Elegy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAC DEDEFGF HIHIFJFJKFKFLFLFMHM NEOEPQRQ STSTLFLFEUEUFFFFOFOF VWV CKBK| 'DARK gathering clouds involve the threatening skies | A |
| The sea heaves conscious of the impending gloom | B |
| Deep hollow murmurs from the cliffs arise | A |
| They come the Spirits of the Tempest come | C |
| - | |
| 'Oh may such terrors mark the approaching night | D |
| As reign'd on that these streaming eyes deplore | E |
| Flash ye red fires of heaven with fatal light | D |
| And with conflicting winds ye waters roar | E |
| 'Loud and more loud ye foaming billows burst | F |
| Ye warring elements more fiercely rave | G |
| Till the wide waves o'erwhelm the spot accurst | F |
| 'Where ruthless Avarice finds a quiet grave ' ' | - |
| Thus with clasp'd hands wild looks and streaming hair | H |
| While shrieks of horror broke her trembling speech | I |
| A wretched maid the victim of despair | H |
| Survey'd the threatening storm and desert beech | I |
| Then to the tomb where now the father slept | F |
| Whose rugged nature bade her sorrows flow | J |
| Frantic she turn'd and beat her breast and wept | F |
| Invoking vengeance on the dust below | J |
| 'Lo rising there above each humbler heap | K |
| Yon cypher'd stones his name and wealth relate | F |
| Who gave his son remorseless to the deep | K |
| While I his living victim curse my fate | F |
| 'Oh my lost love no tomb is placed for thee | L |
| That may to strangers' eyes thy worth impart | F |
| Thou hast no grave but in the stormy sea | L |
| And no memorial but this breaking heart | F |
| 'Forth to the world a widow'd wanderer driven | M |
| I pour to winds and waves the unheeded tear | H |
| Try with vain effort to submit to Heaven | M |
| And fruitless call on him 'who cannot hear ' | - |
| 'Oh might I fondly clasp him once again | N |
| While o'er my head the infuriate billows pour | E |
| Forget in death this agonizing pain | O |
| And feel his father's cruelty no more | E |
| 'Part raging waters part and show beneath | P |
| In your dread caves his pale and mangled form | Q |
| Now while the demons of despair and death | R |
| Ride on the blast and urge the howling storm | Q |
| - | |
| 'Lo by the lightning's momentary blaze | S |
| I see him rise the whitening waves above | T |
| No longer such as when in happier days | S |
| He gave the enchanted hours to me and love | T |
| 'Such as when daring the enchafed sea | L |
| And courting dangerous toil he often said | F |
| That every peril one soft smile from me | L |
| One sigh of speechless tenderness o'erpaid | F |
| 'But dead disfigured while between the roar | E |
| Of the loud waves his accents pierce mine ear | U |
| And seem to say Ah wretch delay no more | E |
| But come unhappy mourner meet me here | U |
| 'Yet powerful Fancy bid the phantom stay | F |
| Still let me hear him 'Tis already past | F |
| Along the waves his shadow glides away | F |
| I lose his voice amid the deafening blast | F |
| 'Ah wild delusion born of frantic pain | O |
| He hears not comes not from his watery bed | F |
| My tears my anguish my despair are vain | O |
| The insatiate ocean gives not up its dead | F |
| ' 'Tis not his voice Hark the deep thunders roll | V |
| Upheaves the ground the rocky barriers fail | W |
| Approach ye horrors that delight my soul | V |
| Despair and Death and Desolation hail ' | - |
| The Ocean hears The embodied waters come | C |
| Rise o'er the land and with resistless sweep | K |
| Tear from its base the proud aggressor's tomb | B |
| And bear the injured to eternal sleep | K |
Charlotte Smith
(1)
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About Elegy
Elegy is a poem by Charlotte Smith. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.