St. Telemachus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHEIJJKLIJMNJA OPJQJRPSTAUVRWJXYJJZ A2JIXJJB2JRJJJJJC2D2 RAE2F2G2E2IJIH2XJI2J J2K2RI2L2M2JJE2F2

Had the fierce ashes of some fiery peakA
Been hurl'd so high they ranged about the globeB
For day by day thro' many a blood red eveC
In that four hundredth summer after ChristD
The wrathful sunset glared against a crossE
Rear'd on the tumbled ruins of an old faneF
No longer sacred to the Sun and flamedG
On one huge slope beyond where in his caveH
The man whose pious hand had built the crossE
A man who never changed a word with menI
Fasted and pray'd Telemachus the SaintJ
Eve after eve that haggard anchoriteJ
Would haunt the desolated fane and thereK
Gaze at the ruin often mutter lowL
'Vicisti Galil e' louder againI
Spurning a shatter'd fragment of the GodJ
'Vicisti Galil e ' but when nowM
Bathed in that lurid crimson ask'd 'Is earthN
On fire to the West or is the Demon godJ
Wroth at his fall ' and heard an answer 'WakeA
Thou deedless dreamer lazying out a lifeO
Of self suppression not of selfless love 'P
And once a flight of shadowy fighters crostJ
The disk and once he thought a shape with wingsQ
Came sweeping by him and pointed to the WestJ
And at his ear he heard a whisper 'Rome'R
And in his heart he cried ' The call of God 'P
And call'd arose and slowly plunging downS
Thro' that disastrous glory set his faceT
By waste and field and town of alien tongueA
Following a hundred sunsets and the sphereU
Of westward wheeling stars and every dawnV
Struck from him his own shadow on to RomeR
Foot sore way worn at length he touch'd his goalW
The Christian city All her splendour fail'dJ
To lure those eyes that only yearn'd to seeX
Fleeting betwixt her column'd palace wallsY
The shape with wings Anon there past a crowdJ
With shameless laughter Pagan oath and jestJ
Hard Romans brawling of their monstrous gamesZ
He all but deaf thro' age and wearinessA2
And muttering to himself 'The call of God'J
And borne along by that full stream of menI
Like some old wreck on some indrawing seaX
Gain'd their huge Colosseum The caged beastJ
Yell'd as he yell'd of yore for Christian bloodJ
Three slaves were trailing a dead lion awayB2
One a dead man He stumbled in and satJ
Blinded but when the momentary gloomR
Made by the noonday blaze without had leftJ
His aged eyes he raised them and beheldJ
A blood red awning waver overheadJ
The dust send up a steam of human bloodJ
The gladiators moving toward their fightJ
And eighty thousand Christian faces watchC2
Man murder man A sudden strength from heavenD2
As some great shock may wake a palsied limbR
Turn'd him again to boy for up he sprangA
And glided lightly down the stairs and o'erE2
The barrier that divided beast from manF2
Slipt and ran on and flung himself betweenG2
The gladiatorial swords and call'd 'ForbearE2
In the great name of Him who died for menI
Christ Jesus ' For one moment afterwardJ
A silence follow'd as of death and thenI
A hiss as from a wilderness of snakesH2
Then one deep roar as of a breaking seaX
And then a shower of stones that stoned him deadJ
And then once more a silence as of deathI2
His dream became a deed that woke the worldJ
For while the frantic rabble in half amazeJ2
Stared at him dead thro' all the nobler heartsK2
In that vast Oval ran a shudder of shameR
The Baths the Forum gabbled of his deathI2
And preachers linger'd o'er his dying wordsL2
Which would not die but echo'd on to reachM2
Honorius till he heard them and decreedJ
That Rome no more should wallow in this old lustJ
Of Paganism and make her festal hourE2
Dark with the blood of man who murder'd manF2

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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