The Bride Of Abydos Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABC DEFG H C I JKJKLLKKMM LLHHNN OOPPQ Q RRSS TUQVWWWWXXWWYYYZWZWA 2X WWAAQB2QB2 WWC2AAC2QQD2D2XXXXWW XX WWAASWWE2E2E2XXWWF2F 2G2H2WWWWI2I2 A WXWWXXXXXXQ QQ XXJ2J2CC NWCWCNK2K2L2L2M2M2 QQ XXWWCXCXXX SQQS WI2WI2QQQQ YYWWCCI2Had we never loved so kindly | A |
Had we never loved so blindly | A |
Never met or never parted | B |
We had ne'er been broken hearted Burns | C |
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TO | - |
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD HOLLAND | D |
THIS TALE IS INSCRIBED | E |
WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF REGARD AND RESPECT | F |
BY HIS GRATEFULLY OBLIGED AND SINCERE FRIEND | G |
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BYRON | H |
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THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS | C |
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CANTO THE FIRST | I |
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I | - |
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Know ye the land where cypress and myrtle | J |
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime | K |
Where the rage of the vulture the love of the turtle | J |
Now melt into sorrow now madden to crime | K |
Know ye the land of the cedar and vine | L |
Where the flowers ever blossom the beams ever shine | L |
Where the light wings of Zephyr oppress'd with perfume | K |
Wax faint o'er the gardens of G l in her bloom | K |
Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit | M |
And the voice of the nightingale never is mute | M |
Where the tints of the earth and the hues of the sky | - |
In colour though varied in beauty may vie | - |
And the purple of Ocean is deepest in dye | - |
Where the virgins are soft as the roses they twine | L |
And all save the spirit of man is divine | L |
'Tis the clime of the East 'tis the land of the Sun | H |
Can he smile on such deeds as his children have done | H |
Oh wild as the accents of lovers' farewell | N |
Are the hearts which they bear and the tales which they tell | N |
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II | - |
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Begirt with many a gallant slave | O |
Apparell'd as becomes the brave | O |
Awaiting each his lord's behest | P |
To guide his steps or guard his rest | P |
Old Giaffir sate in his Divan | Q |
Deep thought was in his aged eye | - |
And though the face of Mussulman | Q |
Not oft betrays to standers by | - |
The mind within well skill'd to hide | R |
All but unconquerable pride | R |
His pensive cheek and pondering brow | S |
Did more than he wont avow | S |
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III | - |
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Let the chamber be clear'd The train disappear'd | T |
Now call me the chief of the Haram guard | U |
With Giaffir is none but his only son | Q |
And the Nubian awaiting the sire's award | V |
Haroun when all the crowd that wait | W |
Are pass'd beyond the outer gate | W |
Woe to the head whose eye beheld | W |
My child Zuleika's face unveil'd | W |
Hence lead my daughter from her tower | X |
Her fate is fix'd this very hour | X |
Yet not to her repeat my thought | W |
By me alone be duty taught | W |
Pacha to hear is to obey | Y |
No more must slave to despot say | Y |
Then to the tower had ta'en his way | Y |
But here young Selim silence brake | Z |
First lowly rendering reverence meet | W |
And downcast look'd and gently spake | Z |
Still standing at the Pacha's feet | W |
For son of Moslem must expire | A2 |
Ere dare to sit before his sire | X |
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Father for fear that thou shouldst chide | W |
My sister or her sable guide | W |
Know for the fault if fault there be | A |
Was mine then fall thy frowns on me | A |
So lovelily the morning shone | Q |
That let the old and weary sleep | B2 |
I could not and to view alone | Q |
The fairest scenes of land and deep | B2 |
With none to listen and reply | - |
To thoughts with which my heart beat high | - |
Were irksome for whate'er my mood | W |
In sooth I love not solitude | W |
I on Zuleika's slumber broke | C2 |
And as thou knowest that for me | A |
Soon turns the Haram's grating key | A |
Before the guardian slaves awoke | C2 |
We to the cypress groves had flown | Q |
And made earth main and heaven our own | Q |
There linger'd we beguil'd too long | D2 |
With Mejnoun's tale or Sadi's song | D2 |
Till I who heard the deep tambour | X |
Beat thy Divan's approaching hour | X |
To thee and to my duty true | X |
Warn'd by the sound to greet thee flew | X |
But there Zuleika wanders yet | W |
Nay father rage not nor forget | W |
That none can pierce that secret bower | X |
But those who watch the women's tower | X |
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IV | - |
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Son of a slave the Pacha said | W |
From unbelieving mother bred | W |
Vain were a father's hope to see | A |
Aught that beseems a man in thee | A |
Thou when thine arm should bend the bow | S |
And hurl the dart and curb the steed | W |
Thou Greek in soul if not in creed | W |
Must pore where babbling waters flow | E2 |
And watch unfolding roses blow | E2 |
Would that yon orb whose matin glow | E2 |
Thy listless eyes so much admire | X |
Would lend thee something of his fire | X |
Thou who wouldst see this battlement | W |
By Christian cannon piecemeal rent | W |
Nay tamely view old Stamboul's wall | F2 |
Before the dogs of Moscow fall | F2 |
Nor strike one stroke for life or death | G2 |
Against the curs of Nazareth | H2 |
Go let thy less than woman's hand | W |
Assume the distaff not the brand | W |
But Haroun to my daughter speed | W |
And hark of thine own head take heed | W |
If thus Zuleika oft takes wing | I2 |
Thou see'st yon bow it hath a string | I2 |
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V | A |
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No sound from Selim's lip was heard | W |
At least that met old Giaffir's ear | X |
But every frown and every word | W |
Pierced keener than a Christian's sword | W |
Son of a slave reproach'd with fear | X |
Those gibes had cost another dear | X |
Son of a slave and who my sire | X |
Thus held his thoughts their dark career | X |
And glances ev'n of more than ire | X |
Flash forth then faintly disappear | X |
Old Giaffir gazed upon his son | Q |
And started for within his eye | - |
He read how much his wrath had done | Q |
He saw rebellion there begun | Q |
Come hither boy what no reply | - |
I mark thee and I know thee too | X |
But there be deeds thou dar'st not do | X |
But if thy beard had manlier length | J2 |
And if thy hand had skill and strength | J2 |
I'd joy to see thee break a lance | C |
Albeit against my own perchance | C |
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As sneeringly these accents fell | N |
On Selim's eye he fiercely gazed | W |
That eye return'd him glance for glance | C |
And proudly to his sire's was raised | W |
Till Giaffir's quail'd and shrunk askance | C |
And why he felt but durst not tell | N |
Much I misdoubt this wayward boy | K2 |
Will one day work me more annoy | K2 |
I never loved him from his birth | L2 |
And but his arm is little worth | L2 |
And scarcely in the chase could cope | M2 |
With timid fawn or antelope | M2 |
Far less would venture into strife | - |
Where man contends for fame and life | - |
I would not trust that look or tone | Q |
No nor the blood so near my own | Q |
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That blood he hath not heard no more | X |
I'll watch him closer than before | X |
He is an Arab to my sight | W |
Or Christian crouching in the fight | W |
But hark I hear Zuleika's voice | C |
Like Houris' hymn it meets mine ear | X |
She is the offspring of my choice | C |
Oh more than ev'n her mother dear | X |
With all to hope and nought to fear | X |
My Peri ever welcome here | X |
Sweet as the desert fountain's wave | - |
To lips just cool'd in time to save | - |
Such to my longing sight art thou | S |
Nor can they waft to Mecca's shrine | Q |
More thanks for life than I for thine | Q |
Who blest thy birth and bless thee now | S |
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VI | - |
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Fair as the first that fell of womankind | W |
When on that dread yet lovely serpent smiling | I2 |
Whose image then was stamp'd upon her mind | W |
But once beguiled and evermore beguiling | I2 |
Dazzling as that oh too transcendent vision | Q |
To Sorrow's phantom peopled slumber given | Q |
When heart meets heart again in dreams Elysian | Q |
And paints the lost on Earth revived in Heaven | Q |
Soft as the memory of buried love | - |
Pure as the prayer which Childhood wafts above | - |
Was she the daughter of that rude old Chief | - |
Who met the maid with tears but not of grief | - |
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Who hath not proved how feebly words essay | Y |
To fix one spark of Beauty's heavenly ray | Y |
Who doth not feel until his failing sight | W |
Faints into dimness with its own delight | W |
His changing cheek his sinking heart confess | C |
The might the majesty of Loveliness | C |
Such was Zuleika | I2 |
George Gordon Byron
(1)
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