Before Dawn Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAABAAAB CCCDAAAD EEEFAAAF EEEGHHHG CCCIJJJI KKKJAAAJ JJJLAAAL EEEGAAAG LLLLEEEL JJJMCCCM| SWEET LIFE if life were stronger | A |
| Earth clear of years that wrong her | A |
| Then two things might live longer | A |
| Two sweeter things than they | B |
| Delight the rootless flower | A |
| And love the bloomless bower | A |
| Delight that lives an hour | A |
| And love that lives a day | B |
| - | |
| From evensong to daytime | C |
| When April melts in Maytime | C |
| Love lengthens out his playtime | C |
| Love lessens breath by breath | D |
| And kiss by kiss grows older | A |
| On listless throat or shoulder | A |
| Turned sideways now turned colder | A |
| Than life that dreams of death | D |
| - | |
| This one thing once worth giving | E |
| Life gave and seemed worth living | E |
| Sin sweet beyond forgiving | E |
| And brief beyond regret | F |
| To laugh and love together | A |
| And weave with foam and feather | A |
| And wind and words the tether | A |
| Our memories play with yet | F |
| - | |
| Ah one thing worth beginning | E |
| One thread in life worth spinning | E |
| Ah sweet one sin worth sinning | E |
| With all the whole soul s will | G |
| To lull you till one stilled you | H |
| To kiss you till one killed you | H |
| To feed you till one filled you | H |
| Sweet lips if love could fill | G |
| - | |
| To hunt sweet Love and lose him | C |
| Between white arms and bosom | C |
| Between the bud and blossom | C |
| Between your throat and chin | I |
| To say of shame what is it | J |
| Of virtue we can miss it | J |
| Of sin we can but kiss it | J |
| And it s no longer sin | I |
| - | |
| To feel the strong soul stricken | K |
| Through fleshly pulses quicken | K |
| Beneath swift sighs that thicken | K |
| Soft hands and lips that smite | J |
| Lips that no love can tire | A |
| With hands that sting like fire | A |
| Weaving the web Desire | A |
| To snare the bird Delight | J |
| - | |
| But love so lightly plighted | J |
| Our love with torch unlighted | J |
| Paused near us unaffrighted | J |
| Who found and left him free | L |
| None seeing us cloven in sunder | A |
| Will weep or laugh or wonder | A |
| Light love stands clear of thunder | A |
| And safe from winds at sea | L |
| - | |
| As when late larks give warning | E |
| Of dying lights and dawning | E |
| Night murmurs to the morning | E |
| Lie still O love lie still | G |
| And half her dark limbs cover | A |
| The white limbs of her lover | A |
| With amorous plumes that hover | A |
| And fervent lips that chill | G |
| - | |
| As scornful day represses | L |
| Night s void and vain caresses | L |
| And from her cloudier tresses | L |
| Unwinds the gold of his | L |
| With limbs from limbs dividing | E |
| And breath by breath subsiding | E |
| For love has no abiding | E |
| But dies before the kiss | L |
| - | |
| So hath it been so be it | J |
| For who shall live and flee it | J |
| But look that no man see it | J |
| Or hear it unaware | M |
| Lest all who love and choose him | C |
| See Love and so refuse him | C |
| For all who find him lose him | C |
| But all have found him fair | M |
Algernon Charles Swinburne
(1)
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About Before Dawn
Before Dawn is a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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