Toward The Gulf Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJKLJMNOOOPOO OJLQO OOOROJJSTQJ UJOVJJOOSOOSOOOL OOWOOOPXOOOJOWOOOOOY LJOOJOOLOOJOQJOYOO ZTJJA2OOB2JLOC2OLOO OOQOUOOOOOOOLOLOLO OOOJOZOJD2JLOOXE2LJO OF2OJJG2OJOH2JOOOJI2 OJOJOOO OLJ2OOOJOQJXK2JOO QZL2T OLOOOOXOM2JWJJLO JN2JJO2D2JOOLOP2OOOL JM2LLON2JJ OON2Q2OOL2R2N2N2N2S2 T2OOLOOJ JOOTN2LN2OOOOK2LOLK2 M2LK2JON2 LON2OJD2N2OOON2K2U2Z OOV2OOO OL

Dedicated to Theodore RooseveltA
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From the Cordilleran HighlandsB
From the Height of LandC
Far northD
From the Lake of the WoodsE
From Rainy LakeF
From Itasca's springsG
From the snow and the iceH
Of the mountainsI
Breathed on by the sunJ
And given lifeK
Awakened by kisses of fireL
Moving gliding as brightest hyalineJ
Down the cliffsM
Down the hillsN
Over the stonesO
Trickling as rillsO
Swiftly running as mountain brooksO
Swirling through runnels of rockP
Curving in spher d silenceO
Around the long worn walls of granite gorgesO
Storming through chasmsO
And flowing for miles in quiet over the Titan basinJ
To the muddled waters of the mighty riverL
Himself obeying the call of the gulfQ
And the unfathomed urge of the seaO
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Waters of mountain peaksO
Spirits of libertyO
Leaving your pure retreatsO
For work in the worldR
Soiling your crystal springsO
With the waste that is whirled to your breast as you runJ
Until you are foul as the crawling leviathanJ
That devours youS
And uses you to carry waste and earthT
For the making of land at the gulfQ
For the conquest of land for the feet of menJ
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De Soto Marquette and La SalleU
Planting your cross in vainJ
Gaining neither gold nor ivoryO
Nor tributeV
For France or SpainJ
Making land aloneJ
For libertyO
You could proclaim in the name of the crossO
The dominion of kings over a world that was newS
But the river has altered its courseO
There are fertile fieldsO
For a thousand miles where the river flowed that you knewS
And there are liberty and democracyO
For thousands of milesO
Where in the name of kings and for the crossO
You tramped the tangles for treasureL
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The Falls of St Anthony tumble the watersO
In laughter and tumult and roaring of voicesO
Swirling dancing leaping foamingW
Spirits of caverns of canyons and gorgesO
Waters tinctured by star lights sweetened by breezesO
Blown over snows out of the rosy northlandsO
Through forests of pine and hemlockP
Whisperings of the Pacific grown symphonicX
Voices of freedom restless unconqueredO
Mad with divinity fearless and freeO
Hunters and choppers warriors revelersO
Laughers dancers fiddlers freemenJ
Climbing the crests of the AllegheniesO
Singing chopping hunting fightingW
Erupting into Kentucky and TennesseeO
Into Ohio Indiana IllinoisO
Sweeping away the waste of the IndiansO
As the river carries mud for the making of landO
And taking the land of Illinois from kingsO
And handing its allegiance to the RepublicY
What riflemen with Daniel Boone for leaderL
And conquerors with Clark for captainJ
Plunge down like melted snowsO
The rocks and chasms of forbidden mountainsO
And make more land for freemenJ
Clear eyed hard muscled dauntless huntersO
Choppers of forests and tillers of fieldsO
Meet at last in a field of snow white cloverL
To make wise laws for statesO
And to teach their sons of the new WestO
That suffrage is the right of freemenJ
Until the lion of TennesseeO
Who crushes king craft near the gulfQ
Where La Salle proclaimed the crownJ
And the crossO
Is made the ruler of the republicY
By freeman suffragansO
And winners of the WestO
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Father of Waters Ever recurring symbol of wider freedomZ
Even to the ocean girdled earthT
The out worn rule of Florida rots your domainJ
But the lion of Tennessee asks Would you take from SpainJ
The land she has lost but in nameA2
It shall be done in a month if you loose my swordO
It was done as he saidO
And the sick and drunken power of Spain that clungB2
And sucked at the life of Chile Peru ArgentinaJ
Loosened under the blows of San Martin and BolivarL
Breathing the lightning thrown by Napoleon the GreatO
On the thrones of EuropeC2
Father of Waters 'twas you who made us sayO
No kings this side of the earth foreverL
One half of the earth shall be freeO
By our word and the might that is back of our wordO
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The falls of St Anthony tumble the watersO
In laughter and tumult and roaring of voicesO
And the river moves in its winding channel toward the gulfQ
Over the breast of De SotoO
By the swamp grave of La SalleU
The old days sleep the lion of Tennessee sleepsO
With Daniel Boone and the huntersO
The rifle men the revelersO
The laughers and dancers and choppersO
Who climbed the crests of the AllegheniesO
And poured themselves into Tennessee OhioO
Kentucky Illinois the bountiful WestO
But the river never sleeps the river flows foreverL
Making land forever reclaiming the wastes of the seaO
And the race never sleeps the race moves on foreverL
And wars must come as the waters must sweep awayO
Drift wood dead wood choking the strength of the riverL
For Liberty never sleepsO
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The lion of Tennessee sleepsO
And over the graves of the hunters and choppersO
The tramp of troops is heardO
There is war againJ
O Father of WatersO
There is war O symbol of freedomZ
They have chained your giant strength for the causeO
Of trade in menJ
But a man of the West a denizen of your shoreD2
Wholly AmericanJ
Compact clear eyed nerved like a hunterL
Who knew no faster beat of the heartO
Except in charity forgiveness peaceO
Generous plain democraticX
Scarcely appraising himself at fullE2
A spiritual rifleman and chopperL
Of the breed of Daniel BooneJ
This man your child O Father of WatersO
Waked from the winter sleep of a useless dayO
By the rising sun of a Freedom bright and strongF2
Slipped like the loosened snows of your mountain streamsO
Into a channel of fate as sure as your ownJ
A fate which said till the thing be doneJ
Turn not back nor stopG2
Ulysses of the great AtlantisO
Wholly AmericanJ
Patient silent tireless watchful undismayedO
Grant at Fort Donelson Grant at VicksburgH2
Leading the sons of choppers and riflemenJ
Pushing on as the hunters and farmersO
Poured from the mountains into the WestO
Freed you Father of WatersO
To flow to the Gulf and be oneJ
With the earth engirdled tides of timeI2
And gave us states made ready for the handsO
Wholly AmericanJ
Hunters choppers tillers fightersO
For epochs vast and newJ
In Truth in LibertyO
Posters from land to land and sea to seaO
Till all the earth be freeO
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Ulysses of the great AtlantisO
Dream not of disasterL
Sleep the sleep of the braveJ2
In your couch afar from the Father of WatersO
A new Ulysses arisesO
Who turns not back nor stopsO
Till the thing is doneJ
He cuts with one stroke of the swordO
The stubborn neck that keeps the GulfQ
And the CaribbeanJ
From the luring PacificX
Roosevelt the hunter the pioneerK2
Wholly AmericanJ
Winner of greater westsO
Till all the earth be freeO
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And forever as long as the river flows toward the GulfQ
Ulysses reincarnate shall comeZ
To guard our places of sleepL2
Till East and West shall be one in the west of heaven and earthT
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In an old printO
I see a thicket of masts on the riverL
But in the prints to beO
There will be lake boatsO
With port holes funnels rows of decksO
Huddled like swans by the docksO
Under the shadows of cliffs of brickX
And who will know from the prints to beO
When the Albatross and the Golden EagleM2
The flying craft which shall carry the visionJ
Of impatient lovers wounded by SpringW
To the shaded rivers of MichiganJ
That it was the Missouri the IowaJ
And the City of Benton HarborL
Which lay huddled like swans by the docksO
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You are not Lake LemanJ
Walled in by Mt BlancN2
One sees the whole world round youJ
And beyond you Lake MichiganJ
And when the melodious winds of MarchO2
Wrinkle you and drive on the shoreD2
The serpent rifts of sand and snowJ
And sway the giant limbs of oaksO
Longing to budO
The boats put forth for the ports that began to stirL
With the creak of reels unwinding the netsO
And the ring of the caulking wedgeP2
But in the June daysO
The Alabama ploughs through liquid tonsO
Of sapphire wavesO
She sinks from hills to valleys of waterL
And rises againJ
Like a swimming gullM2
I wish a hundred years to come and foreverL
All lovers could know the raptureL
Of the lake boats sailing the first Spring daysO
To coverts of hepaticaN2
With the whole world sphering round youJ
And the whole of the sky beyond youJ
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I knew the captain of the City of Grand RapidsO
He had sailed the seas as a boyO
And he stood on deck against the railingN2
Puffing a cigarQ2
Showing in his eyes the cinema flash of the sun on the wavesO
It was June and life was easyO
One could lie on deck and sleepL2
Or sit in the sun and dreamR2
People were walking the decks and talkingN2
Children were singingN2
And down on the purser's deckN2
A man was dancing by himselfS2
Whirling around like a dervishT2
And this captain said to meO
No life is better than thisO
I could live foreverL
And do nothing but run this boatO
From the dock at Chicago to the dock at HollandO
And back againJ
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One time I went to Grand HavenJ
On the Alabama with Charley ShippeyO
It was dawn but white dawn onlyO
Under the reign of LeucotheaT
As we volplaned so it seemed from the lakeN2
Past the lighthouse into the riverL
And afterward laughing and talkingN2
Hurried to Van Dreezer's restaurantO
For breakfastO
Charley knew him and talked of thingsO
Unknown to me as he cooked the breakfastO
Then we fished the mile's length of the pierK2
In a gale full of warmth and moistureL
Which blew the gulls about like confettiO
And flapped like a flag the linen dusterL
Of a fisherman who paced the pierK2
Charley called him Rip Van WinkleM2
The only thing that could be betterL
Than this day on the pierK2
Would be its counterpart in heavenJ
As Swedenborg would sayO
Charley is fishing somewhere now I thinkN2
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There is a grove of oaks on a bluff by the riverL
At Berrien SpringsO
There is a cottage that eyes the lakeN2
Between pines and silver birchesO
At South HavenJ
There is the inviolable wonder of wooded shoreD2
Curving for miles at SaugatuckN2
And at Holland a beach like Scheveningen'sO
And at Charlevoix the sudden quaintnessO
Of an old world place by the seaO
There are the hills around Elk LakeN2
Where the blue of the sky is so still and clearK2
It seems it was rubbed above themU2
By the swipe of a giant thumbZ
And beyond these the little Traverse BayO
Where the roar of the breeze goes roundO
Like a roulette ball in the groove of the wheelV2
Circling the bayO
And beyond these Mackinac and the Cheneaux IslandsO
And beyond these a great mysteryO
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Neither ice floes nor winter's palsyO
Stays the tide in the riverL

Edgar Lee Masters



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