Ode To A Mountain-torrent (from The German Of Stolberg) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEG HDHD IJIJ KLKL MNMN OPOP IJIJ| How lovely art thou in thy tresses of foam | A |
| And yet the warm blood in my bosom grows chill | B |
| When yelling thou rollest thee down from thy home | A |
| 'Mid the boom of the echoing forest and hill | B |
| - | |
| The pine trees are shaken they yield to thy shocks | C |
| And spread their vast ruin wide over the ground | D |
| The rocks fly before thee thou seizest the rocks | C |
| And whirl'st them like pebbles contemptuously round | D |
| - | |
| The sun beams have cloth'd thee in glorious dyes | E |
| They streak with the tints of the heavenly bow | F |
| Those hovering columns of vapour that rise | E |
| Forth from the bubbling cauldron below | G |
| - | |
| But why art thou seeking the ocean's dark brine | H |
| If grandeur makes happiness sure it is found | D |
| When forth from the depths of the rock girdled mine | H |
| Thou boundest and all gives response to thy sound | D |
| - | |
| Beware thee O torrent of yonder dark sea | I |
| For there thou must crouch beneath tyranny's rod | J |
| Here thou art lonely and lovely and free | I |
| Loud as a thunder peal strong as a god | J |
| - | |
| True it is pleasant at eve or at noon | K |
| To gaze on the sea and its far winding bays | L |
| When ting'd with the light of the wandering moon | K |
| Or red with the gold of the midsummer rays | L |
| - | |
| But torrent what is it what is it behold | M |
| That lustre as nought but a bait and a snare | N |
| What is the summer sun's purple and gold | M |
| To him who breathes not in pure freedom the air | N |
| - | |
| Abandon abandon thy headlong career | O |
| But downward thou rushest my words are in vain | P |
| Bethink thee that oft changing winds domineer | O |
| On the billowy breast of the time serving main | P |
| - | |
| Then haste not O torrent to yonder dark sea | I |
| For there thou must crouch beneath tyranny's rod | J |
| Here thou art lonely and lovely and free | I |
| Loud as a thunder peal strong as a god | J |
George Borrow
(1)
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