Studies By The Sea Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABBCBCDD EAEAAFAFGGHIHI JKJKLLMNMNNONO EEPQPQRSQSTT UEVEEWEXEEYBYB BZBZSSKA2KB2C2D2B2D2 TTEE2EE2E2AE2ABB F2G2H2G2G2XG2XEEEXEX XG2XG2EERI2RI2I2G2I2 G2 J2J2EEEEEEEEG2G2AH wherefore do the incurious say | A |
That this stupendous ocean wide | B |
No change presents from day to day | A |
Save only the alternate tide | B |
Or save when gales of summer glide | B |
Across the lightly crisped wave | C |
Or when against the cliff's rough side | B |
As equinoctial tempests rave | C |
It wildly bursts o'erwhelms the deluged strand | D |
Tears down its bounds and desolates the land | D |
- | |
He who with more enquiring eyes | E |
Doth this extensive scene survey | A |
Beholds innumerous changes rise | E |
As various winds its surface sway | A |
Now o'er its heaving bosom play | A |
Small sparkling waves of silver gleam | F |
And as they lightly glide away | A |
Illume with fluctuating beam | F |
The deepening surge green as the dewy corn | G |
That undulates in April's breezy morn | G |
The far off waters then assume | H |
A glowing amethystine shade | I |
That changing like the peacock's plume | H |
Seems in celestial blue to fade | I |
- | |
Or paler colder hues of lead | J |
As lurid vapours float on high | K |
Along the ruffling billows spread | J |
While darkly lours the threatening sky | K |
And the small scatter'd barks with outspread shrouds | L |
Catch the long gleams that fall between the clouds | L |
Then day's bright star with blunted rays | M |
Seems struggling thro' the sea fog pale | N |
And doubtful in the heavy haze | M |
Is dimly seen the nearing sail | N |
'Till from the land a fresher gale | N |
Disperses the white mist and clear | O |
As melts away the gauzy veil | N |
The sun reflecting waves appear | O |
- | |
So brighter genuine virtue seems to rise | E |
From envy's dark invidious calumnies | E |
What glories on the sun attend | P |
When the full tides of evening flow | Q |
Where in still changing beauty blend | P |
With amber light the opal's glow | Q |
While in the east the diamond bow | R |
Rises in virgin lustre bright | S |
And from the horizon seems to throw | Q |
A partial line of trembling light | S |
To the hush'd shore and all the tranquil deep | T |
Beneath the modest moon is sooth'd to sleep | T |
- | |
Forgotten then the thundering break | U |
Of waves that in the tempest rise | E |
The falling cliff the shatter'd wreck | V |
The howling blast the sufferer's cries | E |
For soft the breeze of evening sighs | E |
And murmuring seems in Fancy's ear | W |
To whisper fairy lullabies | E |
That tributary waters bear | X |
From precipices dark with piny woods | E |
And inland rocks and heathy solitudes | E |
The vast encircling seas within | Y |
What endless swarms of creatures hide | B |
Of burnish'd scale and spiny fin | Y |
These providential instincts guide | B |
- | |
And bid them know the annual tide | B |
When from unfathom'd waves that swell | Z |
Beyond Fuego's stormy side | B |
They come to cheer the tribes that dwell | Z |
In Boreal climes and thro' his half year's night | S |
Give to the Lapland savage food and light | S |
From cliffs that pierce the northern sky | K |
Where eagles rear their sanguine brood | A2 |
With long awaiting patient eye | K |
Baffled by many a sailing cloud | B2 |
The Highland native marks the flood | C2 |
Till bright the quickening billows roll | D2 |
And hosts of sea birds clamouring loud | B2 |
Track with wild wing the welcome shoal | D2 |
- | |
Swift o'er the animated current sweep | T |
And bear their silver captives from the deep | T |
Sons of the North your streamy vales | E |
With no rich sheaves rejoice and sing | E2 |
Her flowery robe no fruit conceals | E |
Tho' sweetly smile your tardy spring | E2 |
Yet every mountain clothed with ling | E2 |
Doth from its purple brow survey | A |
Your busy sails that ceaseless bring | E2 |
To the broad frith and sheltering bay | A |
Riches by Heaven's parental power supplied | B |
The harvest of the far embracing tide | B |
- | |
And where those fractur'd mountains lift | F2 |
O'er the blue wave their towering crest | G2 |
Each salient ledge and hollow cleft | H2 |
To sea fowl give a rugged nest | G2 |
But with instinctive love is drest | G2 |
The Eider's downy cradle where | X |
The mother bird her glossy breast | G2 |
Devotes and with maternal care | X |
And plumeless bosom stems the toiling seas | E |
That foam round the tempestuous Orcades | E |
From heights whence shuddering sense recoils | E |
And cloud capped headlands steep and bare | X |
Sons of the North your venturous toils | E |
Collect your poor and scanty fare | X |
- | |
Urged by imperious Want you dare | X |
Scale the loose cliff where Gannets hide | G2 |
Or scarce suspended in the air | X |
Hang perilous and thus provide | G2 |
The soft voluptuous couch which not secures | E |
To Luxury's pamper'd minions sleep like yours | E |
Revolving still the waves that now | R |
Just ripple on the level shore | I2 |
Have borne perchance the Indian's prow | R |
Or half congeal'd 'mid ice rocks hoar | I2 |
Raved to the Walrus' hollow roar | I2 |
Or have by currents swift convey'd | G2 |
To the cold coast of Labrador | I2 |
The relics of the tropic shade | G2 |
- | |
And to the wondering Esquimaux have shown | J2 |
Leaves of strange shape and fruits unlike their own | J2 |
No more then let the incurious say | E |
No change this world of water shows | E |
But as the tides the moon obey | E |
Or tempests rave or calms repose | E |
Shew them its bounteous breast bestows | E |
On myriads life and bid them see | E |
In every wave that circling flows | E |
Beauty and use and harmony | E |
Works of the Power Supreme who poured the flood | G2 |
Round the green peopled earth and call'd it good | G2 |
Charlotte Smith
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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