The Holy Grail Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDBEF GGHIJKLMFB MNOPPQBRQST UBVOWX YZA2B2DBC2 BD2E2D2D2D2D2LD2F2G2 H2I2 BDH2D2J2DK2D2 APD2E2D2D2L2D2H2D2D2 D2H2BD D2ID2BH2D2D2M2D2N2O2 H2O2PBAD2D PH2BBH2D2BD2H2H2D2DL D2N2K2BP2D2BBH2D2N2D DA2D2 H2D2Q2D2P D2D2BAD2D2H2D2R2 O2D2DS2O2D2 DDD2T2D2H2K2U2AUD2A2 V2W2H2D2X2 DDDD2BD2H2D2Y2D2PZ2Y 2 H2BP

From noiseful arms and acts of prowess doneA
In tournament or tilt Sir PercivaleB
Whom Arthur and his knighthood called The PureC
Had passed into the silent life of prayerD
Praise fast and alms and leaving for the cowlB
The helmet in an abbey far awayE
From Camelot there and not long after diedF
-
And one a fellow monk among the restG
Ambrosius loved him much beyond the restG
And honoured him and wrought into his heartH
A way by love that wakened love withinI
To answer that which came and as they satJ
Beneath a world old yew tree darkening halfK
The cloisters on a gustful April mornL
That puffed the swaying branches into smokeM
Above them ere the summer when he diedF
The monk Ambrosius questioned PercivaleB
-
O brother I have seen this yew tree smokeM
Spring after spring for half a hundred yearsN
For never have I known the world withoutO
Nor ever strayed beyond the pale but theeP
When first thou camest such a courtesyP
Spake through the limbs and in the voice I knewQ
For one of those who eat in Arthur's hallB
For good ye are and bad and like to coinsR
Some true some light but every one of youQ
Stamped with the image of the King and nowS
Tell me what drove thee from the Table RoundT
My brother was it earthly passion crost '-
-
Nay ' said the knight for no such passion mineU
But the sweet vision of the Holy GrailB
Drove me from all vainglories rivalriesV
And earthly heats that spring and sparkle outO
Among us in the jousts while women watchW
Who wins who falls and waste the spiritual strengthX
Within us better offered up to Heaven '-
-
To whom the monk The Holy Grail I trustY
We are green in Heaven's eyes but here too muchZ
We moulder as to things without I meanA2
Yet one of your own knights a guest of oursB2
Told us of this in our refectoryD
But spake with such a sadness and so lowB
We heard not half of what he said What is itC2
The phantom of a cup that comes and goes '-
-
Nay monk what phantom ' answered PercivaleB
The cup the cup itself from which our LordD2
Drank at the last sad supper with his ownE2
This from the blessd land of AromatD2
After the day of darkness when the deadD2
Went wandering o'er Moriah the good saintD2
Arimathan Joseph journeying broughtD2
To Glastonbury where the winter thornL
Blossoms at Christmas mindful of our LordD2
And there awhile it bode and if a manF2
Could touch or see it he was healed at onceG2
By faith of all his ills But then the timesH2
Grew to such evil that the holy cupI2
Was caught away to Heaven and disappeared '-
-
To whom the monk From our old books I knowB
That Joseph came of old to GlastonburyD
And there the heathen Prince ArviragusH2
Gave him an isle of marsh whereon to buildD2
And there he built with wattles from the marshJ2
A little lonely church in days of yoreD
For so they say these books of ours but seemK2
Mute of this miracle far as I have readD2
But who first saw the holy thing today '-
-
A woman ' answered Percivale a nunA
And one no further off in blood from meP
Than sister and if ever holy maidD2
With knees of adoration wore the stoneE2
A holy maid though never maiden glowedD2
But that was in her earlier maidenhoodD2
With such a fervent flame of human loveL2
Which being rudely blunted glanced and shotD2
Only to holy things to prayer and praiseH2
She gave herself to fast and alms And yetD2
Nun as she was the scandal of the CourtD2
Sin against Arthur and the Table RoundD2
And the strange sound of an adulterous raceH2
Across the iron grating of her cellB
Beat and she prayed and fasted all the moreD
-
And he to whom she told her sins or whatD2
Her all but utter whiteness held for sinI
A man wellnigh a hundred winters oldD2
Spake often with her of the Holy GrailB
A legend handed down through five or sixH2
And each of these a hundred winters oldD2
From our Lord's time And when King Arthur madeD2
His Table Round and all men's hearts becameM2
Clean for a season surely he had thoughtD2
That now the Holy Grail would come againN2
But sin broke out Ah Christ that it would comeO2
And heal the world of all their wickednessH2
O Father asked the maiden might it comeO2
To me by prayer and fasting Nay said heP
I know not for thy heart is pure as snowB
And so she prayed and fasted till the sunA
Shone and the wind blew through her and I thoughtD2
She might have risen and floated when I saw herD
-
For on a day she sent to speak with meP
And when she came to speak behold her eyesH2
Beyond my knowing of them beautifulB
Beyond all knowing of them wonderfulB
Beautiful in the light of holinessH2
And O my brother Percivale she saidD2
Sweet brother I have seen the Holy GrailB
For waked at dead of night I heard a soundD2
As of a silver horn from o'er the hillsH2
Blown and I thought It is not Arthur's useH2
To hunt by moonlight ' and the slender soundD2
As from a distance beyond distance grewD
Coming upon me O never harp nor hornL
Nor aught we blow with breath or touch with handD2
Was like that music as it came and thenN2
Streamed through my cell a cold and silver beamK2
And down the long beam stole the Holy GrailB
Rose red with beatings in it as if aliveP2
Till all the white walls of my cell were dyedD2
With rosy colours leaping on the wallB
And then the music faded and the GrailB
Past and the beam decayed and from the wallsH2
The rosy quiverings died into the nightD2
So now the Holy Thing is here againN2
Among us brother fast thou too and prayD
And tell thy brother knights to fast and prayD
That so perchance the vision may be seenA2
By thee and those and all the world be healedD2
-
Then leaving the pale nun I spake of thisH2
To all men and myself fasted and prayedD2
Always and many among us many a weekQ2
Fasted and prayed even to the uttermostD2
Expectant of the wonder that would beP
-
And one there was among us ever movedD2
Among us in white armour GalahadD2
God make thee good as thou art beautifulB
Said Arthur when he dubbed him knight and noneA
In so young youth was ever made a knightD2
Till Galahad and this Galahad when he heardD2
My sister's vision filled me with amazeH2
His eyes became so like her own they seemedD2
Hers and himself her brother more than IR2
-
Sister or brother none had he but someO2
Called him a son of Lancelot and some saidD2
Begotten by enchantment chatterers theyD
Like birds of passage piping up and downS2
That gape for flies we know not whence they comeO2
For when was Lancelot wanderingly lewdD2
-
But she the wan sweet maiden shore awayD
Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hairD
Which made a silken mat work for her feetD2
And out of this she plaited broad and longT2
A strong sword belt and wove with silver threadD2
And crimson in the belt a strange deviceH2
A crimson grail within a silver beamK2
And saw the bright boy knight and bound it on himU2
Saying My knight my love my knight of heavenA
O thou my love whose love is one with mineU
I maiden round thee maiden bind my beltD2
Go forth for thou shalt see what I have seenA2
And break through all till one will crown thee kingV2
Far in the spiritual city and as she spakeW2
She sent the deathless passion in her eyesH2
Through him and made him hers and laid her mindD2
On him and he believed in her beliefX2
-
Then came a year of miracle O brotherD
In our great hall there stood a vacant chairD
Fashioned by Merlin ere he past awayD
And carven with strange figures and in and outD2
The figures like a serpent ran a scrollB
Of letters in a tongue no man could readD2
And Merlin called it The Siege perilousH2
Perilous for good and ill for there he saidD2
No man could sit but he should lose himselfY2
And once by misadvertence Merlin satD2
In his own chair and so was lost but heP
Galahad when he heard of Merlin's doomZ2
Cried If I lose myself I save myselfY2
-
Then on a summer night it came to passH2
While the great banquet lay along the hallB
That Galahad would siP

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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