Astræa Victrix Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCCBDDEEFEEFGHCCIJ JIEEEEEKKEEELLEJJEEE EECMMCNNEEKJJKOOPQRE ERSSTTEEEEFFUUEVVEWX VVEEEERRYYVJJVEE| England elect of time | A |
| By freedom sealed sublime | A |
| And constant as the sun that saw thy dawn | B |
| Outshine upon the sea | C |
| His own in heaven to be | C |
| A light that night nor day should see withdrawn | B |
| If song may speak not now thy praise | D |
| Fame writes it higher than song may soar or faith may gaze | D |
| Dark months of months beheld | E |
| Hope thwarted crossed and quelled | E |
| And heard the heartless hounds of hatred bay | F |
| Aloud against thee glad | E |
| As now their souls are sad | E |
| Who see their hope in hatred pass away | F |
| And wither into shame and fear | G |
| And shudder down to darkness loth to see or hear | H |
| Nought now they hear or see | C |
| That speaks or shows not thee | C |
| Triumphant not as empires reared of yore | I |
| The imperial commonweal | J |
| That bears thy sovereign seal | J |
| And signs thine orient as thy natural shore | I |
| Free as no sons but thine may stand | E |
| Steers lifeward ever guided of thy pilot hand | E |
| Fear masked and veiled by fraud | E |
| Found shameful time to applaud | E |
| Shame and bow down thy banner towards the dust | E |
| And call on godly shame | K |
| To desecrate thy name | K |
| And bid false penitence abjure thy trust | E |
| Till England's heart took thought at last | E |
| And felt her future kindle from her fiery past | E |
| Then sprang the sunbright fire | L |
| High as the sun and higher | L |
| Than strange men's eyes might watch it undismayed | E |
| But winds athwart it blew | J |
| Storm and the twilight grew | J |
| Darkness awhile an unenduring shade | E |
| And all base birds and beasts of night | E |
| Saw no more England now to fear no loathsome light | E |
| All knaves and slaves at heart | E |
| Who knowing thee what thou art | E |
| Abhor thee seeing what none save here may see | C |
| Strong freedom taintless truth | M |
| Supreme in ageless youth | M |
| Howled all their hate and hope aloud at thee | C |
| While yet the wavering wind of strife | N |
| Bore hard against her sail whose freight is hope and life | N |
| And now the quickening tide | E |
| That brings back power and pride | E |
| To faith and love whose ensign is thy name | K |
| Bears down the recreant lie | J |
| That doomed thy name to die | J |
| Sons friends and foes behold thy star the same | K |
| As when it stood in heaven a sun | O |
| And Europe saw no glory left her sky save one | O |
| And now as then she saw | P |
| She sees with shamefast awe | Q |
| How all unlike all slaves and tyrants born | R |
| Where bondmen champ the bit | E |
| And anarchs foam and flit | E |
| And day mocks day and year puts year to scorn | R |
| Our mother bore us English men | S |
| Ashamed of shame and strong in mercy now as then | S |
| We loosed not on these knaves | T |
| Their scourge tormented slaves | T |
| We held the hand that fain had risen to smite | E |
| The torturer fast and made | E |
| Justice awhile afraid | E |
| And righteousness forego her ruthless right | E |
| We warred not even with these as they | F |
| We bade not them they preyed on make of them their prey | F |
| All murderous fraud that lurks | U |
| In hearts where hell's craft works | U |
| Fought crawled and slew in darkness they that died | E |
| Dreamed not of foes too base | V |
| For scorn to grant them grace | V |
| Men wounded women children at their side | E |
| Had found what faith in fiends may live | W |
| And yet we gave not back what righteous doom would give | X |
| No false white flag that fawns | V |
| On faith till murder dawns | V |
| Blood red from hell black treason's heart of hate | E |
| Left ever shame's foul brand | E |
| Seared on an English hand | E |
| And yet our pride vouchsafes them grace too great | E |
| For other pride to dream of scorn | R |
| Strikes retribution silent as the stars at morn | R |
| And now the living breath | Y |
| Whose life puts death to death | Y |
| Freedom whose name is England stirs and thrills | V |
| The burning darkness through | J |
| Whence fraud and slavery grew | J |
| We scarce may mourn our dead whose fame fulfils | V |
| The record where her foes have read | E |
| That earth shall see none like her born ere earth be dead | E |
Algernon Charles Swinburne
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