A Word For The Nation Poem Rhyme Scheme

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I	A
A word across the water	B
Against our ears is borne	C
Of threatenings and of slaughter	B
Of rage and spite and scorn	C
We have not alack an ally to befriend us	D
And the season is ripe to extirpate and end us	D
Let the German touch hands with the Gaul	E
And the fortress of England must fall	E
And the sea shall be swept of her seamen	F
And the waters they ruled be their graves	G
And Dutchmen and Frenchmen be free men	H
And Englishmen slaves	G
	-
II	A
Our time once more is over	B
Once more our end is near	I
A bull without a drover	B
The Briton reels to rear	I
And the van of the nations is held by his betters	J
And the seas of the world shall be loosed from his fetters	J
And his glory shall pass as a breath	K
And the life that is in him be death	K
And the sepulchre sealed on his glory	L
For a sign to the nations shall be	L
As of Tyre and of Carthage in story	L
Once lords of the sea	L
	-
III	A
The lips are wise and loyal	M
The hearts are brave and true	N
Imperial thoughts and royal	M
Make strong the clamorous crew	N
Whence louder and prouder the noise of defiance	O
Rings rage from the grave of a trustless alliance	O
And bids us beware and be warned	P
As abhorred of all nations and scorned	P
As a swordless and spiritless nation	F
A wreck on the waste of the waves	G
So foams the released indignation	F
Of masterless slaves	G
	-
IV	Q
Brute throats that miss the collar	B
Bowed backs that ask the whip	R
Stretched hands that lack the dollar	B
And many a lie seared lip	R
Forefeel and foreshow for us signs as funereal	M
As the signs that were regal of yore and imperial	M
We shall pass as the princes they served	S
We shall reap what our fathers deserved	S
And the place that was England's be taken	F
By one that is worthier than she	L
And the yoke of her empire be shaken	F
Like spray from the sea	L
	-
V	L
French hounds whose necks are aching	T
Still from the chain they crave	Q
In dog day madness breaking	T
The dog leash thus may rave	Q
But the seas that for ages have fostered and fenced her	B
Laugh echoing the yell of their kennel against her	B
And their moan if destruction draw near them	U
And the roar of her laughter to hear them	U
For she knows that if Englishmen be men	H
Their England has all that she craves	G
All love and all honour from free men	H
All hatred from slaves	G
	-
VI	Q
All love that rests upon her	B
Like sunshine and sweet air	V
All light of perfect honour	V
And praise that ends in prayer	V
She wins not more surely she wears not more proudly	L
Than the token of tribute that clatters thus loudly	L
The tribute of foes when they meet	W
That rattles and rings at her feet	W
The tribute of rage and of rancour	V
The tribute of slaves to the free	V
To the people whose hope hath its anchor	V
Made fast in the sea	V
	-
VII	Q
No fool that bows the back he	V
Feels fit for scourge or brand	X
No scurril scribes that lackey	V
The lords of Lackeyland	X
No penman that yearns as he turns on his pallet	X
For the place or the pence of a peer or a valet	X
No whelp of as currish a pack	Y
As the litter whose yelp it gives back	Y
Though he answer the cry of his brother	V
As echoes might answer from caves	G
Shall be witness as though for a mother	V
Whose children were slaves	G
	-
VIII	Q
But those found fit to love her	V
Whose love has root in faith	Z
Who hear though darkness cover	V
Time's face what memory saith	Z
Who seek not the service of great men or small men	H
But the weal that is common for comfort of all men	H
Those yet that in trust have beholden	F
Truth's dawn over England grow golden	F
And quicken the darkness that stagnates	G
And scatter the shadows that flee	V
Shall reply for her meanest as magnates	G
And masters by sea	V
	-
IX	V
And all shall mark her station	F
Her message all shall hear	V
When equal eyed the nation	F
Bids all her sons draw near	V
And freedom be more than tradition or faction	F
And thought be no swifter to serve her than action	F
And justice alone be above her	V
That love may be prouder to love her	V
And time on the crest of her story	V
Inscribe as remembrance engraves	V
The sign that subdues with its glory	V
Kings princes and slaves	V

Algernon Charles Swinburne

A Word For The Nation Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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