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 CCKKKK

Upon his battlements he stoodA
And downward gazed in joyous moodB
On Samos' Isle that owned his swayC
All this is subject to my yokeD
To Egypt's monarch thus he spokeD
That I am truly blest then sayC
-
The immortals' favor thou hast knownE
Thy sceptre's might has overthrownE
All those who once were like to theeF
Yet to avenge them one lives stillG
I cannot call thee blest untilG
That dreaded foe has ceased to beF
-
While to these words the king gave ventH
A herald from Miletus sentH
Appeared before the tyrant thereI
Lord let thy incense rise to dayC
And with the laurel branches gayC
Thou well may'st crown thy festive hairI
-
Thy foe has sunk beneath the spearJ
I'm sent to bear the glad news hereK
By thy true marshal PolydoreK
Then from a basin black he takesL
The fearful sight their terror wakesL
A well known head besmeared with goreK
-
The king with horror stepped asideM
And then with anxious look repliedM
Thy bliss to fortune ne'er commitN
On faithless waves bethink thee howO
Thy fleet with doubtful fate swims nowO
How soon the storm may scatter itN
-
But ere he yet had spoke the wordP
A shout of jubilee is heardP
Resounding from the distant strandQ
With foreign treasures teeming o'erK
The vessels' mast rich wood once moreK
Returns home to its native landQ
-
The guest then speaks with startled mindR
Fortune to day in truth seems kindR
But thou her fickleness shouldst fearK
The Cretan hordes well skilled in armsS
Now threaten thee with war's alarmsS
E'en now they are approaching hereK
-
And ere the word has 'scaped his lipsT
A stir is seen amongst the shipsT
And thousand voices Victory cryK
We are delivered from our foeU
The storm has laid the Cretan lowU
The war is ended is gone byK
-
The shout with horror hears the guestV
In truth I must esteem thee blestV
Yet dread I the decrees of heavenW
The envy of the gods I fearK
To taste of unmixed rapture hereK
Is never to a mortal givenW
-
With me too everything succeedsX
In all my sovereign acts and deedsX
The grace of Heaven is ever byK
And yet I had a well loved heirK
I paid my debt to fortune thereK
God took him hence I saw him dieK
-
Wouldst thou from sorrow then be freeK
Pray to each unseen DeityK
For thy well being grief to sendY
The man on whom the Gods bestowU
Their gifts with hands that overflowU
Comes never to a happy endY
-
And if the Gods thy prayer resistZ
Then to a friend's instruction listZ
Invoke thyself adversityK
And what of all thy treasures brightA2
Gives to thy heart the most delightA2
That take and cast thou in the seaK
-
Then speaks the other moved by fearK
This ring to me is far most dearK
Of all this isle within it knowsB2
I to the furies pledge it nowO
If they will happiness allowO
And in the flood the gem he throwsB2
-
And with the morrow's earliest lightA2
Appeared before the monarch's sightA2
A fisherman all joyouslyO
Lord I this fish just now have caughtC2
No net before e'er held the sortD2
And as a gift I bring it theeK
-
The fish was opened by the cookE2
Who suddenly with wondering lookE2
Runs up and utters these glad soundsF2
Within the fish's maw beholdG2
I've found great lord thy ring of goldG2
Thy fortune truly knows no boundsF2
-
The guest with terror turned awayC
I cannot here then longer stayC
My friend thou canst no longer beK
The gods have willed that thou shouldst dieK
Lest I too perish I must flyK
He spoke and sailed thence hastilyK

Friedrich Schiller



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