The Power Of Words Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BC CDD EFG HIJ G E KL MN ECOEKFC E P E QEKRKSHKETE E UUIUV E W E X E ECWKY QP U EYKTCYT KHUT CEF KZA2B2C2TC2DYD2HDE2K F2RKEHCHG2KF2CH2I2 J2 K2KKJ2DKHECKIOETREL2 M2FJ2N2O2P2EOTHCKP2E E Q2 E IKTD E E E KTE E V E Q2KB2 E R2 E M2CQ2 E N2EO2KES2 E T2U2V2IW2FOE'Oinos ' | A |
- | |
Pardon Agathos the weakness of a spirit new fledged with | B |
immortality | C |
- | |
'Agathos ' | - |
- | |
You have spoken nothing my Oinos for which pardon is to be | C |
demanded Not even here is knowledge a thing of intuition | D |
For wisdom ask of the angels freely that it may be given | D |
- | |
'Oinos ' | - |
- | |
But in this existence I dreamed that I should be at once | E |
cognizant of all things and thus at once happy in being | F |
cognizant of all | G |
- | |
'Agathos ' | - |
- | |
Ah not in knowledge is happiness but in the acquisition of | H |
knowledge In forever knowing we are forever blessed but | I |
to know all were the curse of a fiend | J |
- | |
'Oinos ' | - |
- | |
But does not The Most High know all | G |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
That since he is The Most Happy must be still the | K |
one thing unknown even to HIM | L |
- | |
'Oinos ' | - |
- | |
But since we grow hourly in knowledge must not at last | M |
all things be known | N |
- | |
'Agathos ' | - |
- | |
Look down into the abysmal distances attempt to force | E |
the gaze down the multitudinous vistas of the stars as we | C |
sweep slowly through them thus and thus and | O |
thus Even the spiritual vision is it not at all points | E |
arrested by the continuous golden walls of the | K |
universe the walls of the myriads of the shining | F |
bodies that mere number has appeared to blend into unity | C |
- | |
'Oinos' | E |
- | |
I clearly perceive that the infinity of matter is no dream | P |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
There are no dreams in Aidenn but it is here whispered | Q |
that of this infinity of matter the sole purpose is | E |
to afford infinite springs at which the soul may allay the | K |
thirst to know which is forever unquenchable within | R |
it since to quench it would be to extinguish the | K |
soul's self Question me then my Oinos freely and without | S |
fear Come we will leave to the left the loud harmony of | H |
the Pleiades and swoop outward from the throne into the | K |
starry meadows beyond Orion where for pansies and violets | E |
and heart's ease are the beds of the triplicate and triple | T |
tinted suns | E |
- | |
'Oinos' | E |
- | |
And now Agathos as we proceed instruct me speak to | U |
me in the earth's familiar tones I understand not what you | U |
hinted to me just now of the modes or of the methods of what | I |
during mortality we were accustomed to call Creation Do | U |
you mean to say that the Creator is not God | V |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
I mean to say that the Deity does not create | W |
- | |
'Oinos' | E |
- | |
Explain | X |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
In the beginning only he created The seeming creatures | E |
which are now throughout the universe so perpetually | C |
springing into being can only be considered as the mediate | W |
or indirect not as the direct or immediate results of the | K |
Divine creative power | Y |
- | |
'Oinos ' | - |
- | |
Among men my Agathos this idea would be considered | Q |
heretical in the extreme | P |
- | |
'Agathos ' | - |
- | |
Among the angels my Oinos it is seen to be simply true | U |
- | |
'Oinos ' | - |
- | |
I can comprehend you thus far that certain operations | E |
of what we term Nature or the natural laws will under | Y |
certain conditions give rise to that which has all the | K |
appearance of creation Shortly before the final | T |
overthrow of the earth there were I well remember many | C |
very successful experiments in what some philosophers were | Y |
weak enough to denominate the creation of animalculae | T |
- | |
'Agathos ' | - |
- | |
The cases of which you speak were in fact instances of the | K |
secondary creation and of the only species of | H |
creation which has ever been since the first word spoke into | U |
existence the first law | T |
- | |
'Oinos ' | - |
- | |
Are not the starry worlds that from the abyss of nonentity | C |
burst hourly forth into the heavens are not these | E |
stars Agathos the immediate handiwork of the King | F |
- | |
'Agathos ' | - |
- | |
Let me endeavor my Oinos to lead you step by step to the | K |
conception I intend You are well aware that as no thought | Z |
can perish so no act is without infinite result We moved | A2 |
our hands for example when we were dwellers on the earth | B2 |
and in so doing we gave vibration to the atmosphere which | C2 |
engirdled it This vibration was indefinitely extended till | T |
it gave impulse to every particle of the earth's air which | C2 |
thenceforward and forever was actuated by the one | D |
movement of the hand This fact the mathematicians of our | Y |
globe well knew They made the special effects indeed | D2 |
wrought in the fluid by special impulses the subject of | H |
exact calculation so that it became easy to determine | D |
in what precise period an impulse of given extent would | E2 |
engirdle the orb and impress forever every atom of the | K |
atmosphere circumambient Retrograding they found no | F2 |
difficulty from a given effect under given conditions in | R |
determining the value of the original impulse Now the | K |
mathematicians who saw that the results of any given impulse | E |
were absolutely endless and who saw that a portion of | H |
these results were accurately traceable through the agency | C |
of algebraic analysis who saw too the facility of | H |
the retrogradation these men saw at the same time | G2 |
that this species of analysis itself had within itself a | K |
capacity for indefinite progress that there were no | F2 |
bounds conceivable to its advancement and applicability | C |
except within the intellect of him who advanced or applied | H2 |
it But at this point our mathematicians paused | I2 |
- | |
'Oinos ' | - |
- | |
And why Agathos should they have proceeded | J2 |
- | |
'Agathos ' | - |
- | |
Because there were some considerations of deep interest | K2 |
beyond It was deducible from what they knew that to a | K |
being of infinite understanding one to whom the | K |
perfection of the algebraic analysis lay unfolded | J2 |
there could be no difficulty in tracing every impulse given | D |
the air and the ether through the air to the | K |
remotest consequences at any even infinitely remote epoch of | H |
time It is indeed demonstrable that every such impulse | E |
given the air must in the end impress every | C |
individual thing that exists within the | K |
universe and the being of infinite | I |
understanding the being whom we have imagined | O |
might trace the remote undulations of the impulse | E |
trace them upward and onward in their influences upon all | T |
particles of all matter upward and onward forever in | R |
their modifications of old forms or in other words | E |
in their creation of new until he found them | L2 |
reflected unimpressive at last back from | M2 |
the throne of the Godhead And not only could such a being | F |
do this but at any epoch should a given result be afforded | J2 |
him should one of these numberless comets for | N2 |
example be presented to his inspection he could have | O2 |
no difficulty in determining by the analytic | P2 |
retrogradation to what original impulse it was due This | E |
power of retrogradation in its absolute fulness and | O |
perfection this faculty of referring at all | T |
epochs all effects to all causes is of | H |
course the prerogative of the Deity alone but in every | C |
variety of degree short of the absolute perfection is the | K |
power itself exercised by the whole host of the Angelic | P2 |
Intelligences | E |
- | |
'Oinos' | E |
- | |
But you speak merely of impulses upon the air | Q2 |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
In speaking of the air I referred only to the earth but | I |
the general proposition has reference to impulses upon the | K |
ether which since it pervades and alone pervades all | T |
space is thus the great medium of creation | D |
- | |
'Oinos' | E |
- | |
Then all motion of whatever nature creates | E |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
It must but a true philosophy has long taught that the | K |
source of all motion is thought and the source of all | T |
thought is | E |
- | |
'Oinos' | E |
- | |
God | V |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
I have spoken to you Oinos as to a child of the fair | Q2 |
Earth which lately perished of impulses upon the | K |
atmosphere of the earth | B2 |
- | |
'Oinos' | E |
- | |
You did | R2 |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
And while I thus spoke did there not cross your mind some | M2 |
thought of the physical power of words Is not every | C |
word an impulse on the air | Q2 |
- | |
'Oinos' | E |
- | |
But why Agathos do you weep and why oh why do your | N2 |
wings droop as we hover above this fair star which is | E |
the greenest and yet most terrible of all we have | O2 |
encountered in our flight Its brilliant flowers look like a | K |
fairy dream but its fierce volcanoes like the passions | E |
of a turbulent heart | S2 |
- | |
'Agathos' | E |
- | |
They are they are This wild | T2 |
star it is now three centuries since with clasped | U2 |
hands and with streaming eyes at the feet of my | V2 |
beloved I spoke it with a few passionate | I |
sentences into birth Its brilliant flowers are | W2 |
the dearest of all unfulfilled dreams and its raging | F |
volcanoes are the passions of the most turbulent and | O |
unhallowed of hearts | E |
Edgar Allan Poe
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Power Of Words poem by Edgar Allan Poe
Best Poems of Edgar Allan Poe