Ballad Of The Traitor-s Soul Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CCA DED FGA DCA DCH ICA AJDJ CKA DLC AMN OCP ICPC QRAR HADS TKAK'Twas the shrunken soul of the traitor | A |
That whined in a coign of the dark | B |
And the fiends were aroused from slumber | A |
When Cerberus began to bark | B |
- | |
'Methought that I spoke' said Julian | C |
Who betrayed God's own demesne | C |
'And I ' said the ghost of Caesar | A |
'Heard the dying groans of the slain ' | - |
- | |
'Twas the voice ' said the high priest Caiaphas | D |
'That uttered those words of awe | E |
'Ye have given a tithe of anise | D |
And broken the weightier law ' | - |
- | |
Then cried out Judas Iscariot | F |
Who fled on the wings of the wind | G |
'Some one is counting the silver | A |
And wailing because I sinned ' | - |
- | |
But spake up the seven devils | D |
That vexed Mary Magdalene | C |
'The days of our bondage are over | A |
We are no longer unclean ' | - |
- | |
'Moreover the voice that called us | D |
Said 'Enter the souls of men | C |
For Belial rules this cycle | H |
And Mammon has triumphed again '' | - |
- | |
Then the horrent jowls of Moloch | I |
Wrinkled into a grin | C |
And he growled 'tis the soul of the traitor | A |
Open and let him in ' | - |
- | |
'Twas the shrunken soul of the traitor | A |
Like a mouse at the furnace door | J |
That stood in the haze of hades | D |
And trembled within its roar | J |
- | |
Then uprose the form of Satan | C |
And taking a crucible saith | K |
'The shrunken soul of the traitor | A |
Shall suffer the second death ' | - |
- | |
'Come anarchs of ancient cities | D |
And captains of torch and sword | L |
For hell hath never received one | C |
By God and fiends so abhorred ' | - |
- | |
Then the shrunken soul of the traitor | A |
Pleaded that he might live | M |
'Ye have borne with Phillip and Herod | N |
And my sin ye ought to forgive ' | - |
- | |
But Phillip came forward and mocked him | O |
'The laws of God may atone | C |
The crime of destroying a country | P |
Unless he destroys his own ' | - |
- | |
So the horrent jowls of Moloch | I |
Wrinkled into a grin | C |
And the crucible being ready | P |
They threw the renegade in | C |
- | |
And fed the fire underneath it | Q |
Until in the crucible lay | R |
A drop of green bitter water | A |
That smelled of death and decay | R |
- | |
Then Satan siezed hold of the crucible | H |
And drained the drop on the fire | A |
And a flame leaped up to the heavens | D |
And instantly did expire | S |
- | |
And there in the darkness that followed | T |
The arch fiends with broken breath | K |
Fled far from the place of horror | A |
And the sight of the second death | K |
Edgar Lee Masters
(1)
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