The Messiah : A Sacred Eclogue Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCD EEFFGHIDJJKKLL MMNNOOFFPPQRFFSSTTSS UVVWXYYXXZZA2B2C2C2F FDILLEED2D2FFWWFFMME 2E2E2F2G2G2H2H2SS FFMMFFLLFFVVSSMMFFI2 I2SSFF| Ye nymphs of Solyma begin the song | A |
| To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong | A |
| The mossy fountains and the sylvan shades | B |
| The dreams of Pindus and the Aonian maids | B |
| Delight no more O thou my voice inspire | C |
| Who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire | D |
| - | |
| Rapt into future times the bard begun | E |
| A virgin shall conceive a Virgin bear a son | E |
| From Jesse's root behold a branch arise | F |
| Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies | F |
| The ethereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move | G |
| And on its top descend the mystic Dove | H |
| Ye heavens from high the dewy nectar pour | I |
| And in soft silence shed the kindly shower | D |
| The sick and weak the healing Plant shall aid | J |
| From storms a shelter and from heat a shade | J |
| All crimes shall cease and ancient fraud shall fail | K |
| Returning justice lift aloft her scale | K |
| Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend | L |
| And white robed innocence from heaven descend | L |
| - | |
| Swift fly the years and rise the expected morn | M |
| O spring to light auspicious Babe be born | M |
| See nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring | N |
| WIth all the incense of the breathing spring | N |
| See lofty Lebanon his head advance | O |
| See nodding forests on the mountains dance | O |
| See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise | F |
| And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies | F |
| Hark a glad voice the lonely desart cheers | P |
| Prepare the way a God a God appears | P |
| A God a God the vocal hills reply | Q |
| The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity | R |
| Lo earth receives him from the bending skies | F |
| Sink down ye mountains and ye vallies rise | F |
| With heads declined ye cedars homage pay | S |
| Be smooth ye rocks ye rapid floods give way | S |
| The Saviour comes by ancient bards foretold | T |
| Hear him ye deaf and all ye blind behold | T |
| He from thick films shall purge the visual ray | S |
| And on the sightless eye ball pour the day | S |
| 'Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear | U |
| The dumb shall sing the lame his crutch forego | V |
| And leap exulting like the bounding roe | V |
| No sigh no murmer the wide world shall hear | W |
| From every face he wipes off every tear | X |
| In adamantine chains shall death be bound | Y |
| And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound | Y |
| As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care | X |
| Seeks freshest pastures and the purest air | X |
| Explores the lost the wandering sheep directs | Z |
| By day o'ersees them and by night protects | Z |
| The tender lambs he raises in his arms | A2 |
| Feeds from his hand and in his bosom warms | B2 |
| Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage | C2 |
| The promis'd father of the future age | C2 |
| No more shall nation against nation rise | F |
| Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes | F |
| Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er | D |
| The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more | I |
| But useless lances into scythes shall bend | L |
| And the broad faulchion in a plough share end | L |
| Then palaces shall rise the joyful son | E |
| Shall finish what his short liv'd fire begun | E |
| Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield | D2 |
| And the same hand that sow'd shall reap the field | D2 |
| The swain in barren desarts with surprise | F |
| Sees lillies spring and sudden verdure rise | F |
| And starts amidst the thirsty wilds to hear | W |
| New falls of water murmuring in his ear | W |
| On rifted rocks the dragon's late abodes | F |
| The green reed trembles and the bulrush nods | F |
| Waste sandy vallies once perplex'd with thorn | M |
| The spiry fir and shapely box adorn | M |
| The leafless shrubs the flow'ring palms succeed | E2 |
| And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed | E2 |
| The lambs with wolves shall grace the verdant mead | E2 |
| And boys in flow'ry bands the tyger lead | F2 |
| The steer and lion at one crib shall meet | G2 |
| And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet | G2 |
| The smiling infant in his hand shall take | H2 |
| The crested basilisk and speckled snake | H2 |
| Pleas'd the green lustres of the scales survey | S |
| And with their forky tongues shall innocently play | S |
| - | |
| Rise crown'd with light imperial Salem rise | F |
| Exalt thy tow'ry head and lift thy eyes | F |
| See a long race thy spacious courts adorn | M |
| See future sons and daughters yet unborn | M |
| In crowding ranks on ev'ry side arise | F |
| Demanding life impatient for the skies | F |
| See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend | L |
| Walk in thy light and in thy temple bend | L |
| See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings | F |
| And heap'd with products of Sabaean springs | F |
| For thee Idume's spicy forests blow | V |
| And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow | V |
| See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display | S |
| And break upon thee in a flood of day | S |
| No more the rising sun shall gild the morn | M |
| Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her silver horn | M |
| But lost dissolv'd in thy superior rays | F |
| One tide of glory one unclouded blaze | F |
| O'erflow thy courts the Light Himself shall shine | I2 |
| Reveal'd and God's eternal day be thine | I2 |
| The seas shall waste the skies in smoke decay | S |
| Rocks fall to dust and mountains melt away | S |
| But fix'd his word his saving pow'r remains | F |
| Thy realm for ever lasts thy own Messiah reigns | F |
Alexander Pope
(1)
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