The Gods Of Greece Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABBCDEDF GHGHIJAJ KLKLMNMN MOMOOPOP MPMPPPPP EPEPQRSR PPPPMQMQ STTTOPOP UFUFOMOM VTJTPWPW WXWXMMMM TWTWYMYM PEPEWWWW WMWMWWWW ZMZMPWPW PMPMA2FA2F

Ye in the age gone byA
Who ruled the world a world how lovely thenB
And guided still the steps of happy menB
In the light leading strings of careless joyC
Ah flourished then your service of delightD
How different oh how different in the dayE
When thy sweet fanes with many a wreath were brightD
O Venus AmathusiaF
-
Then through a veil of dreamsG
Woven by song truth's youthful beauty glowedH
And life's redundant and rejoicing streamsG
Gave to the soulless soul where'r they flowedH
Man gifted nature with divinityI
To lift and link her to the breast of loveJ
All things betrayed to the initiate eyeA
The track of gods aboveJ
-
Where lifeless fixed afarK
A flaming ball to our dull sense is givenL
Phoebus Apollo in his golden carK
In silent glory swept the fields of heavenL
On yonder hill the Oread was adoredM
In yonder tree the Dryad held her homeN
And from her urn the gentle Naiad pouredM
The wavelet's silver foamN
-
Yon bay chaste Daphne wreathedM
Yon stone was mournful Niobe's mute cellO
Low through yon sedges pastoral Syrinx breathedM
And through those groves wailed the sweet PhilomelO
The tears of Ceres swelled in yonder rillO
Tears shed for Proserpine to Hades borneP
And for her lost Adonis yonder hillO
Heard Cytherea mournP
-
Heaven's shapes were charmed untoM
The mortal race of old DeucalionP
Pyrrha's fair daughter humanly to wooM
Came down in shepherd guise Latona's sonP
Between men heroes gods harmonious thenP
Love wove sweet links and sympathies divineP
Blest Amathusia heroes gods and menP
Equals before thy shrineP
-
Not to that culture gayE
Stern self denial or sharp penance wanP
Well might each heart be happy in that dayE
For gods the happy ones were kin to manP
The beautiful alone the holy thereQ
No pleasure shamed the gods of that young raceR
So that the chaste Camoenae favoring wereS
And the subduing graceR
-
A palace every shrineP
Your sports heroic yours the crownP
Of contests hallowed to a power divineP
As rushed the chariots thundering to renownP
Fair round the altar where the incense breathedM
Moved your melodious dance inspired and fairQ
Above victorious brows the garland wreathedM
Sweet leaves round odorous hairQ
-
The lively Thyrsus swingerS
And the wild car the exulting panthers boreT
Announced the presence of the rapture bringerT
Bounded the Satyr and blithe Faun beforeT
And Maenads as the frenzy stung the soulO
Hymned in their maddening dance the glorious wineP
As ever beckoned to the lusty bowlO
The ruddy host divineP
-
Before the bed of deathU
No ghastly spectre stood but from the porchF
Of life the lip one kiss inhaled the breathU
And the mute graceful genius lowered a torchF
The judgment balance of the realms belowO
A judge himself of mortal lineage heldM
The very furies at the Thracian's woeO
Were moved and music spelledM
-
In the Elysian groveV
The shades renewed the pleasures life held dearT
The faithful spouse rejoined remembered loveJ
And rushed along the meads the charioteerT
There Linus poured the old accustomed strainP
Admetus there Alcestis still could greet hisW
Friend there once more Orestes could regainP
His arrows PhiloctetesW
-
More glorious than the meedsW
That in their strife with labor nerved the braveX
To the great doer of renowned deedsW
The Hebe and the heaven the Thunderer gaveX
Before the rescued rescuer of the deadM
Bowed down the silent and immortal hostM
And the twain stars their guiding lustre shedM
On the bark tempest tossedM
-
Art thou fair world no moreT
Return thou virgin bloom on Nature's faceW
Ah only on the minstrel's magic shoreT
Can we the footstep of sweet fable traceW
The meadows mourn for the old hallowing lifeY
Vainly we search the earth of gods bereftM
Where once the warm and living shapes were rifeY
Shadows alone are leftM
-
Cold from the north has goneP
Over the flowers the blast that killed their MayE
And to enrich the worship of the oneP
A universe of gods must pass awayE
Mourning I search on yonder starry steepsW
But thee no more Selene there I seeW
And through the woods I call and o'er the deepsW
And Echo answers meW
-
Deaf to the joys she givesW
Blind to the pomp of which she is possessedM
Unconscious of the spiritual power that livesW
Around and rules her by our bliss unblessedM
Dull to the art that colors or createsW
Like the dead timepiece godless nature creepsW
Her plodding round and by the leaden weightsW
The slavish motion keepsW
-
To morrow to receiveZ
New life she digs her proper grave to dayM
And icy moons with weary sameness weaveZ
From their own light their fulness and decayM
Home to the poet's land the gods are flownP
Light use in them that later world discernsW
Which the diviner leading strings outgrownP
On its own axle turnsW
-
Home and with them are goneP
The hues they gazed on and the tones they heardM
Life's beauty and life's melody aloneP
Broods o'er the desolate void the lifeless wordM
Yet rescued from time's deluge still they throngA2
Unseen the Pindus they were wont to cherishF
All that which gains immortal life in songA2
To mortal life must perishF

Friedrich Schiller



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