The Slavery Of Greece Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCC DDEE FFGGHHH IIJJKLMMIIJJ AACC NNOOBBPPQRSSTTJJSS AADDIIBBBBCCUU CCVVWWHH QXJJJJ CCAA CCWWYYTTUU

Unrivall'd Greece thou ever honor'd nameA
Thou nurse of heroes dear to deathless fameA
Though now to worth to honor all unknownB
Thy lustre faded and thy glories flownB
Yet still shall Memory with reverted eyeC
Trace thy past worth and view thee with a sighC
-
-
Thee Freedom cherish'd once with fostering handD
And breath'd undaunted valour through the landD
Here the stern spirit of the Spartan soilE
The child of poverty inur'd to toilE
-
-
Here lov'd by Pallas and the sacred NineF
Once did fair Athens' tow'ring glories shineF
To bend the bow or the bright faulchion wieldG
To lift the bulwark of the brazen shieldG
To toss the terror of the whizzing spearH
The conqu'ring standard's glitt'ring glories rearH
And join the mad'ning battle's loud careerH
-
-
How skill'd the Greeks confess what Persians slainI
Were strew'd on Marathon's ensanguin'd plainI
When heaps on heaps the routed squadron fellJ
And with their gaudy myriads peopled hellJ
What millions bold Leonidas withstoodK
And seal'd the Grecian freedom with his bloodL
Witness Thermopyl how fierce he trodM
How spoke a hero and how mov'd a GodM
The rush of nations could alone sustainI
While half the ravag'd globe was arm'd in vainI
Let Leuctra say let Mantinea tellJ
How great Epaminondas fought and fellJ
-
-
Nor war's vast art alone adorn'd thy fameA
But mild philosophy endear'd thy nameA
Who knows not sees not with admiring eyeC
How Plato thought how Socrates could dieC
-
-
To bend the arch to bid the column riseN
And the tall pile aspiring pierce the skiesN
The awful scene magnificently greatO
With pictur'd pomp to grace and sculptur'd stateO
This science taught on Greece each science shoneB
Here the bold statue started from the stoneB
Here warm with life the swelling canvass glow'dP
Here big with life the poet's raptures flow'dP
Here Homer's lip was touch'd with sacred fireQ
And wanton Sappho tun'd her am'rous lyreR
Here bold Tyrt us rous'd th' enervate throngS
Awak'd to glory by th' inspiring songS
Here Pindar soar'd a nobler loftier wayT
And brave Alc us scorn'd a tyrant's swayT
Here gorgeous Tragedy with great controulJ
Touch'd every feeling of th' impassion'd soulJ
While in soft measure tripping to the songS
Her comic sister lightly danc'd alongS
-
-
This was thy state But oh how chang'd thy fameA
And all thy glories fading into shameA
What that thy bold thy freedom breathing landD
Should crouch beneath a tyrant's stern commandD
That servitude should bind in galling chainI
Whom Asia's millions once oppos'd in vainI
Who could have thought Who sees without a groanB
Thy cities mould'ring and thy walls o'erthrownB
That where once tower'd the stately solemn faneB
Now moss grown ruins strew the ravag'd plainB
And unobserv'd but by the traveller's eyeC
Proud vaulted domes in fretted fragments lieC
And thy fall'n column on the dusty groundU
Pale ivy throws its sluggish arms aroundU
-
-
Thy sons sad change in abject bondage sighC
Unpitied toil and unlamented dieC
Groan at the labours of the galling oarV
Or the dark caverns of the mine exploreV
The glitt'ring tyranny of Othman's sonsW
The pomp of horror which surrounds their thronesW
Has aw'd their servile spirits into fearH
Spurn'd by the foot they tremble and revereH
-
-
The day of labour night's sad sleepless hourQ
Th' inflictive scourge of arbitrary pow'rX
The bloody terror of the pointed steelJ
The murd'rous stake the agonizing wheelJ
And dreadful choice the bow string or the bowlJ
Damps their faint vigour and unmans the soulJ
-
-
Disastrous fate still tears will fill the eyeC
Still recollection prompt the mournful sighC
When to thy mind recurs thy former fameA
And all the horrors of thy present shameA
-
-
So some tall rock whose bare broad bosom highC
Tow'rs from th' earth and braves th' inclement skyC
On whose vast top the blackening deluge poursW
At whose wide base the thund'ring ocean roarsW
In conscious pride its huge gigantic formY
Surveys imperious and defies the stormY
Till worn by age and mould'ring to decayT
Th' insidious waters wash its base awayT
It falls and falling cleaves the trembling groundU
And spreads a tempest of destruction roundU

George Canning



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about The Slavery Of Greece poem by George Canning


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 4 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets