Sestina Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEF FAE D CF ABE ECBFA DEACFB BDF CAECA| I wandered o'er the vast green plains of youth | A |
| And searched for Pleasure On a distant height | B |
| Fame's silhouette stood sharp against the skies | C |
| Beyond vast crowds that thronged a broad highway | D |
| I caught the glimmer of a golden goal | E |
| While from a blooming bower smiled siren Love | F |
| - | |
| Straight gazing in her eyes I laughed at Love | F |
| With all the haughty insolence of youth | A |
| As past her bower I strode to seek my goal | E |
| 'Now will I climb to glory's dizzy height ' | - |
| I said ' for there above the common way | D |
| Doth pleasure dwell companioned by the skies ' | - |
| - | |
| But when I reached that summit near the skies | C |
| So far from man I seemed so far from Love | F |
| 'Not here ' I cried 'doth Pleasure find her way ' | - |
| Seen from the distant borderland of youth | A |
| Fame smiles upon us from her sun kissed height | B |
| But frowns in shadows when we reach the goal | E |
| - | |
| Then were mine eyes fixed on that glittering goal | E |
| Dear to all sense sunk souls beneath the skies | C |
| Gold tempts the artist from the lofty height | B |
| Gold lures the maiden from the arms of Love | F |
| Gold buys the fresh ingenuous heart of youth | A |
| 'And gold ' I said 'will show me Pleasure's way ' | - |
| - | |
| But ah the soil and discord of that way | D |
| Where savage hordes rushed headlong to the goal | E |
| Dead to the best impulses of their youth | A |
| Blind to the azure beauty of the skies | C |
| Dulled to the voice of conscience and of love | F |
| They wandered far from Truth's eternal height | B |
| - | |
| Then Truth spoke to me from that noble height | B |
| Saying 'Thou didst pass Pleasure on the way | D |
| She with the yearning eyes so full of Love | F |
| Whom thou disdained to seek for glory's goal ' | - |
| Two blending paths beneath God's arching skies | C |
| Lead straight to Pleasure Ah blind heart of youth | A |
| Not up fame's height not toward the base god's goal | E |
| Doth Pleasure make her way but 'neath calm skies | C |
| Where Duty walks with Love in endless youth | A |
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
(1)
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