The Ballad Of The White Horse: 01 - Dedication Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCB DEFFE EGHHHG GIJJJI KJJJJL MNHHHN OGFFFG PQCCCQ HJRRRJ LHSSTH UGBBBG LGVVWG VHXXXH JIGGGI JVJJJV FXYYYX| Of great limbs gone to chaos | A |
| A great face turned to night | B |
| Why bend above a shapeless shroud | C |
| Seeking in such archaic cloud | C |
| Sight of strong lords and light | B |
| - | |
| Where seven sunken Englands | D |
| Lie buried one by one | E |
| Why should one idle spade I wonder | F |
| Shake up the dust of thanes like thunder | F |
| To smoke and choke the sun | E |
| - | |
| In cloud of clay so cast to heaven | E |
| What shape shall man discern | G |
| These lords may light the mystery | H |
| Of mastery or victory | H |
| And these ride high in history | H |
| But these shall not return | G |
| - | |
| Gored on the Norman gonfalon | G |
| The Golden Dragon died | I |
| We shall not wake with ballad strings | J |
| The good time of the smaller things | J |
| We shall not see the holy kings | J |
| Ride down by Severn side | I |
| - | |
| Stiff strange and quaintly coloured | K |
| As the broidery of Bayeux | J |
| The England of that dawn remains | J |
| And this of Alfred and the Danes | J |
| Seems like the tales a whole tribe feigns | J |
| Too English to be true | L |
| - | |
| Of a good king on an island | M |
| That ruled once on a time | N |
| And as he walked by an apple tree | H |
| There came green devils out of the sea | H |
| With sea plants trailing heavily | H |
| And tracks of opal slime | N |
| - | |
| Yet Alfred is no fairy tale | O |
| His days as our days ran | G |
| He also looked forth for an hour | F |
| On peopled plains and skies that lower | F |
| From those few windows in the tower | F |
| That is the head of a man | G |
| - | |
| But who shall look from Alfred's hood | P |
| Or breathe his breath alive | Q |
| His century like a small dark cloud | C |
| Drifts far it is an eyeless crowd | C |
| Where the tortured trumpets scream aloud | C |
| And the dense arrows drive | Q |
| - | |
| Lady by one light only | H |
| We look from Alfred's eyes | J |
| We know he saw athwart the wreck | R |
| The sign that hangs about your neck | R |
| Where One more than Melchizedek | R |
| Is dead and never dies | J |
| - | |
| Therefore I bring these rhymes to you | L |
| Who brought the cross to me | H |
| Since on you flaming without flaw | S |
| I saw the sign that Guthrum saw | S |
| When he let break his ships of awe | T |
| And laid peace on the sea | H |
| - | |
| Do you remember when we went | U |
| Under a dragon moon | G |
| And 'mid volcanic tints of night | B |
| Walked where they fought the unknown fight | B |
| And saw black trees on the battle height | B |
| Black thorn on Ethandune | G |
| - | |
| And I thought I will go with you | L |
| As man with God has gone | G |
| And wander with a wandering star | V |
| The wandering heart of things that are | V |
| The fiery cross of love and war | W |
| That like yourself goes on | G |
| - | |
| O go you onward where you are | V |
| Shall honour and laughter be | H |
| Past purpled forest and pearled foam | X |
| God's winged pavilion free to roam | X |
| Your face that is a wandering home | X |
| A flying home for me | H |
| - | |
| Ride through the silent earthquake lands | J |
| Wide as a waste is wide | I |
| Across these days like deserts when | G |
| Pride and a little scratching pen | G |
| Have dried and split the hearts of men | G |
| Heart of the heroes ride | I |
| - | |
| Up through an empty house of stars | J |
| Being what heart you are | V |
| Up the inhuman steeps of space | J |
| As on a staircase go in grace | J |
| Carrying the firelight on your face | J |
| Beyond the loneliest star | V |
| - | |
| Take these in memory of the hour | F |
| We strayed a space from home | X |
| And saw the smoke hued hamlets quaint | Y |
| With Westland king and Westland saint | Y |
| And watched the western glory faint | Y |
| Along the road to Frome | X |
G. K. Chesterton
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
<< The Ballad Of The Battle Of Gibeon Poem
The Ballad Of The White Horse: 05 - Book Iv: The Woman In The Forest Poem>>
About The Ballad Of The White Horse: 01 - Dedication
The Ballad Of The White Horse: 01 - Dedication is a poem by G. K. Chesterton. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Ballad Of The White Horse: 01 - Dedication poem by G. K. Chesterton
Best Poems of G. K. Chesterton