The pattern may be regular or it may be varied. On your second or third reading of “Roads Go Ever Ever On,” indicate its meter using the marks shown above.

Rhyme Scheme. Rhyme scheme is the repetition of sounds at the end of two or more lines of poetry. A poem’s rhyme scheme is usually marked by assigning a letter of the alphabet to each line, with rhyming lines receiving the same letter. Notice the rhyme scheme in the following example:

The railroad track is miles away, (a)
And the day is loud with voices speaking, (b)
Yet there isn’t a train goes by all day (a)
But I hear its whistle shrieking. (b)

On your second or third reading of “Travel,” mark the rhyme scheme for the complete poem.

• The poem “Roads Go Ever Ever On” is taken from near the end of J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic The Hobbit, which has become a classic enjoyed by all ages. In this enchanting fantasy, hobbit Bilbo Baggins sets out on wondrous, sometimes dangerous, adventures that take him far from his cozy home and quiet life to a magical world of swordplay, enchanted rings, elves, goblins, and dragons.
• History Connection. From the mid-1800s and well into the 1900s, the United States rapidly became industrialized, cities grew, and many people gradually moved west. At the hub of all this activity was the powerful steam locomotive as it transported raw materials, factory-made products, and people in all directions. Edna St. Vincent Millay penned most of her lyric poetry from the 1920s to the 1940s—when the steam locomotive was still pounding the rails. Her poem “Travel” conveys the excitement of travel on the cross-country trains.

How do you feel about traveling? Where would you like to travel? Explain.