The Forest Sanctuary - Part I. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCDDCEF AGHGHIIHJJ AKLKLMMLNN LGOGPGGPQQ LDRDRSSRTT LHMHMGGMUU LVWVWXXWJJ LLYLYZZYKK YA2QA2QYYB2HH YC2RC2RD2D2RGG YE2GF2GGGGYY YYRYRPORYY YJUJG2H2H2UGG LE2QE2QYYQRR LI2UI2UJ2J2UCC LKK2KK2GGK2L2L2 LRLRYM2N2LO2O2 LGZGZLLZBB YD2K2D2K2P2

IA
The voices of my home I hear them stillB
They have been with me through the dreamy nightC
The blessed household voices wont to fillB
My heart's clear depths with unalloy'd delightC
I hear them still unchang'd though some from earthD
Are music parted and the tones of mirthD
Wild silvery tones that rang through days more brightC
Have died in others yet to me they comeE
Singing of boyhood back the voices of my homeF
-
IIA
They call me through this hush of woods reposingG
In the grey stillness of the summer mornH
They wander by when heavy flowers are closingG
And thoughts grow deep and winds and stars are bornH
Ev'n as a fount's remember'd gushings burstI
On the parch'd traveller in his hour of thirstI
E'en thus they haunt me with sweet sounds till wornH
By quenchless longings to my soul I sayJ
Oh for the dove's swift wings that I might flee awayJ
-
IIIA
And find mine ark yet whither I must bearK
A yearning heart within me to the graveL
I am of those o'er whom a breath of airK
Just darkening in its course the lake's bright waveL
And sighing through the feathery canes hath powerM
To call up shadows in the silent hourM
From the dim past as from a wizard's caveL
So must it be These skies above me spreadN
Are they my own soft skies Ye rest not here my deadN
-
IVL
Ye far amidst the southern flowers lie sleepingG
Your graves all smiling in the sunshine clearO
Save one a blue lone distant main is sweepingG
High o'er one gentle head ye rest not hereP
'Tis not the olive with a whisper swayingG
Not thy low ripplings glassy water playingG
Through my own chesnut groves which fill mine earP
But the faint echoes in my breast that dwellQ
And for their birth place moan as moans the ocean shellQ
-
VL
Peace I will dash these fond regrets to earthD
Ev'n as an eagle shakes the cumbering rainR
From his strong pinion Thou that gav'st me birthD
And lineage and once home my native SpainR
My own bright land my father's land my child'sS
What hath thy son brought from thee to the wildsS
He hath brought marks of torture and the chainR
Traces of things which pass not as a breezeT
A blighted name dark thoughts wrath woe thy gifts are theseT
-
VIL
A blighted name I hear the winds of mornH
Their sounds are not of this I hear the shiverM
Of the green reeds and all the rustlings borneH
From the high forest when the light leaves quiverM
Their sounds are not of this the cedars wavingG
Lend it no tone His wide savannahs lavingG
It is not murmur'd by the joyous riverM
What part hath mortal name where God aloneU
Speaks to the mighty waste and through its heart is knownU
-
VIIL
Is it not much that I may worship HimV
With nought my spirit's breathings to controlW
And feel His presence in the vast and dimV
And whispery woods where dying thunders rollW
From the far cataracts Shall I not rejoiceX
That I have learn'd at last to know His voiceX
From man's I will rejoice my soaring soulW
Now hath redeem'd her birth right of the dayJ
And won through clouds to Him her own unfetter'd wayJ
-
VIIIL
And thou my boy that silent at my kneeL
Dost lift to mine thy soft dark earnest eyesY
Fill'd with the love of childhood which I seeL
Pure through its depths a thing without disguiseY
Thou that hast breath'd in slumber on my breastZ
When I have check'd its throbs to give thee restZ
Mine own whose young thoughts fresh before me riseY
Is it not much that I may guide thy prayerK
And circle thy glad soul with free and healthful airK
-
IXY
Why should I weep on thy bright head my boyA2
Within thy fathers' halls thou wilt not dwellQ
Nor lift their banner with a warrior's joyA2
Amidst the sons of mountain chiefs who fellQ
For Spain of old Yet what if rolling wavesY
Have borne us far from our ancestral gravesY
Thou shalt not feel thy bursting heart rebelB2
As mine hath done nor bear what I have borneH
Casting in falsehood's mould th' indignant brow of scornH
-
XY
This shall not be thy lot my blessed childC2
I have not sorrow'd struggled liv'd in vainR
Hear me magnificent and ancient wildC2
And mighty rivers ye that meet the mainR
As deep meets deep and forests whose dim shadeD2
The flood's voice and the wind's by swells pervadeD2
Hear me 'tis well to die and not complainR
Yet there are hours when the charg'd heart must speakG
Ev'n in the desert's ear to pour itself or breakG
-
XIY
I see an oak before me it hath beenE2
The crown'd one of the woods and might have flungG
Its hundred arms to Heaven still freshly greenF2
But a wild vine around the stem hath clungG
From branch to branch close wreaths of bondage throwingG
Till the proud tree before no tempest bowingG
Hath shrunk and died those serpent folds amongG
Alas alas what is it that I seeY
An image of man's mind land of my sires with theeY
-
XIIY
Yet art thou lovely Song is on thy hillsY
Oh sweet and mournful melodies of SpainR
That lull'd my boyhood how your memory thrillsY
The exile's heart with sudden wakening painR
Your sounds are on the rocks that I might hearP
Once more the music of the mountaineerO
And from the sunny vales the shepherd's strainR
Floats out and fills the solitary placeY
With the old tuneful names of Spain's heroic raceY
-
XIIIY
But there was silence one bright golden dayJ
Through my own pine hung mountains Clear yet loneU
In the rich autumn light the vineyards layJ
And from the fields the peasant's voice was goneG2
And the red grapes untrodden strew'd the groundH2
And the free flocks untended roam'd aroundH2
Where was the pastor where the pipe's wild toneU
Music and mirth were hush'd the hills amongG
While to the city's gates each hamlet pour'd its throngG
-
XIVL
Silence upon the mountains But withinE2
The city's gates a rush a press a swellQ
Of multitudes their torrent way to winE2
And heavy boomings of a dull deep bellQ
A dead pause following each like that which partsY
The dash of billows holding breathless heartsY
Fast in the hush of fear knell after knellQ
And sounds of thickening steps like thunder rainR
That plashes on the roof of some vast echoing faneR
-
XVL
What pageant's hour approach'd The sullen gateI2
Of a strong ancient prison house was thrownU
Back to the day And who in mournful stateI2
Came forth led slowly o'er its threshold stoneU
They that had learn'd in cells of secret gloomJ2
How sunshine is forgotten They to whomJ2
The very features of mankind were grownU
Things that bewilder'd O'er their dazzled sightC
They lifted their wan hands and cower'd before the lightC
-
XVIL
To this man brings his brother Some were thereK
Who with their desolation had entwin'dK2
Fierce strength and girt the sternness of despairK
Fast round their bosoms ev'n as warriors bindK2
The breast plate on for fight but brow and cheekG
Seem'd theirs a torturing panoply to speakG
And there were some from whom the very mindK2
Had been wrung out they smil'd oh startling smileL2
Whence man's high soul is fled where doth it sleep the whileL2
-
XVIIL
But onward moved the melancholy trainR
For their false creeds in fiery pangs to dieL
This was the solemn sacrifice of SpainR
Heaven's offering from the land of chivalryY
Through thousands thousands of their race they mov'dM2
Oh how unlike all others the belov'dN2
The free the proud the beautiful whose eyeL
Grew fix'd before them while a people's breathO2
Was hush'd and its one soul bound in the thought of deathO2
-
XVIIIL
It might be that amidst the countless throngG
There swell'd some heart with Pity's weight oppress'dZ
For the wide stream of human love is strongG
And woman on whose fond and faithful breastZ
Childhood is rear'd and at whose knee the sighL
Of its first prayer is breath'd she too was nighL
But life is dear and the free footstep bless'dZ
And home a sunny place where each may fillB
Some eye with glistening smiles and therefore all were stillB
-
XIXY
All still youth courage strength a winter laidD2
A chain of palsy cast on might and mindK2
Still as at noon a southern forest's shadeD2
They stood those breathless masses of mankindK2
Still as aP2

Felicia Dorothea Hemans



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