From Homer Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBDEFBGFEHCFIEEEJEF IFFKLFEMFENFOPFIIPEF NHIEHPHLLPGEHIHFNEHH EEHIHEEFEGCIGFILGNEF PHFENEHHNPEFHPGIJHPE GEGEQIEHLGPFNIGFPEIN EENEFPHEF| Il | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| Sing O daughter of heaven of Peleus' son of Achilles | B |
| Him whose terrible wrath brought thousand woes on Achaia | C |
| Many a stalwart soul did it hurl untimely to Hades | B |
| Souls of the heroes of old and their bones lay strown on the sea sands | D |
| Prey to the vulture and dog Yet was Zeus fulfilling a purpose | E |
| Since that far off day when in hot strife parted asunder | F |
| Atreus' sceptred son and the chos'n of heaven Achilles | B |
| Say then which of the Gods bid arise up battle between them | G |
| Zeus's and Leto's son With the king was kindled his anger | F |
| Then went sickness abroad and the people died of the sickness | E |
| For that of Atreus' son had his priest been lightly entreated | H |
| Chryses Apollo's priest For he came to the ships of Achaia | C |
| Bearing a daughter's ransom a sum not easy to number | F |
| And in his hand was the emblem of Him far darting Apollo | I |
| High on a sceptre of gold and he made his prayer to the Grecians | E |
| Chiefly to Atreus' sons twin chieftains ordering armies | E |
| Chiefs sprung of Atreus' loins and ye brazen greaved Achaians | E |
| So may the Gods this day the Olympus palaced grant you | J |
| Priam's city to raze and return unscathed to your homesteads | E |
| Only my own dear daughter I ask take ransom and yield her | F |
| Rev'rencing His great name son of Zeus far darting Apollo | I |
| Then from the host of Achaians arose tumultuous answer | F |
| Due to the priest is his honour accept rich ransom and yield her | F |
| But there was war in the spirit of Atreus' son Agamemnon | K |
| Disdainful he dismissed him a right stern fiat appending | L |
| Woe be to thee old man if I find thee lingering longer | F |
| Yea or returning again by the hollow ships of Achaians | E |
| Scarce much then will avail thee the great god's sceptre and emblem | M |
| Her will I never release Old age must first come upon her | F |
| In my own home yea in Argos afar from the land of her fathers | E |
| Following the loom and attending upon my bed But avaunt thee | N |
| Go and provoke not me that thy way may be haply securer | F |
| These were the words of the king and the old man feared and obeyed him | O |
| Voiceless he went by the shore of the great dull echoing ocean | P |
| Thither he got him apart that ancient man and a long prayer | F |
| Prayed to Apollo his Lord son of golden ringleted Leto | I |
| Lord of the silver bow whose arm girds Chryse and Cilla | I |
| Cilla loved of the Gods and in might sways Tenedos hearken | P |
| Oh if in days gone by I have built from floor unto cornice | E |
| Smintheus a fair shrine for thee or burned in the flames of the altar | F |
| Fat flesh of bulls and of goats then do this thing that I ask thee | N |
| Hurl on the Greeks thy shafts that thy servant's tears be avenged | H |
| So did he pray and his prayer reached the ears of Phoebus Apollo | I |
| Dark was the soul of the god as he moved from the heights of Olympus | E |
| Shouldering a bow and a quiver on this side fast and on that side | H |
| Onward in anger he moved And the arrows stirred by the motion | P |
| Rattled and rang on his shoulder he came as cometh the midnight | H |
| Hard by the ships he stayed him and loosed one shaft from the bow string | L |
| Harshly the stretched string twanged of the bow all silvery shining | L |
| First fell his wrath on the mules and the swift footed hound of the herdsman | P |
| Afterward smote he the host With a rankling arrow he smote them | G |
| Aye and the morn and the even were red with the glare of the corpse fires | E |
| Nine days over the host sped the shafts of the god and the tenth day | H |
| Dawned and Achilles said Be a council called of the people | I |
| Such thought came to his mind from the goddess Hera the white armed | H |
| Hera who loved those Greeks and who saw them dying around her | F |
| So when all were collected and ranged in a solemn assembly | N |
| Straightway rose up amidst them and spake swift footed Achilles | E |
| Atreus' son it were better I think this day that we wandered | H |
| Back re seeking our homes if a warfare MAY be avoided | H |
| Now when the sword and the plague these two things fight with Achaians | E |
| Come let us seek out now some priest some seer amongst us | E |
| Yea or a dreamer of dreams for a dream too cometh of God's hand | H |
| Whence we may learn what hath angered in this wise Phoebus Apollo | I |
| Whether mayhap he reprove us of prayer or of oxen unoffered | H |
| Whether accepting the incense of lambs and of blemishless he goats | E |
| Yet it be his high will to remove this misery from us | E |
| Down sat the prince he had spoken And uprose to them in answer | F |
| Kalchas Thestor's son high chief of the host of the augurs | E |
| Well he knew what is present what will be and what was aforetime | G |
| He into Ilion's harbour had led those ships of Achaia | C |
| All by the Power of the Art which he gained from Phoebus Apollo | I |
| Thus then kindliest hearted arising spake he before them | G |
| Peleus' son Thou demandest a man heavenfavor'd an answer | F |
| Touching the Great King's wrath the afar off aiming Apollo | I |
| Therefore I lift up my voice Swear thou to me duly digesting | L |
| All that with right good will by word and by deed thou wilt aid me | G |
| Surely the ire will awaken of one who mightily ruleth | N |
| Over the Argives all and upon him wait the Achaians | E |
| Aye is the battle the king's when a poor man kindleth his anger | F |
| For if but this one day he devour his indignation | P |
| Still on the morrow abideth a rage that its end be accomplished | H |
| Deep in the soul of the king So bethink thee wilt thou deliver | F |
| Then unto him making answer arose swift footed Achilles | E |
| Fearing nought up and open the god's will all that is told thee | N |
| For by Apollo's self heaven's favourite whom thou Kalchas | E |
| Serving aright to the armies aloud God oracles op'nest | H |
| None while as yet I breathe upon earth yet walk in the daylight | H |
| Shall at the hollow ships lift hand of oppression against thee | N |
| None out of all yon host not and if thou said'st Agamemnon | P |
| Who now sits in his glory the topmost flower of the armies | E |
| Then did the blameless prophet at last wax valiant and answer | F |
| Lo He doth not reprove us of prayer or of oxen unoffered | H |
| But for his servant's sake the disdained of king Agamemnon | P |
| In that he loosed not his daughter inclined not his ear to a ransom | G |
| Therefore the Far darter sendeth and yet shall send on us evil | I |
| Nor shall he stay from the slaughter the hand that is heavy upon you | J |
| Till to her own dear father the bright eyed maiden is yielded | H |
| No price asked no ransom and ships bear hallowed oxen | P |
| Chryse wards then it may be will he shew mercy and hear us | E |
| These words said sat he down Then rose in his place and addressed them | G |
| Atreus' warrior son Agamemnon king of the nations | E |
| Sore grieved Fury was working in each dark cell of his bosom | G |
| And in his eye was a glare as a burning fiery furnace | E |
| First to the priest he addressed him his whole mien boding a mischief | Q |
| Priest of ill luck Never heard I of aught good from thee but evil | I |
| Still doth the evil thing unto thee seem sweeter of utt'rance | E |
| Leaving the thing which is good all unspoke all unaccomplished | H |
| Lo this day to the people thou say'st God oracles opening | L |
| What but that I am the cause why the god's hand worketh against them | G |
| For that in sooth I rejected a ransom aye and a rich one | P |
| Brought for the girl Briseis I did For I chose to possess her | F |
| Rather at home less favour hath Clytemnestra before me | N |
| Clytemnestra my wife unto her Briseis is equal | I |
| Equal in form and in stature in mind and in womanly wisdom | G |
| Still even thus am I ready to yield her so it be better | F |
| Better is saving alive I hold than slaying a nation | P |
| Meanwhile deck me a guerdon in her stead lest of Achaians | E |
| I should alone lack honour an unmeet thing and a shameful | I |
| See all men that my guerdon I wot not whither it goeth | N |
| Then unto him made answer the swift foot chieftain Achilles | E |
| O most vaunting of men most gain loving off spring of Atreus | E |
| How shall the lords of Achaia bestow fresh guerdon upon thee | N |
| Surely we know not yet of a treasure piled in abundance | E |
| That which the sacking of cities hath brought to us all hath an owner | F |
| Yea it were all unfit that the host make redistribution | P |
| Yield thou the maid to the god So threefold surely and fourfold | H |
| All we Greeks will requite thee should that day dawn when the great Gods | E |
| Grant that of yon proud walls not one stone rest on another | F |
Charles Stuart Calverley
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About From Homer
From Homer is a poem by Charles Stuart Calverley. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about From Homer poem by Charles Stuart Calverley
Best Poems of Charles Stuart Calverley