The Seafarer Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHHIHHJKHALKIM MNAHAMKOPHAJAAQAHRPH HSMTUHVMWMHXUUMHYJZH HKMKAOHJPAHKMHHPLMA2 HKSB2C2AHHSJSJHJD2AJ KHHWH

May I for my own self song's truth reckonA
Journey's jargon how I in harsh daysB
Hardship endured oftC
Bitter breast cares have I abidedD
Known on my keel many a care's holdE
And dire sea surge and there I oft spentF
Narrow nightwatch nigh the ship's headG
While she tossed close to cliffs Coldly afflictedH
My feet were by frost benumbedH
Chill its chains are chafing sighsI
Hew my heart round and hunger begotH
Mere weary mood Lest man know notH
That he on dry land loveliest livethJ
List how I care wretched on ice cold seaK
Weathered the winter wretched outcastH
Deprived of my kinsmenA
Hung with hard ice flakes where hail scur flewL
There I heard naught save the harsh seaK
And ice cold wave at whiles the swan criesI
Did for my games the gannet's clamourM
Sea fowls loudness was for me laughterM
The mews' singing all my mead drinkN
Storms on the stone cliffs beaten fell on the sternA
In icy feathers full oft the eagle screamedH
With spray on his pinionA
Not any protectorM
May make merry man faring needyK
This he little believes who aye in winsome lifeO
Abides 'mid burghers some heavy businessP
Wealthy and wine flushed how I weary oftH
Must bide above brineA
Neareth nightshade snoweth from northJ
Frost froze the land hail fell on earth thenA
Corn of the coldest Nathless there knocketh nowA
The heart's thought that I on high streamsQ
The salt wavy tumult traverse aloneA
Moaneth alway my mind's lustH
That I fare forth that I afar henceR
Seek out a foreign fastnessP
For this there's no mood lofty man over earth's midstH
Not though he be given his good but will have in his youth greedH
Nor his deed to the daring nor his king to the faithfulS
But shall have his sorrow for sea fareM
Whatever his lord willT
He hath not heart for harping nor in ring havingU
Nor winsomeness to wife nor world's delightH
Nor any whit else save the wave's slashV
Yet longing comes upon him to fare forth on the waterM
Bosque taketh blossom cometh beauty of berriesW
Fields to fairness land fares briskerM
All this admonisheth man eager of moodH
The heart turns to travel so that he then thinksX
On flood ways to be far departingU
Cuckoo calleth with gloomy cryingU
He singeth summerward bodeth sorrowM
The bitter heart's blood Burgher knows notH
He the prosperous man what some performY
Where wandering them widest drawethJ
So that but now my heart burst from my breast lockZ
My mood 'mid the mere floodH
Over the whale's acre would wander wideH
On earth's shelter cometh oft to meK
Eager and ready the crying lone flyerM
Whets for the whale path the heart irresistiblyK
O'er tracks of ocean seeing that anyhowA
My lord deems to me this dead lifeO
On loan and on land I believe notH
That any earth weal eternal standethJ
Save there be somewhat calamitousP
That ere a man's tide go turn it to twainA
Disease or oldness or sword hateH
Beats out the breath from doom gripped bodyK
And for this every earl whatever for those speaking afterM
Laud of the living boasteth some last wordH
That he will work ere he pass onwardH
Frame on the fair earth 'gainst foes his maliceP
Daring adoL
So that all men shall honour him afterM
And his laud beyond them remain 'mid the EnglishA2
Aye for ever a lasting life's blastH
Delight mid the doughtyK
Days little durableS
And all arrogance of earthen richesB2
There come now no kings nor C sarsC2
Nor gold giving lords like those goneA
Howe'er in mirth most magnifiedH
Whoe'er lived in life most lordliestH
Drear all this excellence delights undurableS
Waneth the watch but the world holdethJ
Tomb hideth trouble The blade is layed lowS
Earthly glory ageth and searethJ
No man at all going the earth's gaitH
But age fares against him his face palethJ
Grey haired he groaneth knows gone companionsD2
Lordly men are to earth o'ergivenA
Nor may he then the flesh cover whose life ceasethJ
Nor eat the sweet nor feel the sorryK
Nor stir hand nor think in mid heartH
And though he strew the grave with goldH
His born brothers their buried bodiesW
Be an unlikely treasure hoardH

Ezra Pound



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