Bethesda Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDE FFBBGGGGGG HHGGGI JJ KKLLHHMMNNN| A Sequel | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| I saw again the spirits on a day | B |
| Where on the earth in mournful case they lay | B |
| Five porches were there and a pool and round | C |
| Huddling in blankets strewn upon the ground | C |
| Tied up and bandaged weary sore and spent | D |
| The maimed and halt diseased and impotent | E |
| - | |
| For a great angel came 'twas said and stirred | F |
| The pool at certain seasons and the word | F |
| Was with this people of the sick that they | B |
| Who in the waters here their limbs should lay | B |
| Before the motion on the surface ceased | G |
| Should of their torment straightway be released | G |
| So with shrunk bodies and with heads down dropt | G |
| Stretched on the steps and at the pillars propt | G |
| Watching by day and listening through the night | G |
| They filled the place a miserable sight | G |
| - | |
| And I beheld that on the stony floor | H |
| He too that spoke of duty once before | H |
| No otherwise than others here to day | G |
| Foredone and sick and sadly muttering lay | G |
| 'I know not I will do what is it I would say | G |
| What was that word which once sufficed alone for all | I |
| Which now I seek in vain and never can recall ' | - |
| And then as weary of in vain renewing | J |
| His question thus his mournful thought pursuing | J |
| 'I know not I must do as other men are doing ' | - |
| - | |
| But what the waters of that pool might be | K |
| Of Lethe were they or Philosophy | K |
| And whether he long waiting did attain | L |
| Deliverance from the burden of his pain | L |
| There with the rest or whether yet before | H |
| Some more diviner stranger passed the door | H |
| With his small company into that sad place | M |
| And breathing hope into the sick man's face | M |
| Bade him take up his bed and rise and go | N |
| What the end were and whether it were so | N |
| Further than this I saw not neither know | N |
Arthur Hugh Clough
(1)
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