Columbus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMJNOPQRS TUDQVWXTYJTZA2QB2C2D 2SE2F2C2XXG2H2CI2J2T HXK2TJL2M2N2JXE2TO2P 2TQ2R2TTB2S2T2U2V2W2 X2W2Y2TZ2A3TEB3TTTY2 B2O2F2TC3D3D3D3E3TTG D3WAF2KB2TD3KD3F2F3K G3F2F2F2KF2H3F2F2F2H 3STH3F2H3H3H3F2B2TTT F2TKKKD3H3H3H3F2TB2S TD3H3F2TMTI3TH3F2B2K F2H3F2FKY2F2KTH3F2TH 3TH3J3TKF2H3TF2KY2K3 F2H3H3MTD3TH3B2F2TH3 TH3B2TTSSTF2F2K3F2MF 2TTM KL3F2TH3H3KF2TTH3M3F 2N3O3TF2K3Y2TH3N3H3F 2KH3TT

Chains my good lord in your raised brows I readA
Some wonder at our chamber ornamentsB
We brought this iron from our isles of goldC
Does the king know you deign to visit himD
Whom once he rose from off his throne to greetE
Before his people like his brother kingF
I saw your face that morning in the crowdG
At Barcelona tho' you were not thenH
So bearded Yes The city deck'd herselfI
To meet me roar'd my name the king the queenJ
Bad me be seated speak and tell them allK
The story of my voyage and while I spokeL
The crowd's roar fell as at the 'Peace be still 'M
And when I ceased to speak the king the queenJ
Sank from their thrones and melted into tearsN
And knelt and lifted hand and heart and voiceO
In praise to God who led me thro' the wasteP
And then the great 'Laudamus' rose to heavenQ
Chains for the Admiral of the Ocean chainsR
For him who gave a new heaven a new earthS
As holy John had prophesied of meT
Gave glory and more empire to the kingsU
Of Spain than all their battles chains for himD
Who push'd his prows into the setting sunQ
And made West East and sail'd the Dragon's mouthV
And came upon the Mountain of the WorldW
And saw the rivers roll from ParadiseX
Chains we are Admirals of the Ocean weT
We and our sons for ever FerdinandY
Hath sign'd it and our Holy Catholic queenJ
Of the Ocean of the Indies Admirals weT
Our title which we never mean to yieldZ
Our guerdon not alone for what we didA2
But our amends for all we might have doneQ
The vast occasion of our stronger lifeB2
Eighteen long years of waste seven in your SpainC2
Lost showing courts and kings a truth the babeD2
Will suck in with his milk hereafter earthS
A sphereE2
Were you at Salamanca NoF2
We fronted there the learning of all SpainC2
All their cosmogonies their astronomiesX
Guess work they guess'd it but the golden guessX
Is morning star to the full round of truthG2
No guesswork I was certain of my goalH2
Some thought it heresy but that would not holdC
King David call'd the heavens a hide a tentI2
Spread over earth and so this earth was flatJ2
Some cited old Lactantius could it beT
That trees grew downward rain fell upward menH
Walk'd like the fly on ceilings and besidesX
The great Augustine wrote that none could breatheK2
Within the zone of heat so might there beT
Two Adams two mankinds and that was cleanJ
Against God's word thus was I beaten backL2
And chiefly to my sorrow by the ChurchM2
And thought to turn my face from Spain appealN2
Once more to France or England but our QueenJ
Recall'd me for at last their HighnessesX
Were half assured this earth might be a sphereE2
All glory to the all blessed TrinityT
All glory to the mother of our LordO2
And Holy Church from whom I never swervedP2
Not even by one hair's breadth of heresyT
I have accomplish'd what I came to doQ2
Not yet not all last night a dream I sail'dR2
On my first voyage harass'd by the frightsT
Of my first crew their curses and their groansT
The great flame banner borne by TeneriffeB2
The compass like an old friend false at lastS2
In our most need appall'd them and the windT2
Still westward and the weedy seas at lengthU2
The landbird and the branch with berries on itV2
The carven staff and last the light the lightW2
On Guanahani but I changed the nameX2
San Salvador I call'd it and the lightW2
Grew as I gazed and brought out a broad skyY2
Of dawning over not those alien palmsT
The marvel of that fair new nature notZ2
That Indian isle but our most ancient EastA3
Moriah with Jerusalem and I sawT
The glory of the Lord flash up and beatE
Thro' all the homely town from jasper sapphireB3
Chalcedony emerald sardonyx sardiusT
Chrysolite beryl topaz chrysopraseT
Jacynth and amethyst and those twelve gatesT
Pearl and I woke and thought death I shall dieY2
I am written in the Lamb's own Book of LifeB2
To walk within the glory of the LordO2
Sunless and moonless utter light but noF2
The Lord had sent this bright strange dream to meT
To mind me of the secret vow I madeC3
When Spain was waging war against the MoorD3
I strove myself with Spain against the MoorD3
There came two voices from the SepulchreD3
Two friars crying that if Spain should oustE3
The Moslem from her limit he the fierceT
Soldan of Egypt would break down and razeT
The blessed tomb of Christ whereon I vow'dG
That if our Princes harken'd to my prayerD3
Whatever wealth I brought from that new worldW
Should in this old be consecrate to leadA
A new crusade against the SaracenF2
And free the Holy Sepulchre from thrallK
Gold I had brought your Princes gold enoughB2
If left alone Being but a GenoveseT
I am handled worse than had I been a MoorD3
And breach'd the belting wall of CambaluK
And given the Great Khan's palaces to the MoorD3
Or clutch'd the sacred crown of Prester JohnF2
And cast it to the Moor but had I broughtF3
From Solomon's now recover'd Ophir allK
The gold that Solomon's navies carried homeG3
Would that have gilded me Blue blood of SpainF2
Tho' quartering your own royal arms of SpainF2
I have not blue blood and black blood of SpainF2
The noble and the convict of CastileK
Howl'd me from Hispaniola for you knowF2
The flies at home that ever swarm aboutH3
And cloud the highest heads and murmur downF2
Truth in the distance these outbuzz'd me soF2
That even our prudent king our righteous queenF2
I pray'd them being so calumniatedH3
They would commission one of weight and worthS
To judge between my slander'd self and meT
Fonseca my main enemy at their courtH3
They sent me out his tool Bovadilla oneF2
As ignorant and impolitic as a beastH3
Blockish irreverence brainless greed who sack'dH3
My dwelling seized upon my papers loosedH3
My captives feed the rebels of the crownF2
Sold the crown farms for all but nothing gaveB2
All but free leave for all to work the minesT
Drove me and my good brothers home in chainsT
And gathering ruthless gold a single pieceT
Weigh'd nigh four thousand Castillanos soF2
They tell me weigh'd him down into the abysmT
The hurricane of the latitude on him fellK
The seas of our discovering over rollK
Him and his gold the frailer caravelK
With what was mine came happily to the shoreD3
There was a glimmering of God's handH3
And GodH3
Hath more than glimmer'd on me O my lordH3
I swear to you I heard his voice betweenF2
The thunders in the black Veragua nightsT
'O soul of little faith slow to believeB2
Have I not been about thee from thy birthS
Given thee the keys of the great Ocean seaT
Set thee in light till time shall he no moreD3
Is it I who have deceived thee or the worldH3
Endure thou hast done so well for men that menF2
Cry out against thee was it otherwiseT
With mine own Son 'M
And more than once in daysT
Of doubt and cloud and storm when drowning hopeI3
Sank all but out of sight I heard his voiceT
'Be not cast down I lead thee by the handH3
Fear not ' And I shall hear his voice againF2
I know that he has led me all my lifeB2
I am not yet too old to work his willK
His voice againF2
Still for all that my lordH3
I lying here bedridden and aloneF2
Cast off put by scouted by court and kingF
The first discoverer starves his followers allK
Flower into fortune our world's way and IY2
Without a roof that I can call mine ownF2
With scarce a coin to buy a meal withalK
And seeing what a door for scoundrel scumT
I open'd to the West thro' which the lustH3
Villany violence avarice of your SpainF2
Pour'd in on all those happy naked islesT
Their kindly native princes slain or slavedH3
Their wives and children Spanish concubinesT
Their innocent hospitalities quench'd in bloodH3
Some dead of hunger some beneath the scourgeJ3
Some over labour'd some by their own handsT
Yea the dear mothers crazing Nature killK
Their babies at the breast for hate of SpainF2
Ah God the harmless people whom we foundH3
In Hispaniola's island ParadiseT
Who took us for the very Gods from HeavenF2
And we have sent them very fiends from HellK
And I myself myself not blameless IY2
Could sometimes wish I had never led the wayK3
Only the ghost of our great Catholic QueenF2
Smiles on me saying 'Be thou comfortedH3
This creedless people will he brought to ChristH3
And own the holy governance of Rome 'M
But who could dream that we who bore the CrossT
Thither were excommunicated thereD3
For curbing crimes that scandalised the CrossT
By him the Catalonian MinoriteH3
Rome's Vicar in our Indies who believeB2
These hard memorials of our truth to SpainF2
Clung closer to us for a longer termT
Than any friend of ours at Court and yetH3
Pardon too harsh unjust I am rack'd with painsT
You see that I have hung them by my bedH3
And I will have them buried in my graveB2
Sir in that flight of ages which are God'sT
Own voice to justify the dead perchanceT
Spain once the most chivalric race on earthS
Spain then the mightiest wealthiest realm on earthS
So made by me may seek to unbury meT
To lay me in some shrine of this old SpainF2
Or in that vaster Spain I leave to SpainF2
Then some one standing by my grave will sayK3
'Behold the bones of Christopher Col n'F2
'Ay but the chains what do they mean the chains 'M
I sorrow for that kindly child of SpainF2
Who then will have to answer 'These same chainsT
Bound these same bones back thro' the Atlantic seaT
Which he unchain'd for all the world to come 'M
-
-
O Queen of Heaven who seest the souls in HellK
And purgatory I suffer all as muchL3
As they do for the moment Stay my sonF2
Is here anon my son will speak for meT
Ablier than I can in these spasms that grindH3
Bone against bone You will not One last wordH3
You move about the Court I pray you tellK
King Ferdinand who plays with me that oneF2
Whose life has been no play with him and hisT
Hidalgos shipwrecks famines fevers fightsT
Mutinies treacheries wink'd at and condonedH3
That I am loyal to him till the deathM3
And ready tho' our Holy Catholic QueenF2
Who fain had pledged her jewels on my first voyageN3
Whose hope was mine to spread the Catholic faithO3
Who wept with me when I return'd in chainsT
Who sits beside the blessed Virgin nowF2
To whom I send my prayer by night and dayK3
She is gone but you will tell the King that IY2
Rack'd as I am with gout and wrench'd with painsT
Gain'd in the service of His Highness yetH3
Am ready to sail forth on one last voyageN3
And readier if the King would hear to leadH3
One last crusade against the SaracenF2
And save the Holy Sepulchre from thrallK
Going I am old and slighted you have daredH3
Somewhat perhaps in coming my poor thanksT
I am but an alien and a GenoveseT

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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