Andromeda Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEBFCGGEHEEIJCKLA MJBGNGGCAOGBEGEFEGGP GCQBRESTEUVOGGGBBWCG GWXWCCWYXWBCWZEWGBA2 CWCGWOGCCWREYB2B2B2G WGGWZWCCWWYWWGZB2EC2 GGCGZEW| Over the sea past Crete on the Syrian shore to the southward | A |
| Dwells in the well tilled lowland a dark haired AEthiop people | B |
| Skilful with needle and loom and the arts of the dyer and carver | C |
| Skilful but feeble of heart for they know not the lords of Olympus | D |
| Lovers of men neither broad browed Zeus nor Pallas Athene | E |
| Teacher of wisdom to heroes bestower of might in the battle | B |
| Share not the cunning of Hermes nor list to the songs of Apollo | F |
| Fearing the stars of the sky and the roll of the blue salt water | C |
| Fearing all things that have life in the womb of the seas and the livers | G |
| Eating no fish to this day nor ploughing the main like the Phoenics | G |
| Manful with black beaked ships they abide in a sorrowful region | E |
| Vexed with the earthquake and flame and the sea floods scourge of | H |
| Poseidon | E |
| Whelming the dwellings of men and the toils of the slow footed oxen | E |
| Drowning the barley and flax and the hard earned gold of the harvest | I |
| Up to the hillside vines and the pastures skirting the woodland | J |
| Inland the floods came yearly and after the waters a monster | C |
| Bred of the slime like the worms which are bred from the slime of the Nile | K |
| bank | L |
| Shapeless a terror to see and by night it swam out to the seaward | A |
| Daily returning to feed with the dawn and devoured of the fairest | M |
| Cattle and children and maids till the terrified people fled inland | J |
| Fasting in sackcloth and ashes they came both the king and his people | B |
| Came to the mountain of oaks to the house of the terrible sea gods | G |
| Hard by the gulf in the rocks where of old the world wide deluge | N |
| Sank to the inner abyss and the lake where the fish of the goddess | G |
| Holy undying abide whom the priests feed daily with dainties | G |
| There to the mystical fish high throned in her chamber of cedar | C |
| Burnt they the fat of the flock till the flame shone far to the seaward | A |
| Three days fasting they prayed but the fourth day the priests of the | O |
| goddess | G |
| Cunning in spells cast lots to discover the crime of the people | B |
| All day long they cast till the house of the monarch was taken | E |
| Cepheus king of the land and the faces of all gathered blackness | G |
| Then once more they cast and Cassiopoeia was taken | E |
| Deep bosomed wife of the king whom oft far seeing Apollo | F |
| Watched well pleased from the welkin the fairest of AEthiop women | E |
| Fairest save only her daughter for down to the ankle her tresses | G |
| Rolled blue black as the night ambrosial joy to beholders | G |
| Awful and fair she arose most like in her coming to Here | P |
| Queen before whom the Immortals arise as she comes on Olympus | G |
| Out of the chamber of gold which her son Hephaestos has wrought her | C |
| Such in her stature and eyes and the broad white light of her forehead | Q |
| Stately she came from her place and she spoke in the midst of the people | B |
| 'Pure are my hands from blood most pure this heart in my bosom | R |
| Yet one fault I remember this day one word have I spoken | E |
| Rashly I spoke on the shore and I dread lest the sea should have heard it | S |
| Watching my child at her bath as she plunged in the joy of her girlhood | T |
| Fairer I called her in pride than Atergati queen of the ocean | E |
| Judge ye if this be my sin for I know none other ' She ended | U |
| Wrapping her head in her mantle she stood and the people were silent | V |
| Answered the dark browed priests 'No word once spoken returneth | O |
| Even if uttered unwitting Shall gods excuse our rashness | G |
| That which is done that abides and the wrath of the sea is against us | G |
| Hers and the wrath of her brother the Sun god lord of the sheepfolds | G |
| Fairer than her hast thou boasted thy daughter Ah folly for hateful | B |
| Hateful are they to the gods whoso impious liken a mortal | B |
| Fair though he be to their glory and hateful is that which is likened | W |
| Grieving the eyes of their pride and abominate doomed to their anger | C |
| What shall be likened to gods The unknown who deep in the darkness | G |
| Ever abide twyformed many handed terrible shapeless | G |
| Woe to the queen for the land is defiled and the people accursed | W |
| Take thou her therefore by night thou ill starred Cassiopoeia | X |
| Take her with us in the night when the moon sinks low to the westward | W |
| Bind her aloft for a victim a prey for the gorge of the monster | C |
| Far on the sea girt rock which is washed by the surges for ever | C |
| So may the goddess accept her and so may the land make atonement | W |
| Purged by her blood from its sin so obey thou the doom of the rulers ' | Y |
| Bitter in soul they went out Cepheus and Cassiopoeia | X |
| Bitter in soul and their hearts whirled round as the leaves in the eddy | W |
| Weak was the queen and rebelled but the king like a shepherd of people | B |
| Willed not the land should waste so he yielded the life of his daughter | C |
| Deep in the wane of the night as the moon sank low to the westward | W |
| They by the shade of the cliffs with the horror of darkness around them | Z |
| Stole as ashamed to a deed which became not the light of the sunshine | E |
| Slowly the priests and the queen and the virgin bound in the galley | W |
| Slowly they rowed to the rocks but Cepheus far in the palace | G |
| Sate in the midst of the hall on his throne like a shepherd of people | B |
| Choking his woe dry eyed while the slaves wailed loudly around him | A2 |
| They on the sea girt rock which is washed by the surges for ever | C |
| Set her in silence the guiltless aloft with her face to the eastward | W |
| Under a crag of the stone where a ledge sloped down to the water | C |
| There they set Andromeden most beautiful shaped like a goddess | G |
| Lifting her long white arms wide spread to the walls of the basalt | W |
| Chaining them ruthless with brass and they called on the might of the | O |
| Rulers | G |
| 'Mystical fish of the seas dread Queen whom AEthiops honour | C |
| Whelming the land in thy wrath unavoidable sharp as the sting ray | C |
| Thou and thy brother the Sun brain smiting lord of the sheepfold | W |
| Scorching the earth all day and then resting at night in thy bosom | R |
| Take ye this one life for many appeased by the blood of a maiden | E |
| Fairest and born of the fairest a queen most priceless of victims ' | Y |
| Thrice they spat as they went by the maid but her mother delaying | B2 |
| Fondled her child to the last heart crushed and the warmth of her weeping | B2 |
| Fell on the breast of the maid as her woe broke forth into wailing | B2 |
| 'Daughter my daughter forgive me Oh curse not the murderess Curse | G |
| not | W |
| How have I sinned but in love Do the gods grudge glory to mothers | G |
| Loving I bore thee in vain in the fate cursed bride bed of Cepheus | G |
| Loving I fed thee and tended and loving rejoiced in thy beauty | W |
| Blessing thy limbs as I bathed them and blessing thy locks as I combed them | Z |
| Decking thee ripening to woman I blest thee yet blessing I slew thee | W |
| How have I sinned but in love Oh swear to me swear to thy mother | C |
| Never to haunt me with curse as I go to the grave in my sorrow | C |
| Childless and lone may the gods never send me another to slay it | W |
| See I embrace thy knees soft knees where no babe will be fondled | W |
| Swear to me never to curse me the hapless one not in the death pang ' | Y |
| Weeping she clung to the knees of the maid and the maid low answered | W |
| 'Curse thee Not in the death pang ' The heart of the lady was lightened | W |
| Slowly she went by the ledge and the maid was alone in the darkness | G |
| Watching the pulse of the oars die down as her own died with them | Z |
| Tearless dumb with amaze she stood as a storm stunned nestling | B2 |
| Fallen from bough or from eave lies dumb which the home going herdsman | E |
| Fancies a stone till he catches the light of its terrified eyeball | C2 |
| So through the long long hours the maid stood helpless and hopeless | G |
| Wide eyed downward gazing in vain at the black blank darkness | G |
| Feebly at last she began while wild thoughts bubbled within her | C |
| 'Guiltless I am why thus then Are gods more ruthless than mortals | G |
| Have they no mercy for youth no love for the souls who have loved them | Z |
| Even as I loved thee dread sea as I played by thy margin | E |
| B | W |
Charles Kingsley
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About Andromeda
Andromeda is a poem by Charles Kingsley. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about Andromeda poem by Charles Kingsley
Best Poems of Charles Kingsley