Shadow.'a Parable Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB B BCBDEFGH IAJAKLMGAACBNB CBBODPABBQBRBSTUBBVW XBUDAYOJZCA2CBB2ABJA C2YBYD2BME2BGAF2BCBB GBBBQOG2BBBABACBBOGD XYO

Yea though I walk through the valley of theA
ShadowB
-
'Psalm of David'B
-
Ye who read are still among the living but I who writeB
shall have long since gone my way into the region ofC
shadows For indeed strange things shall happen and secretB
things be known and many centuries shall pass away ereD
these memorials be seen of men And when seen there willE
be some to disbelieve and some to doubt and yet a few whoF
will find much to ponder upon in the characters here gravenG
with a stylus of ironH
-
The year had been a year of terror and of feeling moreI
intense than terror for which there is no name upon theA
earth For many prodigies and signs had taken place and farJ
and wide over sea and land the black wings of theA
Pestilence were spread abroad To those neverthelessK
cunning in the stars it was not unknown that the heavensL
wore an aspect of ill and to me the Greek Oinos amongM
others it was evident that now had arrived the alternationG
of that seven hundred and ninety fourth year when at theA
entrance of Aries the planet Jupiter is enjoined with theA
red ring of the terrible Saturnus The peculiar spirit ofC
the skies if I mistake not greatly made itself manifestB
not only in the physical orb of the earth but in the soulsN
imaginations and meditations of mankindB
-
Over some flasks of the red Chian wine within the walls ofC
a noble hall in a dim city called Ptolemais we sat atB
night a company of seven And to our chamber there was noB
entrance save by a lofty door of brass and the door wasO
fashioned by the artisan Corinnos and being of rareD
workmanship was fastened from within Black draperiesP
likewise in the gloomy room shut out from our view theA
moon the lurid stars and the peopleless streets butB
the boding and the memory of Evil they would not be soB
excluded There were things around us and about of which IQ
can render no distinct account things material andB
spiritual heaviness in the atmosphere a senseR
of suffocation anxiety and above all thatB
terrible state of existence which the nervous experienceS
when the senses are keenly living and awake and meanwhileT
the powers of thought lie dormant A dead weight hung uponU
us It hung upon our limbs upon the householdB
furniture upon the goblets from which we drank andB
all things were depressed and borne down thereby allV
things save only the flames of the seven iron lamps whichW
illumined our revel Uprearing themselves in tall slenderX
lines of light they thus remained burning all pallid andB
motionless and in the mirror which their lustre formed uponU
the round table of ebony at which we sat each of us thereD
assembled beheld the pallor of his own countenance and theA
unquiet glare in the downcast eyes of his companions Yet weY
laughed and were merry in our proper way which wasO
hysterical and sang the songs of Anacreon which areJ
madness and drank deeply although the purple wineZ
reminded us of blood For there was yet another tenant ofC
our chamber in the person of young Zoilus Dead and at fullA2
length he lay enshrouded the genius and the demon ofC
the scene Alas he bore no portion in our mirth save thatB
his countenance distorted with the plague and his eyes inB2
which Death had but half extinguished the fire of theA
pestilence seemed to take such an interest in our merrimentB
as the dead may haply take in the merriment of those who areJ
to die But although I Oinos felt that the eyes of theA
departed were upon me still I forced myself not to perceiveC2
the bitterness of their expression and gazing down steadilyY
into the depths of the ebony mirror sang with a loud andB
sonorous voice the songs of the son of Teos But graduallyY
my songs they ceased and their echoes rolling afar offD2
among the sable draperies of the chamber became weak andB
undistinguishable and so faded away And lo from amongM
those sable draperies where the sounds of the songE2
departed there came forth a dark and undefiledB
shadow a shadow such as the moon when low in heavenG
might fashion from the figure of a man but it was theA
shadow neither of man nor of God nor of any familiar thingF2
And quivering awhile among the draperies of the room it atB
length rested in full view upon the surface of the door ofC
brass But the shadow was vague and formless andB
indefinite and was the shadow neither of man nor GodB
neither God of Greece nor God of Chaldaea nor any EgyptianG
God And the shadow rested upon the brazen doorway andB
under the arch of the entablature of the door and moved notB
nor spoke any word but there became stationary andB
remained And the door whereupon the shadow rested was if IQ
remember aright over against the feet of the young ZoilusO
enshrouded But we the seven there assembled having seenG2
the shadow as it came out from among the draperies daredB
not steadily behold it but cast down our eyes and gazedB
continually into the depths of the mirror of ebony And atB
length I Oinos speaking some low words demanded of theA
shadow its dwelling and its appellation And the shadowB
answered I am SHADOW and my dwelling is near to theA
Catacombs of Ptolemais and hard by those dim plains ofC
Helusion which border upon the foul Charonian canal AndB
then did we the seven start from our seats in horror andB
stand trembling and shuddering and aghast for the tonesO
in the voice of the shadow were not the tones of any oneG
being but of a multitude of beings and varying in theirD
cadences from syllable to syllable fell duskily upon ourX
ears in the well remembered and familiar accents of manyY
thousand departed friendsO

Edgar Allan Poe



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