The Dream Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFF GHIIJJKKLL MMNNOOPPQQRRSS TTUUVVWXYYZZA2A2 FFB2B2RRC2C2 RRD2D2E2E2F2F2 RRLLG2G2H2H2I2I2RRRR DDJ2J2RRA2A2GG FFK2K2RRL2L2M2M2RR N2N2RRVVJ2J2RRF2F2O2 O2P2P2JJRRHH Q2Q2TTR2R2S2S2LLT2T2 RRTTJ2J2U2V2W2W2X2X2 L2L2RRT Y2Y2RRMMZ2Z2T2T2TTW2 W2SS V2'TWAS summer eve the changeful beams still play'd | A |
On the fir bark and through the beechen shade | A |
Still with soft crimson glow'd each floating cloud | B |
Still the stream glitter'd where the willow bow'd | B |
Still the pale moon sate silent and alone | C |
Nor yet the stars had rallied round her throne | C |
Those diamond courtiers who while yet the West | D |
Wears the red shield above his dying breast | D |
Dare not assume the loss they all desire | E |
Nor pay their homage to the fainter fire | E |
But wait in trembling till the Sun's fair light | F |
Fading shall leave them free to welcome Night | F |
- | |
So when some Chief whose name through realms afar | G |
Was still the watchword of succesful war | H |
Met by the fatal hour which waits for all | I |
Is on the field he rallied forced to fall | I |
The conquerors pause to watch his parting breath | J |
Awed by the terrors of that mighty death | J |
Nor dare the meed of victory to claim | K |
Nor lift the standard to a meaner name | K |
Till every spark of soul hath ebb'd away | L |
And leaves what was a hero common clay | L |
- | |
Oh Twilight Spirit that dost render birth | M |
To dim enchantments melting Heaven with Earth | M |
Leaving on craggy hills and rumning streams | N |
A softness like the atmosphere of dreams | N |
Thy hour to all is welcome Faint and sweet | O |
Thy light falls round the peasant's homeward feet | O |
Who slow returning from his task of toil | P |
Sees the low sunset gild the cultured soil | P |
And tho' such radliance round him brightly glows | Q |
Marks the small spark his cottage window throws | Q |
Still as his heart forestals his weary pace | R |
Fondly he dreams of each familiar face | R |
Recalls the treasures of his narrow life | S |
His rosy children and his sunburnt wife | S |
- | |
To whom his coming is the chief event | T |
Of simple days in cheerful labour spent | T |
The rich man's chariot hath gone whirling past | U |
And those poor cottagers have only cast | U |
One careless glance on all that show of pride | V |
Then to their tasks turn'd quietly aside | V |
But him they wait for him they welcome home | W |
Fond sentinels look forth to see him come | X |
The fagot sent for when the fire grew dim | Y |
The frugal meal prepared are all for him | Y |
For him the watching of that sturdy boy | Z |
For him those smiles of tenderness and joy | Z |
For him who plods his sauntering way along | A2 |
Whistling the fragment of some village song | A2 |
- | |
Dear art thou to the lover thou sweet light | F |
Fair fleeting sister of the mournful night | F |
As in impatient hope he stands apart | B2 |
Companion'd only by his beating heart | B2 |
And with an eager fancy oft beholds | R |
The vision of a white robe's fluttering folds | R |
Flit through the grove and gain the open mead | C2 |
True to the hour by loving hearts agreed | C2 |
- | |
At length she comes The evening's holy grace | R |
Mellows the glory of her radiant face | R |
The curtain of that daylight faint and pale | D2 |
Hangs round her like the shrouding of a veil | D2 |
As turning with a bashful timid thought | E2 |
From the dear welcome she herself hath sought | E2 |
Her shadowy profile drawn against the sky | F2 |
Cheats while it charms his fond adoring eye | F2 |
- | |
Oh dear to him to all since first the flowers | R |
Of happy Eden's consecrated bowers | R |
Heard the low breeze along the branches play | L |
And God's voice bless the cool hour of the day | L |
For though that glorious Paradise be lost | G2 |
Though earth by blighting storms be roughly cross'd | G2 |
Though the long curse demands the tax of sin | H2 |
And the day's sorrows with the day begin | H2 |
That hour once sacred to God's presence still | I2 |
Keeps itself calmer from the touch of ill | I2 |
The holiest hour of earth Then toil doth cease | R |
Then from the yoke the oxen find release | R |
Then man rests pausing from his many cares | R |
And the world teems with children's sunset prayers | R |
- | |
Then innocent things seek out their natural rest | D |
The babe sinks slumbering on its mother's breast | D |
The birds beneath their leafy covering creep | J2 |
Yea even the flowers fold up their buds in sleep | J2 |
And angels floating by on radiant wings | R |
Hear the low sounds the breeze of evening brings | R |
Catch the sweet incense as it floats along | A2 |
The infant's prayer the mother's cradle song | A2 |
And bear the holy gifts to worlds afar | G |
As thigs too sacred for this fallen star | G |
- | |
At such an hour on such a summer night | F |
Silent and calm in its transparent light | F |
A widow'd parent watch'd her slumbering child | K2 |
On whose young face the sixteenth summer smiled | K2 |
Fair was the face she watch'd Nor less because | R |
Beauty's perfection seem'd to make a pause | R |
And wait on that smooth brow some further touch | L2 |
Some spell from Time the great magician such | L2 |
As calls the closed bud out of hidden gloom | M2 |
And bids it wake to glory light and bloom | M2 |
Girlish as yet but with the gentle grace | R |
Of a young fawn in its low resting place | R |
- | |
Her folded limbs were lying from her hand | N2 |
A group of wild flowers Nature's brightest band | N2 |
Of all that laugh along the Summer fields | R |
Of all the sunny hedge row freely yields | R |
Of all that in the wild wood darkly hide | V |
Or on the thyme bank wave in breezy pride | V |
Show'd that the weariness which closed in sleep | J2 |
So tranquil child like innocent and deep | J2 |
Nor festal gaiety nor toilsome hours | R |
Had brought but like a flower among the flowers | R |
She had been wandering 'neath the Summer sky | F2 |
Youth on her lip and gladness in her eye | F2 |
Twisting the wild rose from its native thorn | O2 |
And the blue scabious from the sunny corn | O2 |
Smiling and singing like a spirit fair | P2 |
That walk'd the world but had no dwelling there | P2 |
And still as though their faintly scented breath | J |
Preserv'd a meek fidelity in death | J |
Each late imprison'd blossom fondly lingers | R |
Within the touch of her unconscious fingers | R |
Though languidly unclasp'd that hand no more | H |
Guards its possession of the rifled store | H |
- | |
So wearily she lay so sweetly slept | Q2 |
So by her side fond watch the mother kept | Q2 |
And as above her gentle child she bent | T |
So like they seem'd in form and lineament | T |
You might have deem'd her face its shadow gave | R2 |
To the clear mirror of a fountain's wave | R2 |
Only in this they differ'd that while one | S2 |
Was warm and radiant as the Summer sun | S2 |
The other's smile had more a moonlight play | L |
For many tears had wept its glow away | L |
Yet was she fair of loveliness so true | T2 |
That time which faded never could subdue | T2 |
And though the sleeper like a half blown rose | R |
Show'd bright as angels in her soft repose | R |
Though bluer veins ran through each snowy lid | T |
Curtaining sweet eyes by long dark lashes hid | T |
Eyes that as yet had never learnt to weep | J2 |
But woke up smiling like a child's from sleep | J2 |
Though fainter lines were pencill'd on the brow | U2 |
Which cast soft shadow on the orbs below | V2 |
Though deeper colour flush'd her youthful cheek | W2 |
In its smooth curve more joyous and less meek | W2 |
And fuller seem'd the small and crimson mouth | X2 |
With teeth like those that glitter in the South | X2 |
She had but youth's superior brightness such | L2 |
As the skill'd painter gives with flattering touch | L2 |
When he would picture every lingering grace | R |
Which once shone brighter in some copied face | R |
And it was compliment whene'er she smiled | T |
To say 'Thou'rt like thy mother my fair child ' | - |
- | |
Sweet is the image of the brooding dove | Y2 |
Holy as Heaven a mother's tender love | Y2 |
The love of many prayers and many tears | R |
Which changes not with dim declining years | R |
The only love which on this teeming earth | M |
Asks no return from Passion's wayward birth | M |
The only love that with a touch divine | Z2 |
Displaces from the heart's most secret shrine | Z2 |
The idol SELF Oh prized beneath thy due | T2 |
When life's untried affections all are new | T2 |
Love from whose calmer hope and holier rest | T |
Like a fledged bird impatient of the nest | T |
The human heart rebellious springs to seek | W2 |
Delights more vehement in ties more weak | W2 |
How strange to us appears in after life | S |
That term of mingled carelessness and strife | S |
- | |
When guardianship so gentl | V2 |
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
(1)
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