Voyage To Cythera Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCD EFFE GHIJ DKDK ELME NOON PQPQ RSTS UVWU XYZA2 B2C2D2B2 CE2F2G2 H2RTX I2J2K2I2 EEH2H2| Free as a bird and joyfully my heart | A |
| Soared up among the rigging in and out | B |
| Under a cloudless sky the ship rolled on | C |
| Like an angel drunk with brilliant sun | D |
| - | |
| That dark grim island there which would that be | E |
| Cythera we're told the legendary isle | F |
| Old bachelors tell stories of and smile | F |
| There's really not much to it you can see | E |
| - | |
| O place of many a mystic sacrament | G |
| Archaic Aphrodite's splendid shade | H |
| Lingers above your waters like a scent | I |
| Infusing spirits with an amorous mood | J |
| - | |
| Worshipped from of old by every nation | D |
| Myrtle green isle where each new bud discloses | K |
| Sighs of souls in loving adoration | D |
| Breathing like incense from a bank of roses | K |
| - | |
| Or like a dove roo cooing endlessly | E |
| No Cythera was a poor infertile rock | L |
| A stony desert harrowed by the shriek | M |
| Of gulls And yet there was something to see | E |
| - | |
| This was no temple deep in flowers and trees | N |
| With a young priestess moving to and fro | O |
| Her body heated by a secret glow | O |
| Her robe half opening to every breeze | N |
| - | |
| But coasting nearer close enough to land | P |
| To scatter flocks of birds as we passed by | Q |
| We saw a tall cypress shaped thing at hand | P |
| A triple gibbet black against the sky | Q |
| - | |
| Ferocious birds each perched on its own meal | R |
| Were madly tearing at the thing that hung | S |
| And ripened each its filthy beak a drill | T |
| Made little bleeding holes to root among | S |
| - | |
| The eyes were hollowed Heavy guts cascading | U |
| Flowed like water halfway down the thighs | V |
| The torturers though gorged on these vile joys | W |
| Had also put their beaks to use castrating | U |
| - | |
| The corpse A pack of dogs beneath its feet | X |
| Their muzzles lifted whirled and snapped and gnawed | Y |
| One bigger beast amidst this jealous lot | Z |
| Looked like an executioner with his guard | A2 |
| - | |
| O Cytherean child of this fair clime | B2 |
| Silently you suffered these attacks | C2 |
| Paying the penalty for whatever acts | D2 |
| Of infamy had kept you from a tomb | B2 |
| - | |
| Grotesquely dangling somehow you brought on | C |
| Violent as vomit rising from the chest | E2 |
| Strong as a river bilious to taste | F2 |
| A flow of sufferings I'd thought long gone | G2 |
| - | |
| Confronted with such dear remembered freight | H2 |
| Poor devil now it was my turn to feel | R |
| A panther's slavering jaws a beak's cruel drill | T |
| Once it was my flesh they loved to eat | X |
| - | |
| The sky was lovely and the sea divine | I2 |
| but something thick and binding like a shroud | J2 |
| Wrapped my heart in layers of black and blood | K2 |
| Henceforth this allegory would be mine | I2 |
| - | |
| O Venus On your isle what did I see | E |
| But my own image on the gallows tree | E |
| O God give me the strength to contemplate | H2 |
| My own heart my own body without hate | H2 |
Charles Baudelaire
(1)
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About Voyage To Cythera
Voyage To Cythera is a poem by Charles Baudelaire. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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