The Bombardment Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFCG AHIJKBAKKLKG AMNOKKAGPGQKAG AB FKG KAKKRKSTKAAAA UDKKG FKKEKK FVK AWXKYGSlowly without force the rain drops into the city It stops a moment | A |
on the carved head of Saint John then slides on again slipping and trickling | B |
over his stone cloak It splashes from the lead conduit of a gargoyle | C |
and falls from it in turmoil on the stones in the Cathedral square | D |
Where are the people and why does the fretted steeple sweep about in the sky | E |
Boom The sound swings against the rain Boom again After it only water | F |
rushing in the gutters and the turmoil from the spout of the gargoyle | C |
Silence Ripples and mutters Boom | G |
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The room is damp but warm Little flashes swarm about from the firelight | A |
The lustres of the chandelier are bright and clusters of rubies | H |
leap in the bohemian glasses on the etagere' Her hands are restless | I |
but the white masses of her hair are quite still Boom Will it never cease | J |
to torture this iteration Boom The vibration shatters a glass | K |
on the etagere' It lies there formless and glowing | B |
with all its crimson gleams shot out of pattern spilled flowing red | A |
blood red A thin bell note pricks through the silence A door creaks | K |
The old lady speaks 'Victor clear away that broken glass ' 'Alas | K |
Madame the bohemian glass ' 'Yes Victor one hundred years ago | L |
my father brought it ' Boom The room shakes the servitor quakes | K |
Another goblet shivers and breaks Boom | G |
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It rustles at the window pane the smooth streaming rain and he is shut | A |
within its clash and murmur Inside is his candle his table his ink | M |
his pen and his dreams He is thinking and the walls are pierced with | N |
beams of sunshine slipping through young green A fountain tosses itself | O |
up at the blue sky and through the spattered water in the basin he can see | K |
copper carp lazily floating among cold leaves A wind harp in a cedar tree | K |
grieves and whispers and words blow into his brain bubbled iridescent | A |
shooting up like flowers of fire higher and higher Boom | G |
The flame flowers snap on their slender stems The fountain rears up | P |
in long broken spears of dishevelled water and flattens into the earth Boom | G |
And there is only the room the table the candle and the sliding rain | Q |
Again Boom Boom Boom He stuffs his fingers into his ears | K |
He sees corpses and cries out in fright Boom It is night | A |
and they are shelling the city Boom Boom | G |
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A child wakes and is afraid and weeps in the darkness What has made | A |
the bed shake 'Mother where are you I am awake ' 'Hush my Darling | B |
I am here ' 'But Mother something so queer happened the room shook ' | - |
Boom 'Oh What is it What is the matter ' Boom 'Where is Father | F |
I am so afraid ' Boom The child sobs and shrieks The house | K |
trembles and creaks Boom | G |
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Retorts globes tubes and phials lie shattered All his trials | K |
oozing across the floor The life that was his choosing lonely urgent | A |
goaded by a hope all gone A weary man in a ruined laboratory | K |
that is his story Boom Gloom and ignorance and the jig of drunken brutes | K |
Diseases like snakes crawling over the earth leaving trails of slime | R |
Wails from people burying their dead Through the window he can see | K |
the rocking steeple A ball of fire falls on the lead of the roof | S |
and the sky tears apart on a spike of flame Up the spire | T |
behind the lacings of stone zigzagging in and out of the carved tracings | K |
squirms the fire It spouts like yellow wheat from the gargoyles coils round | A |
the head of Saint John and aureoles him in light It leaps into the night | A |
and hisses against the rain The Cathedral is a burning stain on the white | A |
wet night | A |
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Boom The Cathedral is a torch and the houses next to it begin to scorch | U |
Boom The bohemian glass on the etagere' is no longer there | D |
Boom A stalk of flame sways against the red damask curtains | K |
The old lady cannot walk She watches the creeping stalk and counts | K |
Boom Boom Boom | G |
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The poet rushes into the street and the rain wraps him in a sheet of silver | F |
But it is threaded with gold and powdered with scarlet beads The city burns | K |
Quivering spearing thrusting lapping streaming run the flames | K |
Over roofs and walls and shops and stalls Smearing its gold on the sky | E |
the fire dances lances itself through the doors and lisps and chuckles | K |
along the floors | K |
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The child wakes again and screams at the yellow petalled flower | F |
flickering at the window The little red lips of flame creep along | V |
the ceiling beams | K |
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The old man sits among his broken experiments and looks at | A |
the burning Cathedral Now the streets are swarming with people | W |
They seek shelter and crowd into the cellars They shout and call | X |
and over all slowly and without force the rain drops into the city | K |
Boom And the steeple crashes down among the people Boom Boom again | Y |
The water rushes along the gutters The fire roars and mutters Boom | G |
Amy Lowell
(1)
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