Sea Dreams Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLLMNOPQRS TQQQQULLVQWSLQXLYLQQ ZQQA2B2VGTL QLC2D2TLE2C2QQ QQTF2LQQLQLG2H2LQLI2 GLTQL TQ QQKTLKQSQQPQQJ2QLLL Q LK2QXTL2Q QQQQLXM2LLQQN2QQQQQO 2QQC2LP2L G2C2QK2 N2QK2 QQQ2TD2LR2QLQQQS2LQL N2QT2 VU2F2QQQUQLQ T2TUQ

A city clerk but gently born and bredA
His wife an unknown artist's orphan childB
One babe was theirs a Margaret three years oldC
They thinking that her clear germander eyeD
Droopt in the giant factoried city gloomE
Came with a month's leave given them to the seaF
For which his gains were dock'd however smallG
Small were his gains and hard his work besidesH
Their slender household fortunes for the manI
Had risk'd his little like the little thriftJ
Trembled in perilous places o'er a deepK
And oft when sitting all alone his faceL
Would darken as he cursed his credulousnessL
And that one unctuous mount which lured him rogueM
To buy strange shares in some Peruvian mineN
Now seaward bound for health they gain'd a coastO
All sand and cliff and deep inrunning caveP
At close of day slept woke and went the nextQ
The Sabbath pious variers from the churchR
To chapel where a heated pulpiteerS
Not preaching simple Christ to simple menT
Announced the coming doom and fulminatedQ
Against the scarlet woman and her creedQ
For sideways up he swung his arms and shriek'dQ
Thus thus with violence ' ev'n as if he heldQ
The Apocalyptic millstone and himselfU
Were that great Angel Thus with violenceL
Shall Babylon be cast into the seaL
Then comes the close ' The gentle hearted wifeV
Sat shuddering at the ruin of a worldQ
He at his own but when the wordy stormW
Had ended forth they came and paced the shoreS
Ran in and out the long sea framing cavesL
Drank the large air and saw but scarce believedQ
The sootflake of so many a summer stillX
Clung to their fancies that they saw the seaL
So now on sand they walk'd and now on cliffY
Lingering about the thymy promontoriesL
Till all the sails were darken'd in the westQ
And rosed in the east then homeward and to bedQ
Where she who kept a tender Christian hopeZ
Haunting a holy text and still to thatQ
Returning as the bird returns at nightQ
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath 'A2
Said Love forgive him ' but he did not speakB2
And silenced by that silence lay the wifeV
Remembering her dear Lord who died for allG
And musing on the little lives of menT
And how they mar this little by their feudsL
-
But while the two were sleeping a full tideQ
Rose with ground swell which on the foremost rocksL
Touching upjetted in spirts of wild sea smokeC2
And scaled in sheets of wasteful foam and fellD2
In vast sea cataracts ever and anonT
Dead claps of thunder from within the cliffsL
Heard thro' the living roar At this the babeE2
Their Margaret cradled near them wail'd and wokeC2
The mother and the father suddenly criedQ
A wreck a wreck ' then turn'd and groaning saidQ
-
Forgive How many will say 'forgive ' and findQ
A sort of absolution in the soundQ
To hate a little longer No the sinT
That neither God nor man can well forgiveF2
Hypocrisy I saw it in him at onceL
Is it so true that second thoughts are bestQ
Not first and third which are a riper firstQ
Too ripe too late they come too late for useL
Ah love there surely lives in man and beastQ
Something divine to warn them of their foesL
And such a sense when first I fronted himG2
Said 'trust him not ' but after when I cameH2
To know him more I lost it knew him lessL
Fought with what seem'd my own uncharityQ
Sat at his table drank his costly winesL
Made more and more allowance for his talkI2
Went further fool and trusted him with allG
All my poor scrapings from a dozen yearsL
Of dust and deskwork there is no such mineT
None but a gulf of ruin swallowing goldQ
Not making Ruin'd ruin'd the sea roarsL
Ruin a fearful night '-
-
Not fearful fair '-
Said the good wife if every star in heavenT
Can make it fair you do but bear the tideQ
Had you ill dreams '-
-
O yes ' he said I dream'dQ
Of such a tide swelling toward the landQ
And I from out the boundless outer deepK
Swept with it to the shore and enter'd oneT
Of those dark caves that run beneath the cliffsL
I thought the motion of the boundless deepK
Bore through the cave and I was heaved upon itQ
In darkness then I saw one lovely starS
Larger and larger 'What a world ' I thoughtQ
'To live in ' but in moving I foundQ
Only the landward exit of the caveP
Bright with the sun upon the stream beyondQ
And near the light a giant woman satQ
All over earthy like a piece of earthJ2
A pickaxe in her hand then out I sliptQ
Into a land all of sun and blossom treesL
As high as heaven and every bird that singsL
And here the night light flickering in my eyesL
Awoke me '-
-
That was then your dream ' she saidQ
Not sad but sweet '-
-
So sweet I lay ' said heL
And mused upon it drifting up the streamK2
In fancy till I slept again and piecedQ
The broken vision for I dream'd that stillX
The motion of the great deep bore me onT
And that the woman walk'd upon the brinkL2
I wonder'd at her strength and ask'd her of itQ
'It came ' she said 'by working in the mines '-
O then to ask her of my shares I thoughtQ
And ask'd but not a word she shook her headQ
And then the motion of the current ceasedQ
And there was rolling thunder and we reach'dQ
A mountain like a wall of burs and thornsL
But she with her strong feet up the steep hillX
Trod out a path I follow'd and at topM2
She pointed seaward there a fleet of glassL
That seem'd a fleet of jewels under meL
Sailing along before a gloomy cloudQ
That not one moment ceased to thunder pastQ
In sunshine right across its track there layN2
Down in the water a long reef of goldQ
Or what seem'd gold and I was glad at firstQ
To think that in our often ransack'd worldQ
Still so much gold was left and then I fear'dQ
Lest the gay navy there should splinter on itQ
And fearing waved my arm to warn them offO2
An idle signal for the brittle fleetQ
I thought I could have died to save it near'dQ
Touch'd clink'd and clash'd and vanish'd and I wokeC2
I heard the clash so clearly Now I seeL
My dream was Life the woman honest WorkP2
And my poor venture but a fleet of glassL
Wreck'd on a reef of visionary gold '-
-
Nay ' said the kindly wife to comfort himG2
You raised your arm you tumbled down and brokeC2
The glass with little Margaret's medicine it itQ
And breaking that you made and broke your dreamK2
A trifle makes a dream a trifle breaks '-
-
No trifle ' groan'd the husband yesterdayN2
I met him suddenly in the street and ask'dQ
That which I ask'd the woman in my dreamK2
Like her he shook his head 'Show me the books '-
He dodged me with a long and loose accountQ
'The books the books ' but he he could not waitQ
Bound on a matter he of life and deathQ2
When the great Books see Daniel seven and tenT
Were open'd I should find he meant me wellD2
And then began to bloat himself and oozeL
All over with the fat affectionate smileR2
That makes the widow lean 'My dearest friendQ
Have faith have faith We live by faith ' said heL
'And all things work together for the goodQ
Of those' it makes me sick to quote him lastQ
Gript my hand hard and with God bless you wentQ
I stood like one that had received a blowS2
I found a hard friend in his loose accountsL
A loose one in the hard grip of his handQ
A curse in his God bless you then my eyesL
Pursued him down the street and far awayN2
Among the honest shoulders of the crowdQ
Read rascal in the motions of his backT2
And scoundrel in the supple sliding knee '-
-
Was he so bound poor soul ' said the good wifeV
So are we all but do not call him loveU2
Before you prove him rogue and proved forgiveF2
His gain is loss for he that wrongs his friendQ
Wrongs himself more and ever bears aboutQ
A silent court of justice in his breastQ
Himself the judge and jury and himselfU
The prisoner at the bar ever condemn'dQ
And that drags down his life then comes what comesL
Hereafter and he meant he said he meantQ
Perhaps he meant or partly meant you well '-
-
'With all his conscience and one eye askew'T2
Love let me quote these lines that you may learnT
A man is likewise counsel for himselfU
Too often in that silentQ

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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