The Fever-dream Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGG HHIIJJKKLLMM NNOPAAA QQRRSSTT IIUUVVWWXXOOYYZZ A2A2B2B2MMC2C2D2D2E2 E2F2G2MM H2H2| IT was a fever dream I lay | A |
| Awake as in the broad bright day | A |
| But faint and worn I drew my breath | B |
| Like those who wait for coming death | B |
| And my hand lay helpless on my pillow | C |
| Weak as a reed or bending willow | C |
| And the night lamp with its shadowy veil | D |
| And its light so sickly faint and pale | D |
| Gleamed mournfully on objects round | E |
| And the clock's stroke was the only sound | E |
| Measuring the hours of silent time | F |
| With a heavy and unwelcome chime | F |
| As still monotonously true | G |
| To its pulse like beat the minutes flew | G |
| - | |
| I was alone but not asleep | H |
| Too weary and too wetk to weep | H |
| My eyes had closed in sadness there | I |
| And they who watched o'er my despair | I |
| Had placed that dim light in the room | J |
| And deepened the surrounding gloom | J |
| By curtaining out the few sad rays | K |
| Which made things present to my gaze | K |
| And all because they vainly thought | L |
| At last the night its rest had brought | L |
| Alas rest came no more to me | M |
| So heavy was my misery | M |
| - | |
| They left me and my heart was filled | N |
| With wandering dreams whose fancies thrilled | N |
| Painfully through my feeble brain | O |
| Till I almost wished them back again | P |
| Yet wherefore should I bid them stay | A |
| They could not chase those dreams away | A |
| But only watch me as I lay | A |
| - | |
| They left me and the midnight stroke | Q |
| From the old clock the silence broke | Q |
| And with a wild repining sigh | R |
| I wished it were my time to die | R |
| And then with spirit all dismayed | S |
| For that wild wish forgiveness prayed | S |
| Humbling myself to God's high power | T |
| To bear His will and wait His hour | T |
| - | |
| And while I darkly rested there | I |
| The breath of a young child's floating hair | I |
| Perfumed and warm and glistening bright | U |
| Swept past me in the shrouding night | U |
| And the footsteps of children light and quick | V |
| While my heart beat loud and my breath came thick | V |
| Went to and fro on the silent floor | W |
| And the lock was turned in the fastened door | W |
| As a child may turn it who tiptoe stands | X |
| With his fair round arms and his dimpled hands | X |
| Putting out all their strength in vain | O |
| Admittance by his own means to gain | O |
| Till his sweet impatient voice is heard | Y |
| Like the chirp of a young imprisoned bird | Y |
| Seeking an entrance still to win | Z |
| By fond petitions to those within | Z |
| - | |
| A child's soft shadowy hair bright smiles | A2 |
| His merry laugh and coaxing wiles | A2 |
| These are sweet things most precious things | B2 |
| But in spite of my brain's wild wanderings | B2 |
| I knew that they dwelt in my fancy only | M |
| And that I was sad and left and lonely | M |
| And the fear of a dreadful madness came | C2 |
| And withered my soul like a parching flame | C2 |
| And I felt the strong delirium growing | D2 |
| And the thread of my feeble senses going | D2 |
| And I heard with a horror all untold | E2 |
| Which turned my hot blood icy cold | E2 |
| Those light steps draw more near my bed | F2 |
| And by visions I was visited | G2 |
| Of the gentle eyes which I might not see | M |
| And the faces that were so far from me | M |
| - | |
| And blest oh I blest was the morning beam | H2 |
| Which woke me up from my fever dream | H2 |
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
(1)
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About The Fever-dream
The Fever-dream is a poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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