Octaves Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHF A IJBFKLMN A EBOBPJJQ J RSTUBBVB J BFBWXJAQ A YZA2B2CAC2J J FBBD2BBRF J BJE2FF2BBG2 B BH2BBI2BJB B J2BFK2BBJ2B B L2M2BM2BN2E2M2 B BM2O2BBBP2Q2 B M2R2OS2M2BT2B J JBM2U2V2M2BM2 J EM2M2BBKBL2 J M2PW2BBRM2B J X2BIBBM2BM2 J E2Y2DM2JBV2F B BZ2Z2BJFJB B BBBBA3BBB3 B C3FVBM2BFD3 B JM2FZE3BE3F B Q2M2BM2M2M2M2M2 J BF3BM2BBM2D J OBHM2FBEC3

IA
-
To get at the eternal strength of thingsB
And fearlessly to make strong songs of itC
Is to my mind the mission of that manD
The world would call a poet He may singE
But roughly and withal ungraciouslyF
But if he touch to life the one right chordG
Wherein God's music slumbers and awakeH
To truth one drowsed ambition he sings wellF
-
IIA
-
We thrill too strangely at the master's touchI
We shrink too sadly from the larger selfJ
Which for its own completeness agitatesB
And undetermines us we do not feelF
We dare not feel it yet the splendid shameK
Of uncreated failure we forgetL
The while we groan that God's accomplishmentM
Is always and unfailingly at handN
-
IIIA
-
To mortal ears the plainest word may ringE
Fantastic and unheard of and as falseB
And out of tune as ever to our ownO
Did ring the prayers of man made maniacsB
But if that word be the plain word of TruthP
It leaves an echo that begets itselfJ
Persistent in itself and of itselfJ
Regenerate reiterate repleteQ
-
IVJ
-
Tumultuously void of a clean schemeR
Whereon to build whereof to formulateS
The legion life that riots in mankindT
Goes ever plunging upward up and downU
Most like some crazy regiment at armsB
Undisciplined of aught but IgnoranceB
And ever led resourcelessly alongV
To brainless carnage by drunk trumpetersB
-
VJ
-
To me the groaning of world worshippersB
Rings like a lonely music played in hellF
By one with art enough to cleave the wallsB
Of heaven with his cadence but withoutW
The wisdom or the will to comprehendX
The strangeness of his own perversityJ
And all without the courage to denyA
The profit and the pride of his defeatQ
-
VIA
-
While we are drilled in error we are lostY
Alike to truth and usefulness We thinkZ
We are great warriors now and we can bragA2
Like Titans but the world is growing youngB2
And we the fools of time are growing with itC
We do not fight to day we only dieA
We are too proud of death and too ashamedC2
Of God to know enough to be aliveJ
-
VIIJ
-
There is one battle field whereon we fallF
Triumphant and unconquered but alasB
We are too fleshly fearful of ourselvesB
To fight there till our days are whirled and blurredD2
By sorrow and the ministering wheelsB
Of anguish take us eastward where the cloudsB
Of human gloom are lost against the gleamR
That shines on Thought's impenetrable mailF
-
VIIIJ
-
When we shall hear no more the cradle songsB
Of ages when the timeless hymns of LoveJ
Defeat them and outsound them we shall knowE2
The rapture of that large release which allF
Right science comprehends and we shall readF2
With unoppressed and unoffended eyesB
That record of All Soul whereon God writesB
In everlasting runes the truth of HimG2
-
IXB
-
The guerdon of new childhood is reposeB
Once he has read the primer of right thoughtH2
A man may claim between two smithy strokesB
Beatitude enough to realizeB
God's parallel completeness in the vagueI2
And incommensurable excellenceB
That equitably uncreates itselfJ
And makes a whirlwind of the UniverseB
-
XB
-
There is no loneliness no matter whereJ2
We go nor whence we come nor what good friendsB
Forsake us in the seeming we are allF
At one with a complete companionshipK2
And though forlornly joyless be the waysB
We travel the compensate spirit gleamsB
Of Wisdom shaft the darkness here and thereJ2
Like scattered lamps in unfrequented streetsB
-
XIB
-
When one that you and I had all but swornL2
To be the purest thing God ever madeM2
Bewilders us until at last it seemsB
An angel has come back restigmatizedM2
Faith wavers and we wonder what there isB
On earth to make us faithful any moreN2
But never are quite wise enough to knowE2
The wisdom that is in that wondermentM2
-
XIIB
-
Where does a dead man go The dead man diesB
But the free life that would no longer feedM2
On fagots of outburned and shattered fleshO2
Wakes to a thrilled invisible advanceB
Unchained or fettered else of memoryB
And when the dead man goes it seems to meB
'T were better for us all to do awayP2
With weeping and be glad that he is goneQ2
-
XIIIB
-
Still through the dusk of dead blank legendedM2
And unremunerative years we searchR2
To get where life begins and still we groanO
Because we do not find the living sparkS2
Where no spark ever was and thus we dieM2
Still searching like poor old astronomersB
Who totter off to bed and go to sleepT2
To dream of untriangulated starsB
-
XIVJ
-
With conscious eyes not yet sincere enoughJ
To pierce the glimmered cloud that fluctuatesB
Between me and the glorifying lightM2
That screens itself with knowledge I discernU2
The searching rays of wisdom that reach throughV2
The mist of shame's infirm credulityM2
And infinitely wonder if hard wordsB
Like mine have any message for the deadM2
-
XVJ
-
I grant you friendship is a royal thingE
But none shall ever know that royaltyM2
For what it is till he has realizedM2
His best friend in himself 'T is then perforceB
That man's unfettered faith indemnifiesB
Of its own conscious freedom the old shameK
And love's revealed infinitude supplantsB
Of its own wealth and wisdom the old scornL2
-
XVIJ
-
Though the sick beast infect us we are fraughtM2
Forever with indissoluble TruthP
Wherein redress reveals itself divineW2
Transitional transcendent Grief and lossB
Disease and desolation are the dreamsB
Of wasted excellence and every dreamR
Has in it something of an ageless factM2
That flouts deformity and laughs at yearsB
-
XVIIJ
-
We lack the courage to be where we areX2
We love too much to travel on old roadsB
To triumph on old fields we love too muchI
To consecrate the magic of dead thingsB
And yieldingly to linger by long wallsB
Of ruin where the ruinous moonlightM2
That sheds a lying glory on old stonesB
Befriends us with a wizard's enmityM2
-
XVIIIJ
-
Something as one with eyes that look belowE2
The battle smoke to glimpse the foeman's chargeY2
We through the dust of downward years may scanD
The onslaught that awaits this idiot worldM2
Where blood pays blood for nothing and where lifeJ
Pays life to madness till at last the portsB
Of gilded helplessness be battered throughV2
By the still crash of salvatory steelF
-
XIXB
-
To you that sit with Sorrow like chained slavesB
And wonder if the night will ever comeZ2
I would say this The night will never comeZ2
And sorrow is not always But my wordsB
Are not enough your eyes are not enoughJ
The soul itself must insulate the RealF
Or ever you do cherish in this lifeJ
In this life or in any life reposeB
-
XXB
-
Like a white wall whereon forever breaksB
Unsatisfied the tumult of green seasB
Man's unconjectured godliness rebukesB
With its imperial silence the lost wavesB
Of insufficient grief This mortal surgeA3
That beats against us now is nothing elseB
Than plangent ignorance Truth neither shakesB
Nor wavers but the world shakes and we shriekB3
-
XXIB
-
Nor jewelled phrase nor mere mellifluous rhymeC3
Reverberates aright or ever shallF
One cadence of that infinite plain songV
Which is itself all music Stronger notesB
Than any that have ever touched the worldM2
Must ring to tell it ring like hammer blowsB
Right echoed of a chime primordialF
On anvils in the gleaming of God's forgeD3
-
XXIIB
-
The prophet of dead words defeats himselfJ
Whoever would acknowledge and includeM2
The foregleam and the glory of the realF
Must work with something else than pen and inkZ
And painful preparation he must workE3
With unseen implements that have no namesB
And he must win withal to do that workE3
Good fortitude clean wisdom and strong skillF
-
XXIIIB
-
To curse the chilled insistence of the dawnQ2
Because the free gleam lingers to defraudM2
The constant opportunity that livesB
Unchallenged in all sorrow to forgetM2
For this large prodigality of goldM2
That larger generosity of thoughtM2
These are the fleshly clogs of human greedM2
The fundamental blunders of mankindM2
-
XXIVJ
-
Forebodings are the fiends of RecreanceB
The master of the moment the clean seerF3
Of ages too securely scans what isB
Ever to be appalled at what is notM2
He sees beyond the groaning borough linesB
Of Hell God's highways gleaming and he knowsB
That Love's complete communion is the endM2
Of anguish to the liberated manD
-
XXVJ
-
Here by the windy docks I stand aloneO
But yet companioned There the vessel goesB
And there my friend goes with it but the wakeH
That melts and ebbs between that friend and meM2
Love's earnest is of Life's all purposefulF
And all triumphant sailing when the shipsB
Of Wisdom loose their fretful chains and swingE
Forever from the crumbled wharves of TimeC3

Edwin Arlington Robinson



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