The Creek Of The Four Graves [late Version] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNCOPQQR QSTUVWXPQYZA2B2 QC2VXD2QQQQPQ QE2F2QC2G2GC2C2VQG2C 2VQQH2XQC2Q HC2QJPTI2C2C2 QC2J2C2QC2QQK2C2C2L2 C2C2K2M2QC2QC2C2C2TQ N2L2GQQO2TSQD2X P2Q2C2Q2XC2QD2R2LS2C 2ST2U2QQQ M2QQC2QWV2TTW2QX2Y2Z 2L2A3YQ TB3QLC2K2QW2C2C2QQC2 QQC2 I2G2C3YC2B3C2Q2HC2D3 QQQC2W2QC2QC2M2QB3

A settler in the olden times went forthA
With four of his most bold and trusted menB
Into the wilderness went forth to seekC
New streams and wider pastures for his fastD
Increasing flocks and herds O er mountain routesE
And over wild wolds clouded up with brushF
And cut with marshes perilously deepG
So went they forth at dawn at eve the sunH
That rose behind them as they journeyed outI
Was firing with his nether rim a rangeJ
Of unknown mountains that like ramparts toweredK
Full in their front and his last glances fellL
Into the gloomy forest s eastern gladesM
In golden gleams like to the Angel s swordN
And flashed upon the windings of a creekC
That noiseless ran betwixt the pioneersO
And those new Apennines ran shaded o erP
With boughs of the wild willow hanging mixedQ
From either bank or duskily befringedQ
With upward tapering feathery swamp oaksR
The sylvan eyelash always of remoteQ
Australian waters whether gleaming stillS
In lake or pool or bickering alongT
Between the marges of some eager streamU
Before them thus extended wilder grewV
The scene each moment and more beautifulW
For when the sun was all but sunk belowX
Those barrier mountains in the breeze that o erP
Their rough enormous backs deep fleeced with woodQ
Came whispering down the wide up slanting seaY
Of fanning leaves in the descending raysZ
Danced dazzlingly tingling as if the treesA2
Thrilled to the roots for very happinessB2
-
But when the sun had wholly disappearedQ
Behind those mountains O what words what huesC2
Might paint the wild magnificence of viewV
That opened westward Out extending loX
The heights rose crowding with their summits allD2
Dissolving as it seemed and partly lostQ
In the exceeding radiancy aloftQ
And thus transfigured for awhile they stoodQ
Like a great company of archaeons crownedQ
With burning diadems and tented o erP
With canopies of purple and of goldQ
-
Here halting wearied now the sun was setQ
Our travellers kindled for their first night s campE2
A brisk and crackling fire which seemed to themF2
A wilder creature than twas elsewhere wontQ
Because of the surrounding savagenessC2
And as they supped birds of new shape and plumeG2
And wild strange voice came by and up the steepG
Between the climbing forest growths they sawC2
Perched on the bare abutments of the hillsC2
Where haply yet some lingering gleam fell throughV
The wallaroo look forth Eastward at lastQ
The glow was wasted into formless gloomG2
Night s front then westward the high massing woodsC2
Steeped in a swart but mellow Indian hueV
A deep dusk loveliness lay ridged and heapedQ
Only the more distinctly for their shadeQ
Against the twilight hearen a cloudless depthH2
Yet luminous with sunset s fading glowX
And thus awhile in the lit dusk they seemedQ
To hang like mighty pictures of themselvesC2
In the still chambers of some vaster worldQ
-
At last the business of the supper doneH
The echoes of the solitary placeC2
Came as in sylvan wonder wide aboutQ
To hear and imitate the voices strangeJ
Within the pleasant purlieus of the fireP
Lifted in glee but to be hushed erelongT
As with the darkness of the night there cameI2
O er the adventurers each and all some senseC2
Of danger lurking in its forest lairsC2
-
But nerved by habit they all gathered roundQ
About the well built fire whose nimble tonguesC2
Sent up continually a strenuous roarJ2
Of fierce delight and from their fuming pipesC2
Drawing rude comfort round the pleasant lightQ
With grave discourse they planned their next day s deedsC2
Wearied at length their couches they preparedQ
Of rushes and the long green tresses pulledQ
From the bent boughs of the wild willows nearK2
Then the four men stretched out their tired limbsC2
Under the dark arms of the forest treesC2
That mixed aloft high in the starry airL2
In arcs and leafy domes whose crossing curvesC2
Blended with denser intergrowth of spraysC2
Were seen in mass traced out against the clearK2
Wide gaze of heaven and trustful of the watchM2
Kept near them by their master soon they sleptQ
Forgetful of the perilous wildernessC2
That lay around them like a spectral worldQ
And all things slept the circling forest treesC2
Their foremost boles carved from a crowded massC2
Less visible by the watch fire s bladed gleamsC2
That ran far out in the umbrageous darkT
Beyond the broad red ring of constant lightQ
And even the shaded mountains darkly seenN2
Their bluff brows looming through the stirless airL2
Looked in their stillness solemnly asleepG
Yea thence surveyed the universe might have seemedQ
Coiled in vast rest only that one dark cloudQ
Diffused and shapen like a spider hugeO2
Crept as with scrawling legs along the skyT
And that the stars in their bright orders stillS
Cluster by cluster glowingly revealedQ
As this slow cloud moved on high over allD2
Peaceful and wakeful watched the world belowX
-
-
Part IIP2
Meanwhile the cloudless eastern heaven had grownQ2
More luminous and now the moon aroseC2
Above the hill when lo that giant coneQ2
Erewhile so dark seemed inwardly aglowX
With her instilled irradiance while the treesC2
That fringed its outline their huge statures dwarfedQ
By distance into brambles and yet allD2
Clearly defined against her ample orbR2
Out of its very disc appeared to swellL
In shadowy relief as they had beenS2
All sculptured from its surface as she roseC2
Then her full light in silvery sequence stillS
Cascading forth from ridgy slope to slopeT2
Chased mass by mass the broken darkness downU2
Into the dense brushed valleys where it crouchedQ
And shrank and struggled like a dragon doubtQ
Glooming a lonely spiritQ
-
His lone watchM2
The master kept and wakeful looked abroadQ
On all the solemn beauty of the worldQ
And by some sweet and subtle tie that joinsC2
The loved and cherished absent from our sideQ
With all that is serene and beautifulW
In Nature thoughts of home began to stealV2
Into his musings when on a sudden harkT
A bough cracks loudly in a neighbouring brakeT
Against the shade side of a bending gumW2
With a strange horror gathering to his heartQ
As if his blood were charged with insect lifeX2
And writhed along in clots he stilled himselfY2
And listened heedfully till his held breathZ2
Became a pang Nought heard he silence thereL2
Had recomposed her ruffled wings and nowA3
Deep brooded in the darkness so that heY
Again mused on quiet and reassuredQ
-
But there again crack upon crack AwakeT
O heaven have hell s worst fiends burst howling upB3
Into the death doomed world Or whence if notQ
From diabolic rage could surge a yellL
So horrible as that which now affrightsC2
The shuddering dark Beings as fell are nearK2
Yea beings in their dread inherited hateQ
Awful vengeful as hell s worst fiends are comeW2
In vengeance For behold from the long grassC2
And nearer brakes arise the bounding formsC2
Of painted savages full in the lightQ
Thrown outward by the fire that roused and lappedQ
The rounding darknesswith its ruddy tonguesC2
More fiercely than before as though even itQ
Had felt the sudden shock the air receivedQ
From those terrific criesC2
-
On then they cameI2
And rushed upon the sleepers three of whomG2
But started and then weltered prone beneathC3
The first fell blow dealt down on each by threeY
Of the most stalwart of their pitiless foesC2
But one again and yet again rose upB3
Rose to his knees under the crushing strokesC2
Of huge clubbed nulla nullas till his ownQ2
Warm blood was blinding him For he was oneH
Who had with misery nearly all his daysC2
Lived lonely and who therefore in his soulD3
Did hunger after hope and thirst for whatQ
Hope still had promised him some taste at leastQ
Of human good however long deferredQ
And now he could not even in dying looseC2
His hold on life s poor chances still to comeW2
Could not but so dispute the terrible factQ
Of death e en in death s presence Strange it isC2
Yet oft tis seen that fortune s pampered childQ
Consents to death s untimely power with lessC2
Reluctance less despair than does the wretchM2
Who hath been ever blown about the worldQ
The straw like spoB3

Charles Harpur



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