Tiresias Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST GUVWXYZA2B2QIC2D2E2F 2G2H2I2EJ2K2L2SM2N2O 2P2Q2R2S2T2KU2V2W2X2 RY2Z2A3B3QC3D3E3F3G3 H3CI3JJ3QK3K3QT2L3M3 RN3O3K3RH3G2P3TQ3J3R 3D3S3T3G3U3V3W3X3Y3Z 3A4B4SHC4RU2O2SD4BSR E4F4G4G4QY2IH4I4J4K3 SSK4L4SD4RIWH4E3M4JH 3RSHN4O4BP4SQ4E4G4SB R4Y2S4T4U4V4W4X4WSIY 4Z4SB4C4RSSU3SSSJLE3 HM3 M3SM3SFFSSB4SQ3SQ3H4 RH4RG3SG3SU2U2

I wish I were as in the years of oldA
While yet the blessed daylight made itselfB
Ruddy thro' both the roofs of sight and wokeC
These eyes now dull but then so keen to seekD
The meanings ambush'd under all they sawE
The flight of birds the flame of sacrificeF
What omens may foreshadow fate to manG
And woman and the secret of the GodsH
My son the Gods despite of human prayerI
Are slower to forgive than human kingsJ
The great God Ar s burns in anger stillK
Against the guiltless heirs of him from TyreL
Our Cadmus out of whom thou art who foundM
Beside the springs of Dirc smote and still'dN
Thro' all its folds the multitudinous beastO
The dragon which our trembling fathers call'dP
The God's own sonQ
A tale that told to meR
When but thine age by age as winter whiteS
As mine is now amazed but made me yearnT
For larger glimpses of that more than manG
Which rolls the heavens and lifts and lays the deepU
Yet loves and hates with mortal hates and lovesV
And moves unseen among the ways of menW
Then in my wanderings all the lands that lieX
Subjected to the Heliconian ridgeY
Have heard this footstep fall altho' my wontZ
Was more to scale the highest of the heightsA2
With some strange hope to see the nearer GodB2
One naked peak the sister of the SunQ
Would climb from out the dark and linger thereI
To silver all the valleys with her shaftsC2
There once but long ago five fold thy termD2
Of years I lay the winds were dead for heatE2
The noonday crag made the hand burn and sickF2
For shadow not one bush was near I roseG2
Following a torrent till its myriad fallsH2
Found silence in the hollows underneathI2
There in a secret olive glade I sawE
Pallas Athene climbing from the bathJ2
In anger yet one glittering foot disturb'dK2
The lucid well one snowy knee was prestL2
Against the margin flowers a dreadful lightS
Came from her golden hair her golden helmM2
And all her golden armor on the grassN2
And from her virgin breast and virgin eyesO2
Remaining fixt on mine till mine grew darkP2
For ever and I heard a voice that saidQ2
Henceforth be blind for thou hast seen too muchR2
And speak the truth that no man may believeS2
Son in the hidden world of sight that livesT2
Behind this darkness I behold her stillK
Beyond all work of those who carve the stoneU2
Beyond all dreams of Godlike womanhoodV2
Ineffable beauty out of whom at a glanceW2
And as it were perforce upon me flash'dX2
The power of prophesying but to meR
No power so chain'd and coupled with the curseY2
Of blindness and their unbelief who heardZ2
And heard not when I spake of famine plagueA3
Shrine shattering earthquake fire flood thunderboltB3
And angers of the Gods for evil doneQ
And expiation lack'd no power on FateC3
Theirs or mine own for when the crowd would roarD3
For blood for war whose issue was their doomE3
To cast wise words among the multitudeF3
Was flinging fruit to lions nor in hoursG3
Of civil outbreak when I knew the twainH3
Would each waste each and bring on both the yokeC
Of stronger states was mine the voice to curbI3
The madness of our cities and their kingsJ
Who ever turn'd upon his heel to hearJ3
My warning that the tyranny of oneQ
Was prelude to the tyranny of allK3
My counsel that the tyranny of allK3
Led backward to the tyranny of oneQ
This power hath work'd no good to aught that livesT2
And these blind hands were useless in their warsL3
O therefore that the unfulfill'd desireM3
The grief for ever born from griefs to beR
The boundless yearning of the prophet's heartN3
Could that stand forth and like a statue rear'dO3
To some great citizen win all praise from allK3
Who past it saying That was heR
In vainH3
Virtue must shape itself in deed and thoseG2
Whom weakness or necessity have cramp'dP3
Within themselves immerging each his urnT
In his own well draws solace as he mayQ3
Menoeceus thou hast eyes and I can hearJ3
Too plainly what full tides of onset sapR3
Our seven high gates and what a weight of warD3
Rides on those ringing axles jingle of bitsS3
Shouts arrows tramp of the horn footed horseT3
That grind the glebe to powder Stony showersG3
Of that ear stunning hail of Ar s crashU3
Along the sounding walls Above belowV3
Shock after shock the song built towers and gatesW3
Reel bruised and butted with the shudderingX3
War thunder of iron rams and from withinY3
The city comes a murmur void of joyZ3
Lest she be taken captive maidens wivesA4
And mothers with their babblers of the dawnB4
And oldest age in shadow from the nightS
Falling about their shrines before their GodsH
And wailing Save usC4
And they wail to theeR
These eyeless eyes that cannot see thine ownU2
See this that only in thy virtue liesO2
The saving of our Thebes for yesternightS
To me the great God Ar s whose one blissD4
Is war and human sacrifice himselfB
Blood red from battle spear and helmet tiptS
With stormy light as on a mast at seaR
Stood out before a darkness crying ThebesE4
Thy Thebes shall fall and perish for I loatheF4
The seed of Cadmus yet if one of theseG4
By his own hand if one of theseG4
My sonQ
No sound is breathed so potent to coerceY2
And to conciliate as their names who dareI
For that sweet mother land which gave them birthH4
Nobly to do nobly to die Their namesI4
Graven on memorial columns are a songJ4
Heard in the future few but more than wallK3
And rampart their examples reach a handS
Far thro' all years and everywhere they meetS
And kindle generous purpose and the strengthK4
To mould it into action pure as theirsL4
Fairer thy fate than mine if life's best endS
Be to end well and thou refusing thisD4
Unvenerable will thy memory beR
While men shall move the lips but if thou dareI
Thou one of these the race of Cadmus thenW
No stone is fitted in yon marble girthH4
Whose echo shall not tongue thy glorious doomE3
Nor in this pavement but shall ring thy nameM4
To every hoof that clangs it and the springsJ
Of Dirc laving yonder battle plainH3
Heard from the roofs by night will murmur theeR
To thine own Thebes while Thebes thro' thee shall standS
Firm based with all her GodsH
The Dragon's caveN4
Half hid they tell me now in flowing vinesO4
Where once he dwelt and whence he roll'd himselfB
At dead of night thou knowest and that smooth rockP4
Before it altar fashion'd where of lateS
The woman breasted Sphinx with wings drawn backQ4
Folded her lion paws and look'd to ThebesE4
There blanch the bones of whom she slew and theseG4
Mixt with her own because the fierce beast foundS
A wiser than herself and dash'd herselfB
Dead in her rage but thou art wise enoughR4
Tho' young to love thy wiser blunt the curseY2
Of Pallas bear and tho' I speak the truthS4
Believe I speak it let thine own hand strikeT4
Thy youthful pulses into rest and quenchU4
The red God's anger fearing not to plungeV4
Thy torch of life in darkness rather thouW4
Rejoicing that the sun the moon the starsX4
Send no such light upon the ways of menW
As one great deedS
Thither my son and thereI
Thou that hast never known the embrace of loveY4
Offer thy maiden lifeZ4
This useless handS
I felt one warm tear fall upon it GoneB4
He will achieve his greatnessC4
But for meR
I would that I were gather'd to my restS
And mingled with the famous kings of oldS
On whom about their ocean islets flashU3
The faces of the Gods the wise man's wordS
Here trampled by the populace underfootS
There crown'd with worship and these eyes will findS
The men I knew and watch the chariot whirl
About the goal again and hunters race
The shadowy lion and the warrior kingsJ
In height and prowess more than human strive
Again for glory while the golden lyreL
Is ever sounding in heroic ears
Heroic hymns and every way the vales
Wind clouded with the grateful incense fumeE3
Of those who mix all odor to the GodsH
On one far height in one far shining fireM3
-
One height and one far shining fireM3
And while I fancied that my friendS
For this brief idyll would requireM3
A less diffuse and opulent endS
And would defend his judgment well
If I should deem it over niceF
The tolling of his funeral bell
Broke on my Pagan ParadiseF
And mixt the dream of classic times
And all the phantoms of the dream
With present grief and made the rhymes
That miss'd his living welcome seem
Like would be guests an hour too lateS
Who down the highway moving on
With easy laughter find the gateS
Is bolted and the master goneB4
Gone onto darkness that full lightS
Of friendship past in sleep awayQ3
By night into the deeper nightS
The deeper night A clearer dayQ3
Than our poor twilight dawn on earthH4
If night what barren toil to beR
What life so maim'd by night were worthH4
Our living out Not mine to meR
Remembering all the golden hoursG3
Now silent and so many deadS
And him the last and laying flowersG3
This wreath above his honour'd headS
And praying that when I from hence
Shall fade with him into the unknownU2
My close of earth's experience
May prove as peaceful as his ownU2

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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