At Delphi Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB ACDEFGGHIIIJJB ABBKKLGMMNNGGOOPPBBB BBBB QQGGRRBBPPBBGG SSRRBBRRB BTTPPGGRRGGGBBUUBBPP BBSSS BGVVWWBBGGXXSSSSBBSS PPB RRGGGGPPHHLLBBGGGGPP GGYYGGBBZZPPWWBB BBPPLLZZGGA2A2QQSS GB2B2QQPPHHHB GPPBBGGKKRRPPMMSSPPR RRI | A |
Apollo Apollo Apollo | B |
- | |
II | A |
Where hast thou Apollo gone | C |
I have wandered on and on | D |
Through the shaggy Dorian gorges | E |
Down from where Parnassus forges | F |
Thunder for the Phocian valleys | G |
Where the Pleistus springs and sallies | G |
Past ravines and caverns dread | H |
Have like it meander d | I |
But I cannot see thee hear thee | I |
Find thee feel thee get anear thee | I |
Though in quest of thee I go where | J |
Thou didst haunt I find thee nowhere | J |
Apollo Apollo Apollo | B |
- | |
III | A |
Still no answer comes Apollo | B |
Vainly do I call and holloa | B |
Into each Crissoean cleft | K |
Where the last year's leaves are left | K |
Deem not I have pushed my way | L |
But from stony Amphiss | G |
I have come from far off land | M |
Traversed foam traversed sand | M |
From green pastures sea surrounded | N |
Where thy phorminx never sounded | N |
O'er the broad and barren acres | G |
Of the vainly furrowed breakers | G |
Across mountains loftier far | O |
Than the peaks of Pindus are | O |
Skirted groves of pine and fir | P |
Denser than lone Tempe's were | P |
With no selfish tread but only | B |
I might find thee lovely lonely | B |
Lingering by thy sacred city | B |
On me wilt thou not have pity | B |
Sun god Song god I implore thee | B |
Glow and let me pale before thee | B |
Apollo Apollo Apollo | B |
- | |
IV | - |
Fallen tablet prostrate column | Q |
Solitude and silence solemn | Q |
Half tilled patches squalid hovels | G |
Where life multiplies and grovels | G |
Is this Delphi this the shrine | R |
Of the Musagete divine | R |
This the cavern this the cell | B |
Of the Pythian oracle | B |
Where the tripod where the altar | P |
Incense embassy and psalter | P |
Can this pool of cresses be | B |
Cradle of pure Castaly | B |
From the rock though still it bubbles | G |
Travels onwards halts and doubles | G |
Where the Muses wont to lave | - |
Limbs as vestal as its wave | - |
'Mong the flashing waters flashing | S |
Gaunt and withered crones are washing | S |
Not a note of lyre or zittern | R |
But below the booming bittern | R |
Waits his quarry to inveigle | B |
While o'erhead the silent eagle | B |
Blinking stares at the blank sun | R |
All of thee that is not gone | R |
Apollo Apollo | B |
- | |
V | B |
Who art thou intruder weird | T |
With the fine and flowing beard | T |
Whom no snowy robes encumber | P |
But a habit black and sombre | P |
Yet in whose compos d eyes | G |
Lurks the light of mysteries | G |
Priest thou seemest but not one | R |
Of the loved Latona's son | R |
In thy aspect is no gladness | G |
Glance nor gleam of joyous madness | G |
Only gloom only sadness | G |
Underneath thy knotted girdle | B |
Thoughts congeal and passions curdle | B |
And about thy brow ascetic | U |
Lives nor light nor line prophetic | U |
Priest but priest not of Apollo | B |
Whither wouldst thou have me follow | B |
Lead but onward I will enter | P |
Where thy cold gaze seems to centre | P |
Underneath yon portal dismal | B |
Into dusk and chill abysmal | B |
Hast thou pent him Is He lying | S |
There within dethroned and dying | S |
If thou breathest hear me crying | S |
Apollo Apollo Apollo '' | - |
- | |
VI | - |
No but here He cannot be | B |
God of light and poesy | G |
What are these I see around | V |
Gloomy upon gloomy ground | V |
Making wall and roof to seem | W |
Sepulchre of morbid dream | W |
Visages with aspect stony | B |
Bodies lean and lank and bony | B |
In whose lineaments I trace | G |
Neither love nor joy nor grace | G |
Youth with limbs disused and old | X |
Maidens pale contorted cold | X |
Flames devouring pincers wrenching | S |
Muscles naked but unblenching | S |
Writhing snakes forked venom darting | S |
Into flesh wounds gaping smarting | S |
Furies shagged with tresses fell | B |
Ghouls and ghosts of nether hell | B |
Priest of beauty Priest of song | S |
Aid me if thou still art strong | S |
See me save me bear me whither | P |
Glows thy light that brought me hither | P |
Apollo Apollo Apollo | B |
- | |
VII | - |
O the sunshine once again | R |
O to stand a man 'mong men | R |
Lo the horrid nightmare pales | G |
In the light of flowing vales | G |
In the gaze of steadfast mountains | G |
Sidelong runnels forward fountains | G |
Spacious sky receding air | P |
Breadth and bounty everywhere | P |
What if all the gods be dead | H |
Nature reigneth in their stead | H |
Let me dream the noon away | L |
Underneath this full blown bay | L |
Where the yellow bees are busy | B |
Till they stagger drowsy dizzy | B |
From the honeyed wine that wells | G |
Up the branches to the cells | G |
Of the myriad clustered flowers | G |
Dropping golden flakes in showers | G |
Here reclined I will surrender | P |
Sense and soul unto the tender | P |
Mingling of remote and close | G |
Gods voluptuous gods morose | G |
Altars at whose marble meet | Y |
Downcast eyes and dancing feet | Y |
Awful dirges glad carouse | G |
Unveiled bosoms shaded brows | G |
Wreath d steer and tonsured skull | B |
Shapes austere with beautiful | B |
Till the past and present swim | Z |
In an ether distant dim | Z |
And the Delphic fumes rise denser | P |
From a silver swinging censer | P |
And in one harmonious dream | W |
Through a heavenly nimbus gleam | W |
Lovely limbs and longings saintly | B |
And pale virgins murmur faintly | B |
Apollo Apollo Apollo '' | - |
- | |
VIII | - |
Priest but priest not of Apollo | B |
Why dost thou my footsteps follow | B |
From the deep dark shrine down there | P |
To this temple of the air | P |
What profaner wouldst thou lay | L |
Hands upon the sacred bay | L |
Tearing Daphne limb from limb | Z |
Hast thou then no dread of Him | Z |
How For me Avaunt and pass | G |
I am not fool Marsyas | G |
Stay Then to my forehead bind it | A2 |
Round my temples wreathe and wind it | A2 |
'Chance the Avenger then will come | Q |
Haunt and grot no more be dumb | Q |
But the rills and steeps be ringing | S |
And a long array come singing | S |
Apollo Apollo Apollo '' | - |
- | |
IX | G |
All in vain Nor prayer nor taunt | B2 |
Tempts him back to his loved haunt | B2 |
Fretted tablet fallen column | Q |
Solitude and silence solemn | Q |
He again from Peneus ne'er | P |
Will to Castaly repair | P |
Never more in cavern dread | H |
Will his oracles be read | H |
Now I know that Thou art dead | H |
Apollo | B |
- | |
X | G |
Then like fountain in mine ear | P |
Spake the god aloud and clear | P |
Take it Wear it Tis for thee | B |
Singer from the Northern Sea | B |
If the least not last of those | G |
Suckled 'mong the genial snows | G |
Though the Muses may have left | K |
Tempe's glen and Delphi's cleft | K |
Wanderer they have only gone | R |
Hence to murmuring Albion | R |
Need was none to travel hither | P |
Child of England go back thither | P |
Traverse foam traverse sand | M |
Back and in thy native land | M |
Thou wilt find what thou dost seek | S |
There the oracles still speak | S |
There the mounting fumes inspire | P |
Glowing brain and living lyre | P |
There the Muses prompt the strain | R |
There they renovate my reign | R |
There thou wilt not call in vain | R |
Apollo Apollo Apollo ''' | - |
Alfred Austin
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about At Delphi poem by Alfred Austin
Best Poems of Alfred Austin