Ode On Venice[234] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCCDDEDFFDGDHIGGHJ GKKKJLMLMNNOPOPPQRSS PPQRTUUVVVVWWXX A YZYA2ZB2B2VVC2D2D2E2 VVE2F2F2VVEEG2H2I2J2 I2J2K2K2RRK2RK2RVVVK 2XK2L2VV A VK2VK2K2M2K2M2VVN2K2 K2N2K2K2O2O2C2VC2C2C 2V C2 P2Q2R2Q2R2ER2S2ET2T2 K2K2K2T2K2VVEK2U2U2K 2D2D2DVVDVVI2DK2K2V

IA
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Oh Venice Venice when thy marble wallsB
Are level with the waters there shall beC
A cry of nations o'er thy sunken hallsB
A loud lament along the sweeping seaC
If I a northern wanderer weep for theeC
What should thy sons do anything but weepD
And yet they only murmur in their sleepD
In contrast with their fathers as the slimeE
The dull green ooze of the receding deepD
Is with the dashing of the spring tide foamF
That drives the sailor shipless to his homeF
Are they to those that were and thus they creepD
Crouching and crab like through their sapping streetsG
Oh agony that centuries should reapD
No mellower harvest Thirteen hundred yearsH
Of wealth and glory turned to dust and tearsI
And every monument the stranger meetsG
Church palace pillar as a mourner greetsG
And even the Lion all subdued appearsH
And the harsh sound of the barbarian drumJ
With dull and daily dissonance repeatsG
The echo of thy Tyrant's voice alongK
The soft waves once all musical to songK
That heaved beneath the moonlight with the throngK
Of gondolas and to the busy humJ
Of cheerful creatures whose most sinful deedsL
Were but the overbeating of the heartM
And flow of too much happiness which needsL
The aid of age to turn its course apartM
From the luxuriant and voluptuous floodN
Of sweet sensations battling with the bloodN
But these are better than the gloomy errorsO
The weeds of nations in their last decayP
When Vice walks forth with her unsoftened terrorsO
And Mirth is madness and but smiles to slayP
And Hope is nothing but a false delayP
The sick man's lightning half an hour ere DeathQ
When Faintness the last mortal birth of PainR
And apathy of limb the dull beginningS
Of the cold staggering race which Death is winningS
Steals vein by vein and pulse by pulse awayP
Yet so relieving the o'er tortured clayP
To him appears renewal of his breathQ
And freedom the mere numbness of his chainR
And then he talks of Life and how againT
He feels his spirit soaring albeit weakU
And of the fresher air which he would seekU
And as he whispers knows not that he gaspsV
That his thin finger feels not what it claspsV
And so the film comes o'er him and the dizzyV
Chamber swims round and round and shadows busyV
At which he vainly catches flit and gleamW
Till the last rattle chokes the strangled screamW
And all is ice and blackness and the earthX
That which it was the moment ere our birthX
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IIA
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There is no hope for nations Search the pageY
Of many thousand years the daily sceneZ
The flow and ebb of each recurring ageY
The everlasting to be which hath beenA2
Hath taught us nought or little still we leanZ
On things that rot beneath our weight and wearB2
Our strength away in wrestling with the airB2
For't is our nature strikes us down the beastsV
Slaughtered in hourly hecatombs for feastsV
Are of as high an order they must goC2
Even where their driver goads them though to slaughterD2
Ye men who pour your blood for kings as waterD2
What have they given your children in returnE2
A heritage of servitude and woesV
A blindfold bondage where your hire is blowsV
What do not yet the red hot ploughshares burnE2
O'er which you stumble in a false ordealF2
And deem this proof of loyalty the realF2
Kissing the hand that guides you to your scarsV
And glorying as you tread the glowing barsV
All that your Sires have left you all that TimeE
Bequeaths of free and History of sublimeE
Spring from a different theme Ye see and readG2
Admire and sigh and then succumb and bleedH2
Save the few spirits who despite of allI2
And worse than all the sudden crimes engenderedJ2
By the down thundering of the prison wallI2
And thirst to swallow the sweet waters tenderedJ2
Gushing from Freedom's fountains when the crowdK2
Maddened with centuries of drought are loudK2
And trample on each other to obtainR
The cup which brings oblivion of a chainR
Heavy and sore in which long yoked they ploughedK2
The sand or if there sprung the yellow grainR
'Twas not for them their necks were too much bowedK2
And their dead palates chewed the cud of painR
Yes the few spirits who despite of deedsV
Which they abhor confound not with the causeV
Those momentary starts from Nature's lawsV
Which like the pestilence and earthquake smiteK2
But for a term then pass and leave the earthX
With all her seasons to repair the blightK2
With a few summers and again put forthL2
Cities and generations fair when freeV
For Tyranny there blooms no bud for theeV
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IIIA
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Glory and Empire once upon these towersV
With Freedom godlike Triad how you sateK2
The league of mightiest nations in those hoursV
When Venice was an envy might abateK2
But did not quench her spirit in her fateK2
All were enwrapped the feasted monarchs knewM2
And loved their hostess nor could learn to hateK2
Although they humbled with the kingly fewM2
The many felt for from all days and climesV
She was the voyager's worship even her crimesV
Were of the softer order born of LoveN2
She drank no blood nor fattened on the deadK2
But gladdened where her harmless conquests spreadK2
For these restored the Cross that from aboveN2
Hallowed her sheltering banners which incessantK2
Flew between earth and the unholy CrescentK2
Which if it waned and dwindled Earth may thankO2
The city it has clothed in chains which clankO2
Now creaking in the ears of those who oweC2
The name of Freedom to her glorious strugglesV
Yet she but shares with them a common woeC2
And called the kingdom of a conquering foeC2
But knows what all and most of all we knowC2
With what set gilded terms a tyrant jugglesV
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IVC2
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The name of Commonwealth is past and goneP2
O'er the three fractions of the groaning globeQ2
Venice is crushed and Holland deigns to ownR2
A sceptre and endures the purple robeQ2
If the free Switzer yet bestrides aloneR2
His chainless mountains 't is but for a timeE
For Tyranny of late is cunning grownR2
And in its own good season tramples downS2
The sparkles of our ashes One great climeE
Whose vigorous offspring by dividing oceanT2
Are kept apart and nursed in the devotionT2
Of Freedom which their fathers fought for andK2
Bequeathed a heritage of heart and handK2
And proud distinction from each other landK2
Whose sons must bow them at a Monarch's motionT2
As if his senseless sceptre were a wandK2
Full of the magic of exploded scienceV
Still one great clime in full and free defianceV
Yet rears her crest unconquered and sublimeE
Above the far Atlantic She has taughtK2
Her Esau brethren that the haughty flagU2
The floating fence of Albion's feebler cragU2
May strike to those whose red right hands have boughtK2
Rights cheaply earned with blood Still still for everD2
Better though each man's life blood were a riverD2
That it should flow and overflow than creepD
Through thousand lazy channels in our veinsV
Dammed like the dull canal with locks and chainsV
And moving as a sick man in his sleepD
Three paces and then faltering better beV
Where the extinguished Spartans still are freeV
In their proud charnel of ThermopylI2
Than stagnate in our marsh or o'er the deepD
Fly and one current to the ocean addK2
One spirit to the souls our fathers hadK2
One freeman more America to theeV

George Gordon Byron



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