Scenes Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEFG HHIIJJKKLLMMNN IIOOOOPPQQRRSSMMTU OOVVOOJJOOVVWWOOXXYY BBOOHHZA2OOXXB2B2OOC 2C2UUJUOOUUD2D2OBUU UUE2E2UUXXJJF2F2OOG2 G2UUD2D2OOHHXXH2H2OO OOD2D2I2I2Observe ye not yon high cliff's brow | A |
Up which a wanderer clambers slow | B |
'T is by a hoary ruin crown'd | C |
Which rocks when shrill winds whistle round | C |
That is an ancient knightly hold | D |
Alas it droops deserted cold | D |
And sad and cheerless seems to gaze | E |
Back back to yon heroic days | E |
When youthful Kemps completely arm'd | F |
And lovely maids around it swarm'd | G |
- | |
You in the tower a hole may see | H |
A window there has ceas'd to be | H |
From that once lean'd a damsel bright | I |
In evening's red and fading light | I |
And star'd intently down the way | J |
Up which should come her lover gay | J |
But time it flies on rapid wing | K |
Far off a church is towering | K |
Within it stand two marble stones | L |
That rest above the lovers' bones | L |
But see the wanderer with pain | M |
Has reach'd the pile he wish'd to gain | M |
Whilst Sol behind the ruin'd walls | N |
Down into sacred nature falls | N |
- | |
See there two hostile nobles fight | I |
With tiger rage and giant might | I |
There's seen no smoke there's heard no shot | O |
For guns and powder yet were not | O |
'T was custom then when foemen warr'd | O |
To win or lose with spear and sword | O |
A wild heroic song they yell | P |
And each the other seeks to fell | P |
Oft oft her ownself to destroy | Q |
Her own hand nature does employ | Q |
There casts the hill up fire flakes | R |
And Earth's gigantic body quakes | R |
There lightnings through the high blue flash | S |
And ocean's billows wildly dash | S |
There men 'gainst men their muscles strain | M |
And deal out death and wounds and pain | M |
O Nature to thyself show less | T |
Of hate and more of tenderness | U |
- | |
How dusky is the air around | O |
We are no more above the ground | O |
But down we wend within the hill | V |
Whose springs our ears with hissings fill | V |
See there how rich the ruddy gold | O |
Winds snakeways 'midst the clammy mould | O |
And hard green stone By torches' ray | J |
The harvest there men mow away | J |
But see ye not yon gath'ring cloud | O |
Which 'gainst them cometh paley proud | O |
That holds the spirit of the hill | V |
Who brings death in its hand so chill | V |
If down they do not quickly fall | W |
Most certainly 't will slay them all | W |
For sorely wrathful is its mood | O |
Because they break its solitude | O |
Because its treasure off they bear | X |
And fling light o'er its gloomy lair | X |
'T is white and Kobbold is the name | Y |
Which it from oldest days does claim | Y |
- | |
Now back at once into time we go | B |
For many a hundred years I trow | B |
A gothic chamber salutes your sight | O |
A taper gleams feebly through the night | O |
A ghostly man by the board you see | H |
With his hand to his temples muses he | H |
Parchments with age discolour'd and dun | Z |
Ancient shields all written upon | A2 |
Tree bark bearing ciphers half defac'd | O |
Stones with Runes and characters grac'd | O |
Things of more worth than ye are aware | X |
On the mighty table are pil'd up there | X |
He gazes now in exstatic trance | B2 |
Through the casement out into nature's expanse | B2 |
Whene'er we sit at the lone midnight | O |
And stare out into the dubious light | O |
Whilst the pallid moon is peering o'er | C2 |
Ruin'd cloister and crumbling tower | C2 |
Feelings so wondrous strange come o'er us | U |
The past and the future arise before us | U |
The present fadeth unmark'd away | J |
In the garb of insignificancy | U |
He gazes up into nature's height | O |
The noble man with his eye so bright | O |
He gazes up to the starry skies | U |
Whither sooner or later we hope to rise | U |
And now he takes in haste the pen | D2 |
And the spirit of Oldom flows from it amain | D2 |
The scatter'd Goth songs he changes unto | O |
An Epic which maketh each bosom to glow | B |
Thanks to the old Monk toiling thus | U |
They call him Saxo Grammaticus | U |
- | |
An open field before you lies | U |
A wind burst o'er its bosom sighs | U |
Now all is still all seems asleep | E2 |
'Midst of the field there stands a heap | E2 |
Upon the heap stand Runic stones | U |
Thereunder rest gigantic bones | U |
From Arild's time that heap stands there | X |
But now 't is till'd with utmost care | X |
In order that its owner may | J |
Thereoff reap golden corn one day | J |
Oft has he tried the niggard soul | F2 |
The mighty stones away to roll | F2 |
As useless burdens of his ground | O |
But they for that too big were found | O |
See see the moon through cloud and rack | G2 |
Looks down upon the letters black | G2 |
And when the ghost its form uprears | U |
He shines upon its bursting tears | U |
For oh the moon's an ancient man | D2 |
Describe him mortal tongue ne'er can | D2 |
He shines alike serene and bright | O |
At midmost hour of witching night | O |
Upon the spot of love and glee | H |
And on the gloomy gallows tree | H |
Upon each Rune behold him stare | X |
While off he hastes through fields of air | X |
He understands those signs I'll gage | H2 |
Whose meaning lies in sunken age | H2 |
And if he were in speaking state | O |
No doubt the old man could relate | O |
Strange things that have on earth occurr'd | O |
Of which fame ne'er has said a word | O |
But since with look with look alone | D2 |
He cannot those events make known | D2 |
He waketh from his height sublime | I2 |
Mere longing for the dark gone time | I2 |
George Borrow
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation