The Old Cumberland Beggar Poem Rhyme Scheme

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William Wordsworth

The Old Cumberland Beggar Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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I saw an aged Beggar in my walk	A
And he was seated by the highway side	B
On a low structure of rude masonry	C
Built at the foot of a huge hill that they	D
Who lead their horses down the steep rough road	E
May thence remount at ease The aged Man	F
Had placed his staff across the broad smooth stone	G
That overlays the pile and from a bag	H
All white with flour the dole of village dames	I
He drew his scraps and fragments one by one	J
And scanned them with a fixed and serious look	K
Of idle computation In the sun	J
Upon the second step of that small pile	L
Surrounded by those wild unpeopled hills	M
He sat and ate his food in solitude	N
And ever scattered from his palsied hand	O
That still attempting to prevent the waste	P
Was baffled still the crumbs in little showers	Q
Fell on the ground and the small mountain birds	R
Not venturing yet to peck their destined meal	S
Approached within the length of half his staff	T
	-
Him from my childhood have I known and then	U
He was so old he seems not older now	V
He travels on a solitary Man	F
So helpless in appearance that from him	W
The sauntering Horseman throws not with a slack	X
And careless hand his alms upon the ground	Y
But stops that he may safely lodge the coin	Z
Within the old Man's hat nor quits him so	A2
But still when he has given his horse the rein	B2
Watches the aged Beggar with a look	K
Sidelong and half reverted She who tends	C2
The toll gate when in summer at her door	D2
She turns her wheel if on the road she sees	E2
The aged Beggar coming quits her work	F2
And lifts the latch for him that he may pass	G2
The post boy when his rattling wheels o'ertake	F2
The aged Beggar in the woody lane	B2
Shouts to him from behind and if thus warned	H2
The old Man does not change his course the boy	I2
Turns with less noisy wheels to the roadside	B
And passes gently by without a curse	J2
Upon his lips or anger at his heart	K2
	-
He travels on a solitary Man	F
His age has no companion On the ground	Y
His eyes are turned and as he moves along	F2
They move along the ground and evermore	D2
Instead of common and habitual sight	L2
Of fields with rural works of hill and dale	M2
And the blue sky one little span of earth	N2
Is all his prospect Thus from day to day	D
Bow bent his eyes forever on the ground	Y
He plies his weary journey seeing still	O2
And seldom knowing that he sees some straw	P2
Some scattered leaf or marks which in one track	F2
The nails of cart or chariot wheel have left	Q2
Impressed on the white road in the same line	R2
At distance still the same Poor Traveller	S2
His staff trails with him scarcely do his feet	T2
Disturb the summer dust he is so still	O2
In look and motion that the cottage curs	J2
Ere he has passed the door will turn away	D
Weary of barking at him Boys and girls	J2
The vacant and the busy maids and youths	J2
And urchins newly breeched all pass him by	U2
Him even the slow paced waggon leaves behind	V2
	-
But deem not this Man useless Statesmen ye	C
Who are so restless in your wisdom ye	C
Who have a broom still ready in your hands	J2
To rid the world of nuisances ye proud	W2
Heart swoln while in your pride ye contemplate	X2
Your talents power or wisdom deem him not	Y2
A burden of the earth 'Tis Nature's law	P2
That none the meanest of created things	J2
Of forms created the most vile and brute	Z2
The dullest or most noxious should exist	A3
Divorced from good a spirit and pulse of good	B3
A life and soul to every mode of being	F2
Inseparably linked Then be assured	C3
That least of all can aught that ever owned	D3
The heaven regarding eye and front sublime	E3
Which man is born to sink howe'er depressed	F3
So low as to be scorned without a sin	G3
Without offence to God cast out of view	H3
Like the dry remnant of a garden flower	S2
Whose seeds are shed or as an implement	I3
Worn out and worthless While from door to door	D2
This old Man creeps the villagers in him	W
Behold a record which together binds	J2
Past deeds and offices of charity	C
Else unremembered and so keeps alive	J3
The kindly mood in hearts which lapse of years	J2
And that half wisdom half experience gives	J2
Make slow to feel and by sure steps resign	R2
To selfishness and cold oblivious cares	J2
Among the farms and solitary huts	J2
Hamlets and thinly scattered villages	J2
Where'er the aged Beggar takes his rounds	J2
The mild necessity of use compels	J2
The acts of love and habit does the work	F2
Of reason yet prepares that after joy	I2
Which reason cherishes And thus the soul	K3
By that sweet taste of pleasure unpursued	C
Doth find herself insensibly disposed	C
To virtue and true goodness	J2
	-
Some there are	L3
By their good works exalted lofty minds	J2
And meditative authors of delight	C
And happiness which to the end of time	E3
Will live and spread and kindle even such minds	J2
In childhood from this solitary Being	F2
Or from like wanderer haply have received	C
A thing more precious far than all that books	J2
Or the solicitudes of love can do	C
That first mild touch of sympathy and thought	C
In which they found their kindred with a world	C
Where want and sorrow were The easy man	F
Who sits at his own door and like the pear	M3
That overhangs his head from the green wall	N3
Feeds in the sunshine the robust and young	F2
The prosperous and unthinking they who live	J3
Sheltered and flourish in a little grove	O3
Of their own kindred all behold in him	W
A silent monitor which on their minds	J2
Must needs impress a transitory thought	C
Of self congratulation to the heart	C
Of each recalling his peculiar boons	J2
His charters and exemptions and perchance	J2
Though he to no one give the fortitude	C
And circumspection needful to preserve	P3
His present blessings and to husband up	Q3
The respite of the season he at least	C
And 't is no vulgar service makes them felt	C
	-
Yet further Many I believe there are	L3
Who live a life of virtuous decency	C
Men who can hear the Decalogue and feel	S
No self reproach who of the moral law	P2
Established in the land where they abide	C
Are strict observers and not negligent	C
In acts of love to those with whom they dwell	R3
Their kindred and the children of their blood	C
	-
Praise be to such and to their slumbers peace	J2
But of the poor man ask the abject poor	S3
Go and demand of him if there be here	T3
In this cold abstinence from evil deeds	J2
And these inevitable charities	J2
Wherewith to satisfy the human soul	K3
No man is dear to man the poorest poor	S3
Long for some moments in a weary life	U3
When they can know and feel that they have been	G3
Themselves the fathers and the dealers out	C
Of some small blessings have been kind to such	V3
As needed kindness for this single cause	J2
That we have all of us one human heart	C
Such pleasure is to one kind Being known	G
My neighbour when with punctual care each week	F2
Duly as Friday comes though pressed herself	W3
By her own wants she from her store of meal	S
Takes one unsparing handful for the scrip	X3
Of this old Mendicant and from her door	D2
Returning with exhilarated heart	C
Sits by her fire and builds her hope in heaven	J
	-
Then let him pass a blessing on his head	C
And while in that vast solitude to which	Y3
The tide of things has borne him he appears	J2
To breathe and live but for himself alone	G
Unblamed uninjured let him bear about	C
The good which the benignant law of Heaven	J
Has hung around him and while life is his	J2
Still let him prompt the unlettered villagers	J2
To tender offices and pensive thoughts	J2
Then let him pass a blessing on his head	C
And long as he can wander let him breathe	Z3
The freshness of the valleys let his blood	C
Struggle with frosty air and winter snows	J2
And let the chartered wind that sweeps the heath	A4
Beat his grey locks against his withered face	J2
Reverence the hope whose vital anxiousness	J2
Gives the last human interest to his heart	C
May never HOUSE misnamed of INDUSTRY	C
Make him a captive for that pent up din	G3
Those life consuming sounds that clog the air	M3
Be his the natural silence of old age	B4
Let him be free of mountain solitudes	J2
And have around him whether heard or not	C
The pleasant melody of woodland birds	J2
Few are his pleasures if his eyes have now	V
Been doomed so long to settle upon earth	N2
That not without some effort they behold	C
The countenance of the horizontal sun	J
Rising or setting let the light at least	C
Find a free entrance to their languid orbs	J2
And let him where and when he will sit down	C4
Beneath the trees or on a grassy bank	F2
Of highway side and with the little birds	J2
Share his chance gathered meal and finally	C
As in the eye of Nature he has lived	C
So in the eye of Nature let him die	C