Obiit Mdcccxxxiii (entire) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCDEFD GHHG IJJI KLLK MLLM NOON PQRP LSSL TRRU VWWV H XYYXZA2A2B2 LC2C2D2 E2F2G2E2 H YH2H2YE2I2I2E2 J2K2K2J2 LH2H2L H L2M2M2L2E2HHE2 N2E2E2N2 H2H2H2H2 C KO2O2KE2P2Q2M H2ZB2H2 C2VVC2 C E2R2R2E2E2VVE2 P2H2H2N C E2BBE2S2NNS2 CE2E2C CCH2C H2OOH2 T2KKU2 CRRC V2H2H2V2 H2W2W2H2 X2H2H2Y2 H2H2H2H2 C H2H2H2H2NZ2Z2N KE2E2K C U2OOT2H2A3A3H2 H2H2H2H2 RH2H2R H2CY2H2 CJ2J2C Y2 NY2Y2P2E2H2H2P2Strong Son of God immortal Love | A |
Whom we that have not seen thy face | B |
By faith and faith alone embrace | B |
Believing where we cannot prove | C |
Thine are these orbs of light and shade | D |
Thou madest Life in man and brute | E |
Thou madest Death and lo thy foot | F |
Is on the skull which thou hast made | D |
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Thou wilt not leave us in the dust | G |
Thou madest man he knows not why | H |
He thinks he was not made to die | H |
And thou hast made him thou art just | G |
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Thou seemest human and divine | I |
The highest holiest manhood thou | J |
Our wills are ours we know not how | J |
Our wills are ours to make them thine | I |
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Our little systems have their day | K |
They have their day and cease to be | L |
They are but broken lights of thee | L |
And thou O Lord art more than they | K |
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We have but faith we cannot know | M |
For knowledge is of things we see | L |
And yet we trust it comes from thee | L |
A beam in darkness let it grow | M |
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Let knowledge grow from more to more | N |
But more of reverence in us dwell | O |
That mind and soul according well | O |
May make one music as before | N |
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But vaster We are fools and slight | P |
We mock thee when we do not fear | Q |
But help thy foolish ones to bear | R |
Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light | P |
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Forgive what seem d my sin in me | L |
What seem d my worth since I began | S |
For merit lives from man to man | S |
And not from man O Lord to thee | L |
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Forgive my grief for one removed | T |
Thy creature whom I found so fair | R |
I trust he lives in thee and there | R |
I find him worthier to be loved | U |
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Forgive these wild and wandering cries | V |
Confusions of a wasted youth | W |
Forgive them where they fail in truth | W |
And in thy wisdom make me wise | V |
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I | H |
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I held it truth with him who sings | X |
To one clear harp in divers tones | Y |
That men may rise on stepping stones | Y |
Of their dead selves to higher things | X |
But who shall so forecast the years | Z |
And find in loss a gain to match | A2 |
Or reach a hand thro time to catch | A2 |
The far off interest of tears | B2 |
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Let Love clasp Grief lest both be drown d | L |
Let darkness keep her raven gloss | C2 |
Ah sweeter to be drunk with loss | C2 |
To dance with death to beat the ground | D2 |
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Than that the victor Hours should scorn | E2 |
The long result of love and boast | F2 |
Behold the man that loved and lost | G2 |
But all he was is overworn | E2 |
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II | H |
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Old Yew which graspest at the stones | Y |
That name the under lying dead | H2 |
Thy fibres net the dreamless head | H2 |
Thy roots are wrapt about the bones | Y |
The seasons bring the flower again | E2 |
And bring the firstling to the flock | I2 |
And in the dusk of thee the clock | I2 |
Beats out the little lives of men | E2 |
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O not for thee the glow the bloom | J2 |
Who changest not in any gale | K2 |
Nor branding summer suns avail | K2 |
To touch thy thousand years of gloom | J2 |
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And gazing on thee sullen tree | L |
Sick for thy stubborn hardihood | H2 |
I seem to fail from out my blood | H2 |
And grow incorporate into thee | L |
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III | H |
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O Sorrow cruel fellowship | L2 |
O Priestess in the vaults of Death | M2 |
O sweet and bitter in a breath | M2 |
What whispers from thy lying lip | L2 |
The stars she whispers blindly run | E2 |
A web is wov n across the sky | H |
From out waste places comes a cry | H |
And murmurs from the dying sun | E2 |
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And all the phantom Nature stands | N2 |
With all the music in her tone | E2 |
A hollow echo of my own | E2 |
A hollow form with empty hands | N2 |
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And shall I take a thing so blind | H2 |
Embrace her as my natural good | H2 |
Or crush her like a vice of blood | H2 |
Upon the threshold of the mind | H2 |
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IV | C |
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To Sleep I give my powers away | K |
My will is bondsman to the dark | O2 |
I sit within a helmless bark | O2 |
And with my heart I muse and say | K |
O heart how fares it with thee now | E2 |
That thou should st fail from thy desire | P2 |
Who scarcely darest to inquire | Q2 |
What is it makes me beat so low | M |
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Something it is which thou hast lost | H2 |
Some pleasure from thine early years | Z |
Break thou deep vase of chilling tears | B2 |
That grief hath shaken into frost | H2 |
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Such clouds of nameless trouble cross | C2 |
All night below the darken d eyes | V |
With morning wakes the will and cries | V |
Thou shalt not be the fool of loss | C2 |
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V | C |
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I sometimes hold it half a sin | E2 |
To put in words the grief I feel | R2 |
For words like Nature half reveal | R2 |
And half conceal the Soul within | E2 |
But for the unquiet heart and brain | E2 |
A use in measured language lies | V |
The sad mechanic exercise | V |
Like dull narcotics numbing pain | E2 |
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In words like weeds I ll wrap me o er | P2 |
Like coarsest clothes against the cold | H2 |
But that large grief which these enfold | H2 |
Is given in outline and no more | N |
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VI | C |
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One writes that Other friends remain | E2 |
That Loss is common to the race | B |
And common is the commonplace | B |
And vacant chaff well meant for grain | E2 |
That loss is common would not make | S2 |
My own less bitter rather more | N |
Too common Never morning wore | N |
To evening but some heart did break | S2 |
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O father wheresoe er thou be | C |
Who pledgest now thy gallant son | E2 |
A shot ere half thy draught be done | E2 |
Hath still d the life that beat from thee | C |
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O mother praying God will save | C |
Thy sailor while thy head is bow d | C |
His heavy shotted hammock shroud | H2 |
Drops in his vast and wandering grave | C |
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Ye know no more than I who wrought | H2 |
At that last hour to please him well | O |
Who mused on all I had to tell | O |
And something written something thought | H2 |
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Expecting still his advent home | T2 |
And ever met him on his way | K |
With wishes thinking here to day | K |
Or here to morrow will he come | U2 |
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O somewhere meek unconscious dove | C |
That sittest ranging golden hair | R |
And glad to find thyself so fair | R |
Poor child that waitest for thy love | C |
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For now her father s chimney glows | V2 |
In expectation of a guest | H2 |
And thinking this will please him best | H2 |
She takes a riband or a rose | V2 |
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For he will see them on to night | H2 |
And with the thought her colour burns | W2 |
And having left the glass she turns | W2 |
Once more to set a ringlet right | H2 |
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And even when she turn d the curse | X2 |
Had fallen and her future Lord | H2 |
Was drown d in passing thro the ford | H2 |
Or kill d in falling from his horse | Y2 |
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O what to her shall be the end | H2 |
And what to me remains of good | H2 |
To her perpetual maidenhood | H2 |
And unto me no second friend | H2 |
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VII | C |
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Dark house by which once more I stand | H2 |
Here in the long unlovely street | H2 |
Doors where my heart was used to beat | H2 |
So quickly waiting for a hand | H2 |
A hand that can be clasp d no more | N |
Behold me for I cannot sleep | Z2 |
And like a guilty thing I creep | Z2 |
At earliest morning to the door | N |
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He is not here but far away | K |
The noise of life begins again | E2 |
And ghastly thro the drizzling rain | E2 |
On the bald street breaks the blank day | K |
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VIII | C |
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A happy lover who has come | U2 |
To look on her that loves him well | O |
Who lights and rings the gateway bell | O |
And learns her gone and far from home | T2 |
He saddens all the magic light | H2 |
Dies off at once from bower and hall | A3 |
And all the place is dark and all | A3 |
The chambers emptied of delight | H2 |
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So find I every pleasant spot | H2 |
In which we two were wont to meet | H2 |
The field the chamber and the street | H2 |
For all is dark where thou art not | H2 |
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Yet as that other wandering there | R |
In those deserted walks may find | H2 |
A flower beat with rain and wind | H2 |
Which once she foster'd up with care | R |
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So seems it in my deep regret | H2 |
O my forsaken heart with thee | C |
And this poor flower of poesy | Y2 |
Which little cared for fades not yet | H2 |
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But since it pleased a vanish d eye | C |
I go to plant it on his tomb | J2 |
That if it can it there may bloom | J2 |
Or dying there at least may die | C |
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IX | Y2 |
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Fair ship that from the Italian shore | N |
Sailest the placid ocean plains | Y2 |
With my lost Arthur s loved remains | Y2 |
Spread thy full wings and waft him o er | P2 |
So draw him home to those that mourn | E2 |
In vain a favourable speed | H2 |
Ruffle thy mirror d mast and lead | H2 |
Thro prosperous floods his holy ur | P2 |
Alfred Lord Tennyson
(1)
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