The Ring Of Polycrates - A Ballad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDDC EEFGGF HHICCI JKKLLK MMNOON PPQKKQ RRKSSK TTKUUK VVWKKW XXKKKK KKYUUY ZZKA2A2K KKB2OOB2 A2A2OC2D2K E2E2F2G2G2F2 CCKKKKUpon his battlements he stood | A |
And downward gazed in joyous mood | B |
On Samos' Isle that owned his sway | C |
All this is subject to my yoke | D |
To Egypt's monarch thus he spoke | D |
That I am truly blest then say | C |
- | |
The immortals' favor thou hast known | E |
Thy sceptre's might has overthrown | E |
All those who once were like to thee | F |
Yet to avenge them one lives still | G |
I cannot call thee blest until | G |
That dreaded foe has ceased to be | F |
- | |
While to these words the king gave vent | H |
A herald from Miletus sent | H |
Appeared before the tyrant there | I |
Lord let thy incense rise to day | C |
And with the laurel branches gay | C |
Thou well may'st crown thy festive hair | I |
- | |
Thy foe has sunk beneath the spear | J |
I'm sent to bear the glad news here | K |
By thy true marshal Polydore | K |
Then from a basin black he takes | L |
The fearful sight their terror wakes | L |
A well known head besmeared with gore | K |
- | |
The king with horror stepped aside | M |
And then with anxious look replied | M |
Thy bliss to fortune ne'er commit | N |
On faithless waves bethink thee how | O |
Thy fleet with doubtful fate swims now | O |
How soon the storm may scatter it | N |
- | |
But ere he yet had spoke the word | P |
A shout of jubilee is heard | P |
Resounding from the distant strand | Q |
With foreign treasures teeming o'er | K |
The vessels' mast rich wood once more | K |
Returns home to its native land | Q |
- | |
The guest then speaks with startled mind | R |
Fortune to day in truth seems kind | R |
But thou her fickleness shouldst fear | K |
The Cretan hordes well skilled in arms | S |
Now threaten thee with war's alarms | S |
E'en now they are approaching here | K |
- | |
And ere the word has 'scaped his lips | T |
A stir is seen amongst the ships | T |
And thousand voices Victory cry | K |
We are delivered from our foe | U |
The storm has laid the Cretan low | U |
The war is ended is gone by | K |
- | |
The shout with horror hears the guest | V |
In truth I must esteem thee blest | V |
Yet dread I the decrees of heaven | W |
The envy of the gods I fear | K |
To taste of unmixed rapture here | K |
Is never to a mortal given | W |
- | |
With me too everything succeeds | X |
In all my sovereign acts and deeds | X |
The grace of Heaven is ever by | K |
And yet I had a well loved heir | K |
I paid my debt to fortune there | K |
God took him hence I saw him die | K |
- | |
Wouldst thou from sorrow then be free | K |
Pray to each unseen Deity | K |
For thy well being grief to send | Y |
The man on whom the Gods bestow | U |
Their gifts with hands that overflow | U |
Comes never to a happy end | Y |
- | |
And if the Gods thy prayer resist | Z |
Then to a friend's instruction list | Z |
Invoke thyself adversity | K |
And what of all thy treasures bright | A2 |
Gives to thy heart the most delight | A2 |
That take and cast thou in the sea | K |
- | |
Then speaks the other moved by fear | K |
This ring to me is far most dear | K |
Of all this isle within it knows | B2 |
I to the furies pledge it now | O |
If they will happiness allow | O |
And in the flood the gem he throws | B2 |
- | |
And with the morrow's earliest light | A2 |
Appeared before the monarch's sight | A2 |
A fisherman all joyously | O |
Lord I this fish just now have caught | C2 |
No net before e'er held the sort | D2 |
And as a gift I bring it thee | K |
- | |
The fish was opened by the cook | E2 |
Who suddenly with wondering look | E2 |
Runs up and utters these glad sounds | F2 |
Within the fish's maw behold | G2 |
I've found great lord thy ring of gold | G2 |
Thy fortune truly knows no bounds | F2 |
- | |
The guest with terror turned away | C |
I cannot here then longer stay | C |
My friend thou canst no longer be | K |
The gods have willed that thou shouldst die | K |
Lest I too perish I must fly | K |
He spoke and sailed thence hastily | K |
Friedrich Schiller
(1)
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