Mates Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDDBEE FGFGHHGII GJGJKKJLL GMGMNNMOO PFPFQQFRR GSGSTTSUU VWVWQQWXX YZYZA2A2ZGGB2GB2GC2C 2GDD D2ZD2ZE2E2ZF2G2 H2I2H2I2ZZI2J2J2 ZK2ZK2L2M2K2L2L2 ZGZGZZGJ2J2It boots not to retrace the path | A |
To ages dim and hoar | B |
When Man at the domestic hearth | C |
First learned the art of war | B |
And since in battle one must fall | D |
Held his defeated spouse in thrall | D |
That she should fight no more | B |
And thereby doomed to sleep and sloth | E |
Strength that in action strengthened both | E |
- | |
It boots not when the better day | F |
First showed a glint of morn | G |
Nor whose the eye that in its ray | F |
Saw Woman's chains outworn | G |
Nor which was first and which was last | H |
When savage rivalry was past | H |
And chivalry was born | G |
Enough for us that free or pent | I |
Her primal treasure was misspent | I |
- | |
The waxing noontide sees them now | G |
Joint sovereigns of the land | J |
No trace upon the gentler brow | G |
Of the old helot brand | J |
Consenting that the right is right | K |
They walk as comrades or they might | K |
For ever hand in hand | J |
Yet still a stronger leads and drags | L |
And still a weaker leans and lags | L |
- | |
Because we reap what we have sown | G |
And are as we were bred | M |
Because one passion overgrown | G |
Since so long overfed | M |
Still works confusion to the scheme | N |
Whereof both man and woman dream | N |
'T'is the unnumbered dead | M |
That laid it on him for a curse | O |
And her its immemorial nurse | O |
- | |
But with these tyrants in the dust | P |
Why should their ghosts hold sway | F |
Cut the long entail of their lust | P |
Heirs of a cleaner day | F |
Lift the dead hand from living mind | Q |
Break the old spells that bind and blind | Q |
O Woman far astray | F |
And march with Man the open road | R |
Without a fetter or a load | R |
- | |
Our pioneer brothers can discern | G |
The sunlit heights around | S |
We that should likewise look and learn | G |
Keep eyes upon the ground | S |
And drug our feebleness with sweets | T |
When needing tonic of strong meats | T |
And all our ways surround | S |
With tangling trifles gaud and toy | U |
That mock us with the name of joy | U |
- | |
What brains these fragile webs enmesh | V |
What soaring thought they tie | W |
What energies of soul and flesh | V |
They still or stultify | W |
What wasted riches of the mind | Q |
What wealth of genius dumb and blind | Q |
In shop and workroom lie | W |
While the great realms of life are stored | X |
With such vast mystery unexplored | X |
- | |
Where were the sciences and arts | Y |
When men went plumed and curled | Z |
Where were the brains the hands the hearts | Y |
That now subdue the world | Z |
The March of Progress straight and true | A2 |
When men wore coats of every hue | A2 |
In childish swaddlings furled | Z |
Their strength lay latent and unknown | G |
As ineffectual as our own | G |
Freed from this complicated coil | B2 |
By mere vainglory spun | G |
Uprooted from this fruitless soil | B2 |
Unfed by rain or sun | G |
Where sleep the germs of noble deeds | C2 |
In still unfructifying seeds | C2 |
Or leafage scarce begun | G |
This ash heap of the poor and small | D |
That chokes the greatness in us all | D |
- | |
Uplifted to the light the place | D2 |
Where Man his manhood found | Z |
When tyranny of silk and lace | D2 |
No longer held him bound | Z |
With eyes from Fashion's witchcraft clear | E2 |
For Beauty simple and sincere | E2 |
And unbeguiled by sound | Z |
Of siren wooings quiet ears | F2 |
For the high message that he hears | G2 |
- | |
The swelling call to loftier life | H2 |
That like a distant bell | I2 |
Chimes through the traffic and the strife | H2 |
Of those who buy and sell | I2 |
Through camp and temple field and street | Z |
The market where we game and cheat | Z |
The home wherein we dwell | I2 |
Here should we stand as strong as free | J2 |
For splendid enterprise as he | J2 |
- | |
To him no flowering parasite | Z |
That only sucks and clings | K2 |
To drain and enervate and blight | Z |
But impulse to his wings | K2 |
His mate in passion mate in power | L2 |
His soul's wife that for marriage dower | M2 |
Exhaustless treasure brings | K2 |
The daily bread the daily spur | L2 |
The day's reward for him and her | L2 |
- | |
Like woodland creatures that have willed | Z |
To pair by Nature's plan | G |
A woman finished and fulfilled | Z |
And a completed man | G |
To run together and abreast | Z |
And side by side to fight or rest | Z |
As when the world began | G |
Each bound to other yet both free | J2 |
It is not but it ought to be | J2 |
Ada Cambridge
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Mates poem by Ada Cambridge
Best Poems of Ada Cambridge