Shelley-s Death Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCCB DEDEFFE GHGHIIH JKJKLLK MNMNOON PLPLQQL RSRSTTS UVUVWWV XYZYA2A2Y| What And it was so Thou wert then | A |
| Death stricken from behind | B |
| O heart of hearts and they were men | A |
| That rent thee from mankind | B |
| Greedy hatred chasing love | C |
| As a hawk pursues a dove | C |
| Till the soft feathers float upon the careless wind | B |
| - | |
| Loathed life that I might break the chain | D |
| Which links my kind with me | E |
| To think that human hands for gain | D |
| Should have been turned 'gainst thee | E |
| Thee that wouldst have given thine all | F |
| For the poor the sick the thrall | F |
| And weighed thyself as dross 'gainst their felicity | E |
| - | |
| We deemed that Nature jealous grown | G |
| Withdrew the glimpse she gave | H |
| In thy bright genius of her own | G |
| And not to slay but save | H |
| That she timely took back thus | I |
| What had been but lent to us | I |
| Shrouding thee in her winds and lulling 'neath her wave | H |
| - | |
| For it seemed meet thou shouldst not long | J |
| Toss on life's fitful billow | K |
| Nor sleep 'mid mounds of silenced wrong | J |
| Under the clay cold willow | K |
| Rather that thou shouldst recline | L |
| Amid waters crystalline | L |
| The sea shells at thy feet and sea weed for thy pillow | K |
| - | |
| We felt we had no right to keep | M |
| What never had been ours | N |
| That thou belongedst to the deep | M |
| And the uncounted hours | N |
| That thou earthly no more wert | O |
| Than the rainbow's melting skirt | O |
| The sunset's fading bloom and midnight's shooting showers | N |
| - | |
| And thus resigned our empty hands | P |
| Surrendered thee to thine | L |
| Thinking thee drawn by kindred bands | P |
| Under the swirling brine | L |
| Playing there on new strung shell | Q |
| Tuned to Ocean's mystic swell | Q |
| Thy lyrical complaints and rhapsodies divine | L |
| - | |
| But now to hear no sea nymph fair | R |
| Submerged thee with her smile | S |
| And tempests were content to spare | R |
| Thee to us yet awhile | S |
| But for ghouls in human mould | T |
| Ravaging the seas for gold | T |
| Oh this blots out the heavens and makes mere living vile | S |
| - | |
| Yet thy brief life presaged such death | U |
| And it was meet that they | V |
| Who poisoned should have quenched thy breath | U |
| Who slandered thee should slay | V |
| That thy spirit long the mark | W |
| Of the dagger drawn in dark | W |
| Should by the ruffian's stroke be ravished from the day | V |
| - | |
| Hush From the grave where I so oft | X |
| Have stood 'mid ruined Rome | Y |
| I seem to hear a whisper soft | Z |
| Wafted across the foam | Y |
| Bidding justest wrath be still | A2 |
| Good feel lovingly for ill | A2 |
| As exiles for rough paths that help them to their home | Y |
Alfred Austin
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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