The Ballad Of Dead Men's Bay Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDEFEFGHGHDIDI JKJKLMLMNFNFOPOPQFQF JIJIRSRSFTFTUFUFQVQV TWTWXJXJYZYZFKFKOSOS A2B2A2B2C2FC2FC2FAQA QAQLULULUD2E2D2E2SZS SZSSSSZ

The sea swings owre the slants of sandA
All white with winds that driveB
The sea swirls up to the still dim strandA
Where nae man comes aliveB
At the grey soft edge of the fruitless surfC
A light flame sinks and springsD
At the grey soft rim of the flowerless turfC
A low flame leaps and clingsD
What light is this on a sunless shoreE
What gleam on a starless seaF
Was it earth's or hell's waste womb that boreE
Such births as should not beF
As lithe snakes turning as bright stars burningG
They bicker and beckon and callH
As wild waves churning as wild winds yearningG
They flicker and climb and fallH
A soft strange cry from the landward ringsD
What ails the sea to shineI
A keen sweet note from the spray's rim springsD
What fires are these of thineI
A soul am I that was born on earthJ
For ae day's waesome spanK
Death bound me fast on the bourn of birthJ
Ere I were christened manK
A light by night I fleet and fareL
Till the day of wrath and woeM
On the hems of earth and the skirts of airL
Winds hurl me to and froM
O well is thee though the weird be strangeN
That bids thee flit and fleeF
For hope is child of the womb of changeN
And hope keeps watch with theeF
When the years are gone and the time is comeO
God's grace may give thee graceP
And thy soul may sing though thy soul were dumbO
And shine before God's faceP
But I that lighten and revel and rollQ
With the foam of the plunging seaF
No sign is mine of a breathing soulQ
That God should pity meF
Nor death nor heaven nor hell nor birthJ
Hath part in me nor mineI
Strong lords are these of the living earthJ
And loveless lords of thineI
But I that know nor lord nor lifeR
More sure than storm or sprayS
Whose breath is made of sport and strifeR
Whereon shall I find stayS
And wouldst thou change thy doom with meF
Full fain with thee would IT
For the life that lightens and lifts the seaF
Is more than earth or skyT
And what if the day of doubt and doomU
Shall save nor smite not meF
I would not rise from the slain world's tombU
If there be no more seaF
Take he my soul that gave my soulQ
And give it thee to keepV
And me while seas and stars shall rollQ
Thy life that falls on sleepV
That word went up through the mirk mid skyT
And even to God's own earW
And the Lord was ware of the keen twin cryT
And wroth was he to hearW
He's tane the soul of the unsained childX
That fled to death from birthJ
He's tane the light of the wan sea wildX
And bid it burn on earthJ
He's given the ghaist of the babe new bornY
The gift of the water spriteZ
To ride on revel from morn to mornY
And roll from night to nightZ
He's given the sprite of the wild wan seaF
The gift of the new born manK
A soul for ever to bide and beF
When the years have filled their spanK
When a year was gone and a year was comeO
O loud and loud cried theyS
For the lee lang year thou hast held us dumbO
Take now thy gifts awayS
O loud and lang they cried on himA2
And sair and sair they prayedB2
Is the face of thy grace as the night's face grimA2
For those thy wrath has madeB2
A cry more bitter than tears of menC2
From the rim of the dim grey seaF
Give me my living soul againC2
The soul thou gavest meF
The doom and the dole of kindly menC2
To bide my weird and beF
A cry more keen from the wild low landA
Than the wail of waves that rollQ
Take back the gift of a loveless handA
Thy gift of doom and doleQ
The weird of men that bide on landA
Take from me take my soulQ
The hands that smite are the hands that spareL
They build and break the tombU
They turn to darkness and dust and airL
The fruits of the waste earth's wombU
But never the gift of a granted prayerL
The dole of a spoken doomU
Winds may change at a word unheardD2
But none may change the tidesE2
The prayer once heard is as God's own wordD2
The doom once dealt abidesE2
And ever a cry goes up by dayS
And ever a wail by nightZ
And nae ship comes by the weary bayS
But her shipmen hear them wail and prayS
And see with earthly sightZ
The twofold flames of the twin lights playS
Where the sea banks green and the sea floods greyS
Are proud of peril and fain of preyS
And the sand quakes ever and ill fare theyS
That look upon that lightZ

Algernon Charles Swinburne



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