Athens: An Ode Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEDEFGFGHIJIJKJK JLJLKMNMOGOG APGPQRSRCTCTJUJUVWXW YZYZZJZJJA2B2A2 AGGHHHC2C2C2D2E2E2F2 F2F2G2G2G2GGGH2H2H2I 2I2I2J2J2J2K2K2K2L2L 2L2 GM2DM2JGJGN2O2N2O2JG JGGP2GP2O2Q2O2Q2GA2G A2F2| ERE from under earth again like fire the violet kindle Str I | A |
| Ere the holy buds and hoar on olive branches bloom | B |
| Ere the crescent of the last pale month of winter dwindle | C |
| Shrink and fall as falls a dead leaf on the dead month s tomb | B |
| Round the hills whose heights the first born olive blossom brightened | D |
| Round the city brow bound once with violets like a bride | E |
| Up from under earth again a light that long since lightened | D |
| Breaks whence all the world took comfort as all time takes pride | E |
| Pride have all men in their fathers that were free before them | F |
| In the warriors that begat us free born pride have we | G |
| But the fathers of their spirits how may men adore them | F |
| With what rapture may we praise who bade our souls be free | G |
| Sons of Athens born in spirit and truth are all born free men | H |
| Most of all we nurtured where the north wind holds his reign | I |
| Children all we sea folk of the Salaminian seamen | J |
| Sons of them that beat back Persia they that beat back Spain | I |
| Since the songs of Greece fell silent none like ours have risen | J |
| Since the sails of Greece fell slack no ships have sailed like ours | K |
| How should we lament not if her spirit sit in prison | J |
| How should we rejoice not if her wreaths renew their flowers | K |
| All the world is sweeter if the Athenian violet quicken | J |
| All the world is brighter if the Athenian sun return | L |
| All things foul on earth wax fainter by that sun s light stricken | J |
| All ill growths are withered where those fragrant flower lights burn | L |
| All the wandering waves of seas with all their warring waters | K |
| Roll the record on for ever of the sea fight there | M |
| When the capes were battle s lists and all the straits were slaughter s | N |
| And the myriad Medes as foam flakes on the scattering air | M |
| Ours the lightning was that cleared the north and lit the nations | O |
| But the light that gave the whole world light of old was she | G |
| Ours an age or twain but hers are endless generations | O |
| All the world is hers at heart and most of all are we | G |
| - | |
| Ye that bear the name about you of her glory Ant I | A |
| Men that wear the sign of Greeks upon you sealed | P |
| Yours is yet the choice to write yourselves in story | G |
| Sons of them that fought the Marathonian field | P |
| Slaves of no man were ye said your warrior poet | Q |
| Neither subject unto man as underlings | R |
| Yours is now the season here wherein to show it | S |
| If the seed ye be of them that knew not kings | R |
| If ye be not swords nor words alike found brittle | C |
| From the dust of death to raise you shall prevail | T |
| Subject swords and dead men s words may stead you little | C |
| If their old king hating heart within you fail | T |
| If your spirit of old and not your bonds be broken | J |
| If the kingless heart be molten in your breasts | U |
| By what signs and wonders by what word or token | J |
| Shall ye drive the vultures from your eagles nests | U |
| All the gains of tyrants Freedom counts for losses | V |
| Nought of all the work done holds she worth the work | W |
| When the slaves whose faith is set on crowns and crosses | X |
| Drive the Cossack bear against the tiger Turk | W |
| Neither cross nor crown nor crescent shall ye bow to | Y |
| Nought of Araby nor Jewry priest nor king | Z |
| As your watchword was of old so be it now too | Y |
| As from lips long stilled from yours let healing spring | Z |
| Through the fights of old your battle cry was healing | Z |
| And the Saviour that ye called on was the Sun | J |
| Dawn by dawn behold in heaven your God revealing | Z |
| Light from darkness as when Marathon was won | J |
| Gods were yours yet strange to Turk or Galilean | J |
| Light and Wisdom only then as gods adored | A2 |
| Pallas was your shield your comforter was P an | B2 |
| From your bright world s navel spake the Sun your Lord | A2 |
| - | |
| Though the names be lost and changed the signs of Light and Wisdom be Ep I | A |
| By these only shall men conquer by these only be set free | G |
| When the whole world s eye was Athens these were yours and theirs were ye | G |
| Light was given you of your wisdom light ye gave the world again | H |
| As the sun whose godhead lightened on her soul was Hellas then | H |
| Yea the least of all her children as the chosen of other men | H |
| Change your hearts not with your garments nor your faith with creeds that change | C2 |
| Truth was yours the truth which time and chance transform not nor estrange | C2 |
| Purer truth nor higher abides not in the reach of time s whole range | C2 |
| Gods are they in all men s memories and for all time s periods | D2 |
| They that hurled the host back seaward which had scourged the sea with rods | E2 |
| Gods for us are all your fathers even the least of these as gods | E2 |
| In the dark of days the thought of them is with us strong to save | F2 |
| They that had no lord and made the Great King lesser than a slave | F2 |
| They that rolled all Asia back on Asia broken like a wave | F2 |
| No man s men were they no master s and no God s but these their own | G2 |
| Gods not loved in vain nor served amiss nor all yet overthrown | G2 |
| Love of country Freedom Wisdom Light and none save these alone | G2 |
| King by king came up against them sire and son and turned to flee | G |
| Host on host roared westward mightier each than each if more might be | G |
| Field to field made answer clamorous like as wave to wave at sea | G |
| Strife to strife responded loud as rocks to clangorous rocks respond | H2 |
| Where the deep rings wreck to seamen held in tempest s thrall and bond | H2 |
| Till when war s bright work was perfect peace as radiant rose beyond | H2 |
| Peace made bright with fruit of battle stronger made for storm gone down | I2 |
| With the flower of song held heavenward for the violet of her crown | I2 |
| Woven about the fragrant forehead of the fostress maiden s town | I2 |
| Gods arose alive on earth from under stroke of human hands | J2 |
| As the hands that wrought them these are dead and mixed with time s dead sands | J2 |
| But the godhead of supernal song though these now stand not stands | J2 |
| Pallas is not Ph bus breathes no more in breathing brass or gold | K2 |
| Clyt mnestra towers Cassandra wails for ever Time is bold | K2 |
| But nor heart nor hand hath he to unwrite the scriptures writ of old | K2 |
| Dead the great chryselephantine God as dew last evening shed | L2 |
| Dust of earth or foam of ocean is the symbol of his head | L2 |
| Earth and ocean shall be shadows when Prometheus shall be dead | L2 |
| - | |
| Fame around her warriors living rang through Greece and lightened Str | G |
| Moving equal with their stature stately with their strength | M2 |
| Thebes and Laced mon at their breathing presence brightened | D |
| Sense or sound of them filled all the live land s breadth and length | M2 |
| All the lesser tribes put on the pure Athenian fashion | J |
| One Hellenic heart was from the mountains to the sea | G |
| Sparta s bitter self grew sweet with high half human passion | J |
| And her dry thorns flushed aflower in strait Thermopyl | G |
| Fruitless yet the flowers had fallen and all the deeds died fruitless | N2 |
| Save that tongues of after men the children of her peace | O2 |
| Took the tale up of her glories transient else and rootless | N2 |
| And in ears and hearts of all men left the praise of Greece | O2 |
| Fair the war time was when still as beacon answering beacon | J |
| Sea to land flashed fight and thundered note of wrath or cheer | G |
| But the strength of noonday night hath power to waste and weaken | J |
| Nor may light be passed from hand to hand of year to year | G |
| If the dying deed be saved not ere it die for ever | G |
| By the hands and lips of men more wise than years are strong | P2 |
| If the soul of man take heed not that the deed die never | G |
| Clothed about with purple and gold of story crowned with song | P2 |
| Still the burning heart of boy and man alike rejoices | O2 |
| Hearing words which made it seem of old for all who sang | Q2 |
| That their heaven of heavens waxed happier when from free men s voices | O2 |
| Well beloved Harmodius and Aristogeiton rang | Q2 |
| Never fell such fragrance from the flower month s rose red kirtle | G |
| As from chaplets on the bright friends brows who slew their lord | A2 |
| Greener grew the leaf and balmier blew the flower of myrtle | G |
| When its blossom sheathed the sheer tyrannicidal sword | A2 |
| None so glorious garland crowned the fea | F2 |
Algernon Charles Swinburne
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