Burns: An Ode Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAABABCCCDCDEFFGFGHH HIHIGGGJGJAAAKAKLMMN MNOOOLOLPPPPPPQQQBQB RRRSRSPPPTPTEEEUEUPP PVPWQQQXQXYYYZYZRRRA 2RA2XXXB2XB2EEEEEE| A fire of fierce and laughing light | A |
| That clove the shuddering heart of night | A |
| Leapt earthward and the thunder's might | A |
| That pants and yearns | B |
| Made fitful music round its flight | A |
| And earth saw Burns | B |
| The joyous lightning found its voice | C |
| And bade the heart of wrath rejoice | C |
| And scorn uplift a song to voice | C |
| The imperial hate | D |
| That smote the God of base men's choice | C |
| At God's own gate | D |
| Before the shrine of dawn wherethrough | E |
| The lark rang rapture as she flew | F |
| It flashed and fired the darkling dew | F |
| And all that heard | G |
| With love or loathing hailed anew | F |
| A new day's word | G |
| The servants of the lord of hell | H |
| As though their lord had blessed them fell | H |
| Foaming at mouth for fear so well | H |
| They knew the lie | I |
| Wherewith they sought to scan and spell | H |
| The unsounded sky | I |
| And Calvin night's prophetic bird | G |
| Out of his home in hell was heard | G |
| Shrieking and all the fens were stirred | G |
| Whence plague is bred | J |
| Can God endure the scoffer's word | G |
| But God was dead | J |
| The God they made them in despite | A |
| Of man and woman love and light | A |
| Strong sundawn and the starry night | A |
| The lie supreme | K |
| Shot through with song stood forth to sight | A |
| A devil's dream | K |
| And he that bent the lyric bow | L |
| And laid the lord of darkness low | M |
| And bade the fire of laughter glow | M |
| Across his grave | N |
| And bade the tides above it flow | M |
| Wave hurtling wave | N |
| Shall he not win from latter days | O |
| More than his own could yield of praise | O |
| Ay could the sovereign singer's bays | O |
| Forsake his brow | L |
| The warrior's won on stormier ways | O |
| Still clasp it now | L |
| He loved and sang of love he laughed | P |
| And bade the cup whereout he quaffed | P |
| Shine as a planet fore and aft | P |
| And left and right | P |
| And keen as shoots the sun's first shaft | P |
| Against the night | P |
| But love and wine were moon and sun | Q |
| For many a fame long since undone | Q |
| And sorrow and joy have lost and won | Q |
| By stormy turns | B |
| As many a singer's soul if none | Q |
| More bright than Burns | B |
| And sweeter far in grief or mirth | R |
| Have songs as glad and sad of birth | R |
| Found voice to speak of wealth or dearth | R |
| In joy of life | S |
| But never song took fire from earth | R |
| More strong for strife | S |
| The daisy by his ploughshare cleft | P |
| The lips of women loved and left | P |
| The griefs and joys that weave the weft | P |
| Of human time | T |
| With craftsman's cunning keen and deft | P |
| He carved in rhyme | T |
| But Chaucer's daisy shines a star | E |
| Above his ploughshare's reach to mar | E |
| And mightier vision gave Dunbar | E |
| More strenuous wing | U |
| To hear around all sins that are | E |
| Hell dance and sing | U |
| And when such pride and power of trust | P |
| In song's high gift to arouse from dust | P |
| Death and transfigure love or lust | P |
| Through smiles or tears | V |
| In golden speech that takes no rust | P |
| From cankering years | W |
| As never spake but once in one | Q |
| Strong star crossed child of earth and sun | Q |
| Villon made music such as none | Q |
| May praise or blame | X |
| A crown of starrier flower was won | Q |
| Than Burns may claim | X |
| But never since bright earth was born | Y |
| In rapture of the enkindling morn | Y |
| Might godlike wrath and sunlike scorn | Y |
| That was and is | Z |
| And shall be while false weeds are worn | Y |
| Find word like his | Z |
| Above the rude and radiant earth | R |
| That heaves and glows from firth to firth | R |
| In vale and mountain bright in dearth | R |
| And warm in wealth | A2 |
| Which gave his fiery glory birth | R |
| By chance and stealth | A2 |
| Above the storms of praise and blame | X |
| That blur with mist his lustrous name | X |
| His thunderous laughter went and came | X |
| And lives and flies | B2 |
| The roar that follows on the flame | X |
| When lightning dies | B2 |
| Earth and the snow dimmed heights of air | E |
| And water winding soft and fair | E |
| Through still sweet places bright and bare | E |
| By bent and byre | E |
| Taught him what hearts within them were | E |
| But his was fire | E |
Algernon Charles Swinburne
(1)
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About Burns: An Ode
Burns: An Ode 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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