Off Mesolongi Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAC DEDE AFAF GHGH IJIJ KLKL LLLL MNMN OHPH QRQR STST LULP VEVE LWLW XLXL YZYZ A2LA2L B2LB2L LLLL C2D2C2D2| The lights of Mesolongi gleam | A |
| Before me now the day is gone | B |
| And vague as leaf on drifting stream | A |
| My keel glides on | C |
| - | |
| No mellow moon no stars arise | D |
| In other lands they shine and roam | E |
| All I discern are darkening skies | D |
| And whitening foam | E |
| - | |
| So on those lights I gaze that seem | A |
| Ghosts of the beacons of my youth | F |
| Ere rescued from their treacherous gleam | A |
| I steered towards truth | F |
| - | |
| And you too Byron did awake | G |
| And ransomed from the cheating breath | H |
| Of living adulation stake | G |
| Greatness on death | H |
| - | |
| Alas the choice was made too late | I |
| You treated Fame as one that begs | J |
| And having drained the joys that sate | I |
| Offered the dregs | J |
| - | |
| The lees of life you scornful brought | K |
| Scornful she poured upon the ground | L |
| The honoured doom in shame you sought | K |
| You never found | L |
| - | |
| The Spartan borne upon his shield'' | L |
| Is not the meed of jaded lust | L |
| And ere your feet could reach the field | L |
| Death claimed your dust | L |
| - | |
| Upon the pillow not the rock | M |
| Like meaner things you ebbed away | N |
| Yearning in vain for instant shock | M |
| Of mortal fray | N |
| - | |
| The futile prayer the feeble tear | O |
| All that deforms the face of death | H |
| You had to bear whilst in your ear | P |
| Hummed battle's breath | H |
| - | |
| You begged the vulture not the worm | Q |
| Might feed upon your empty corse | R |
| In vain Just Nemesis was firm | Q |
| 'Gainst late remorse | R |
| - | |
| Too much you asked too little gave | S |
| The crown without the cross of strife | T |
| What is it earns a soldier's grave | S |
| A soldier's life | T |
| - | |
| Think not I come to taunt the dead | L |
| My earliest master still is dear | U |
| And what few tears I have to shed | L |
| Are gathering here | P |
| - | |
| Behind me lies Ulysses' isle | V |
| The wanderer wise who pined for home | E |
| But Byron Neither tear nor smile | V |
| Forbade you roam | E |
| - | |
| Yours was that bitterest mortal fate | L |
| No choice save thirst or swinish trough | W |
| Love's self but offered sensuous bait | L |
| Or virtuous scoff | W |
| - | |
| Yet was it well to wince and cry | X |
| For anguish and at wrong to gird | L |
| Best like your gladiator die | X |
| Without a word | L |
| - | |
| There be who in that fault rejoice | Y |
| Since sobs survive as sweetest lays | Z |
| And yours remains the strongest voice | Y |
| Of later days | Z |
| - | |
| For me I think of you as One | A2 |
| Who vaguely pined for worthier lot | L |
| Than to be blinked at like the sun | A2 |
| But found it not | L |
| - | |
| Who blindly fought his way from birth | B2 |
| Nor learned till 'twas too late to heed | L |
| Not all the noblest songs are worth | B2 |
| One noble deed | L |
| - | |
| Who with the doom of glory cursed | L |
| Still played the athlete's hollow part | L |
| And 'neath his bay green temples nursed | L |
| A withered heart | L |
| - | |
| On silent keel through silent sea | C2 |
| I will not land where He alas | D2 |
| Just missed Fame's crown Enough for me | C2 |
| To gaze and pass | D2 |
Alfred Austin
(1)
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