The Imaginary Iceberg Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBADEFGHH IJJKJLJMJJJ NOJJJPJKQBB| We'd rather have the iceberg than the ship | A |
| although it meant the end of travel | B |
| Although it stood stock still like cloudy rock | C |
| and all the sea were moving marble | B |
| We'd rather have the iceberg than the ship | A |
| we'd rather own this breathing plain of snow | D |
| though the ship's sails were laid upon the sea | E |
| as the snow lies undissolved upon the water | F |
| O solemn floating field | G |
| are you aware an iceberg takes repose | H |
| with you and when it wakes may pasture on your snows | H |
| - | |
| This is a scene a sailor'd give his eyes for | I |
| The ship's ignored The iceberg rises | J |
| and sinks again its glassy pinnacles | J |
| correct elliptics in the sky | K |
| This is a scene where he who treads the boards | J |
| is artlessly rhetorical The curtain | L |
| is light enough to rise on finest ropes | J |
| that airy twists of snow provide | M |
| The wits of these white peaks | J |
| spar with the sun Its weight the iceberg dares | J |
| upon a shifting stage and stands and stares | J |
| - | |
| The iceberg cuts its facets from within | N |
| Like jewelry from a grave | O |
| it saves itself perpetually and adorns | J |
| only itself perhaps the snows | J |
| which so surprise us lying on the sea | J |
| Good bye we say good bye the ship steers off | P |
| where waves give in to one another's waves | J |
| and clouds run in a warmer sky | K |
| Icebergs behoove the soul | Q |
| both being self made from elements least visible | B |
| to see them so fleshed fair erected indivisible | B |
Elizabeth Bishop
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Imaginary Iceberg poem by Elizabeth Bishop
Best Poems of Elizabeth Bishop