The Cathedral Of Rheims Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBACDDCECFGF HIIHAJJAKLLKMNMNOOPP GGQRRQ BSTTUUAVVA CGCGWWWWV VMMXXYYZZA2 A2B2C2C2B2FD2D2FE2F2 F2E2 C2G2H2C2MI2OOI2MHe who walks through the meadows of Champagne | A |
At noon in Fall when leaves like gold appear | B |
Sees it draw near | B |
Like some great mountain set upon the plain | A |
From radiant dawn until the close of day | C |
Nearer it grows | D |
To him who goes | D |
Across the country When tall towers lay | C |
Their shadowy pall | E |
Upon his way | C |
He enters where | F |
The solid stone is hollowed deep by all | G |
Its centuries of beauty and of prayer | F |
- | |
Ancient French temple thou whose hundred kings | H |
Watch over thee emblazoned on thy walls | I |
Tell me within thy memory hallowed halls | I |
What chant of triumph or what war song rings | H |
Thou hast known Clovis and his Frankish train | A |
Whose mighty hand Saint Remy's hand did keep | J |
And in thy spacious vault perhaps may sleep | J |
An echo of the voice of Charlemagne | A |
For God thou has known fear when from His side | K |
Men wandered seeking alien shrines and new | L |
But still the sky was bountiful and blue | L |
And thou wast crowned with France's love and pride | K |
Sacred thou art from pinnacle to base | M |
And in thy panes of gold and scarlet glass | N |
The setting sun sees thousandfold his face | M |
Sorrow and joy in stately silence pass | N |
Across thy walls the shadow and the light | O |
Around thy lofty pillars tapers white | O |
Illuminate with delicate sharp flames | P |
The brows of saints with venerable names | P |
And in the night erect a fiery wall | G |
A great but silent fervour burns in all | G |
Those simple folk who kneel pathetic dumb | Q |
And know that down below beside the Rhine | R |
Cannon horses soldiers flags in line | R |
With blare of trumpets mighty armies come | Q |
- | |
Suddenly each knows fear | B |
Swift rumours pass that every one must hear | S |
The hostile banners blaze against the sky | T |
And by the embassies mobs rage and cry | T |
Now war has come and peace is at an end | U |
On Paris town the German troops descend | U |
They are turned back and driven to Champagne | A |
And now as to so many weary men | V |
The glorious temple gives them welcome when | V |
It meets them at the bottom of the plain | A |
- | |
At once they set their cannon in its way | C |
There is no gable now nor wall | G |
That does not suffer night and day | C |
As shot and shell in crushing torrents fall | G |
The stricken tocsin quivers through the tower | W |
The triple nave the apse the lonely choir | W |
Are circled hour by hour | W |
With thundering bands of fire | W |
And Death is scattered broadcast among men | V |
- | |
And then | V |
That which was splendid with baptismal grace | M |
The stately arches soaring into space | M |
The transepts columns windows gray and gold | X |
The organ in whose tones the ocean rolled | X |
The crypts of mighty shades the dwelling places | Y |
The Virgin's gentle hands the Saints' pure faces | Y |
All even the pardoning hands of Christ the Lord | Z |
Were struck and broken by the wanton sword | Z |
Of sacrilegious lust | A2 |
- | |
O beauty slain O glory in the dust | A2 |
Strong walls of faith most basely overthrown | B2 |
The crawling flames like adders glistening | C2 |
Ate the white fabric of this lovely thing | C2 |
Now from its soul arose a piteous moan | B2 |
The soul that always loved the just and fair | F |
Granite and marble loud their woe confessed | D2 |
The silver monstrances that Popes had blessed | D2 |
The chalices and lamps and crosiers rare | F |
Were seared and twisted by a flaming breath | E2 |
The horror everywhere did range and swell | F2 |
The guardian Saints into this furnace fell | F2 |
Their bitter tears and screams were stilled in death | E2 |
- | |
Around the flames armed hosts are skirmishing | C2 |
The burning sun reflects the lurid scene | G2 |
The German army fighting for its life | H2 |
Rallies its torn and terrified left wing | C2 |
And as they near this place | M |
The imperial eagles see | I2 |
Before them in their flight | O |
Here in the solemn night | O |
The old cathedral to the years to be | I2 |
Showing with wounded arms their own disgrace | M |
Emile Verhaeren
(1)
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