darksome trees	Q
Where he sits down he knows not how	S2
With his hands pressed against his brow	S2
His elbows on his tremulous knees	Q
	-
There self involved does Peter sit	E
Until no sign of life he makes	Q
As if his mind were sinking deep	L3
Through years that have been long asleep	L3
The trance is passed away he wakes	Q
	-
He lifts his head and sees the Ass	Q
Yet standing in the clear moonshine	S2
When shall I be as good as thou	S2
Oh would poor beast that I had now	S2
A heart but half as good as thine	S2
	-
But 'He' who deviously hath sought	E
His Father through the lonesome woods	Q
Hath sought proclaiming to the ear	M3
Of night his grief and sorrowful fear	N3
He comes escaped from fields and floods	Q
	-
With weary pace is drawing nigh	U
He sees the Ass and nothing living	Y
Had ever such a fit of joy	O3
As hath this little orphan Boy	O3
For he has no misgiving	Y
	-
Forth to the gentle Ass he springs	Q
And up about his neck he climbs	Q
In loving words he talks to him	K3
He kisses kisses face and limb	K3
He kisses him a thousand times	Q
	-
This Peter sees while in the shade	E
He stood beside the cottage door	X2
And Peter Bell the ruffian wild	E
Sobs loud he sobs even like a child	E
O God I can endure no more	X2
	-
Here ends my Tale for in a trice	Q
Arrived a neighbour with his horse	Q
Peter went forth with him straightway	S2
And with due care ere break of day	E
Together they brought back the Corse	Q
	-
And many years did this poor Ass	Q
Whom once it was my luck to see	Q
Cropping the shrubs of Leming Lane	S2
Help by his labour to maintain	S2
The Widow and her family	Q
	-
And Peter Bell who till that night	E
Had been the wildest of his clan	S2
Forsook his crimes renounced his folly	Q
And after ten months' melancholy	Q
Became a good and honest man	S2

William Wordsworth

Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation

<< Ode - The Morning Of The Day Appointed For A General Thanksgiving. January 18, 1816 Poem The Cuckoo And The Nightingale (from Chaucer) Poem>>

Write your comment about Peter Bell - A Tale (part Third) poem by William Wordsworth

Best Poems of William Wordsworth

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 3 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Wonderful Women
by Umaru Kanneh Boima
Freedom To Scratch In Peace
by Olute Aete
Happy New Year
by Felix Menda
Human Beings
by Dana Graslie
Lust
by Wisdom Greatness
An Isolated Tree's Song
by Sayeed Abubakar
A Strange Boy
by Sayeed Abubakar
O Soil
by Sayeed Abubakar
No War, No War-monger
by Sayeed Abubakar
Night's Town
by Sayeed Abubakar

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2414 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)