To Helen - 1848 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHEAIFJIKLMNIA FAOIPQRSTK CUVWXYZZBWA2A2B2C2D2 E2F2 FG2VH2A2FI2B2J2K2FGG C2L2FM2M2A2| I saw thee once once only years ago | A |
| I must not say how many but not many | B |
| It was a July midnight and from out | C |
| A full orbed moon that like thine own soul soaring | D |
| Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven | E |
| There fell a silvery silken veil of light | F |
| With quietude and sultriness and slumber | G |
| Upon the upturned faces of a thousand | H |
| Roses that grew in an enchanted garden | E |
| Where no wind dared to stir unless on tiptoe | A |
| Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses | I |
| That gave out in return for the love light | F |
| Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death | J |
| Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses | I |
| That smiled and died in this parterre enchanted | K |
| By thee and by the poetry of thy presence | L |
| Clad all in white upon a violet bank | M |
| I saw thee half reclining while the moon | N |
| Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses | I |
| And on thine own upturn'd alas in sorrow | A |
| - | |
| Was it not Fate that on this July midnight | F |
| Was it not Fate whose name is also Sorrow | A |
| That bade me pause before that garden gate | O |
| To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses | I |
| No footstep stirred the hated world an slept | P |
| Save only thee and me Oh Heaven oh God | Q |
| How my heart beats in coupling those two words | R |
| Save only thee and me I paused I looked | S |
| And in an instant all things disappeared | T |
| Ah bear in mind this garden was enchanted | K |
| - | |
| The pearly lustre of the moon went out | C |
| The mossy banks and the meandering paths | U |
| The happy flowers and the repining trees | V |
| Were seen no more the very roses' odors | W |
| Died in the arms of the adoring airs | X |
| All all expired save thee save less than thou | Y |
| Save only the divine light in thine eyes | Z |
| Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes | Z |
| I saw but them they were the world to me | B |
| I saw but them saw only them for hours | W |
| Saw only them until the moon went down | A2 |
| What wild heart histories seemed to he enwritten | A2 |
| Upon those crystalline celestial spheres | B2 |
| How dark a woe yet how sublime a hope | C2 |
| How silently serene a sea of pride | D2 |
| How daring an ambition yet how deep | E2 |
| How fathomless a capacity for love | F2 |
| - | |
| But now at length dear Dian sank from sight | F |
| Into a western couch of thunder cloud | G2 |
| And thou a ghost amid the entombing trees | V |
| Didst glide away Only thine eyes remained | H2 |
| They would not go they never yet have gone | A2 |
| Lighting my lonely pathway home that night | F |
| They have not left me as my hopes have since | I2 |
| They follow me they lead me through the years | B2 |
| They are my ministers yet I their slave | J2 |
| Their office is to illumine and enkindle | K2 |
| My duty to be saved by their bright light | F |
| And purified in their electric fire | G |
| And sanctified in their elysian fire | G |
| They fill my soul with Beauty which is Hope | C2 |
| And are far up in Heaven the stars I kneel to | L2 |
| In the sad silent watches of my night | F |
| While even in the meridian glare of day | M2 |
| I see them still two sweetly scintillant | M2 |
| Venuses unextinguished by the sun | A2 |
Edgar Allan Poe
(1)
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