The Giaour: A Fragment Of A Turkish Tale Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCD EEFFFGGAAHHHIIJJ KLJMMNNOOLLIINNPQRRS STPUUVVWXYYZZIIA2A2C CB2B2PPC2C2 D2D2XWE2E2IIGGLQQ KF2F2G2H2YYI2I2SSIIJ 2J2K2K2TTTL2L2 AAAKKAPAKM2HH2H2N2E2 E2O2P2Q2Q2OOOR2R2S2S 2K2K2ZZLLUUPPTT ST2SST2D2D2T2AAT2U2U 2NNV2W2X2X2Y2Y2Y2PPZ 2Z2 A3A3B3B3C3GPPSSB3B3 B3B3B3B3B3B3B3B3B3YY U2U2U2B3B3LLOO YYB3B3B3B3YYD3D3LLKK B3B3B3B3B3B3B3B3PYNo breath of air to break the wave | A |
That rolls below the Athenian's grave | A |
That tomb which gleaming o'er the cliff | B |
First greets the homeward veering skiff | B |
High o'er the land he saved in vain | C |
When shall such Hero live again | D |
- | |
Fair clime where every season smiles | E |
Benignant o'er those bless d isles | E |
Which seen from far Colonna's height | F |
Make glad the heart that hails the sight | F |
And lend to lonliness delight | F |
There mildly dimpling Ocean's cheek | G |
Reflects the tints of many a peak | G |
Caught by the laughing tides that lave | A |
These Edens of the Eastern wave | A |
And if at times a transient breeze | H |
Break the blue crystal of the seas | H |
Or sweep one blossom from the trees | H |
How welcome is each gentle air | I |
That waves and wafts the odours there | I |
For there the Rose o'er crag or vale | J |
Sultana of the Nightingale | J |
- | |
The maid for whom his melody | K |
His thousand songs are heard on high | L |
Blooms blushing to her lover's tale | J |
His queen the garden queen his Rose | M |
Unbent by winds unchilled by snows | M |
Far from winters of the west | N |
By every breeze and season blest | N |
Returns the sweets by Nature given | O |
In soft incense back to Heaven | O |
And gratefu yields that smiling sky | L |
Her fairest hue and fragrant sigh | L |
And many a summer flower is there | I |
And many a shade that Love might share | I |
And many a grotto meant by rest | N |
That holds the pirate for a guest | N |
Whose bark in sheltering cove below | P |
Lurks for the pasiing peaceful prow | Q |
Till the gay mariner's guitar | R |
Is heard and seen the Evening Star | R |
Then stealing with the muffled oar | S |
Far shaded by the rocky shore | S |
Rush the night prowlers on the prey | T |
And turns to groan his roudelay | P |
Strande that where Nature loved to trace | U |
As if for Gods a dwelling place | U |
And every charm and grace hath mixed | V |
Within the Paradise she fixed | V |
There man enarmoured of distress | W |
Shoul mar it into wilderness | X |
And trample brute like o'er each flower | Y |
That tasks not one labourious hour | Y |
Nor claims the culture of his hand | Z |
To blood along the fairy land | Z |
But springs as to preclude his care | I |
And sweetly woos him but to spare | I |
Strange that where all is Peace beside | A2 |
There Passion riots in her pride | A2 |
And Lust and Rapine wildly reign | C |
To darken o'er the fair domain | C |
It is as though the Fiends prevailed | B2 |
Against the Seraphs they assailed | B2 |
And fixed on heavenly thrones should dwell | P |
The freed inheritors of Hell | P |
So soft the scene so formed for joy | C2 |
So curst the tyrants that destroy | C2 |
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He who hath bent him o'er the dead | D2 |
Ere the first day of Death is fled | D2 |
The first dark day of Nothingness | X |
The last of Danger and Distress | W |
Before Decay's effacing fingers | E2 |
Have swept the lines where Beauty lingers | E2 |
And marked the mild angelic air | I |
The rapture of Repose that's there | I |
The fixed yet tender thraits that streak | G |
The languor of the placid cheek | G |
And but for that sad shrouded eye | L |
That fires not wins not weeps not now | Q |
And but for that chill changeless brow | Q |
- | |
Where cold Obstruction's apathy | K |
Appals the gazing mourner's heart | F2 |
As if to him it could impart | F2 |
The doom he dreads yet dwells upon | G2 |
Yes but for these and these alone | H2 |
Some moments aye one treacherous hour | Y |
He still might doubt the Tyrant's power | Y |
So fair so calm so softly sealed | I2 |
The first last look by Death revealed | I2 |
Such is the aspect of his shore | S |
'T is Greece but living Greece no more | S |
So coldly sweet so deadly fair | I |
We start for Soul is wanting there | I |
Hers is the loveliness in death | J2 |
That parts not quite with parting breath | J2 |
But beauty with that fearful bloom | K2 |
That hue which haunts it to the tomb | K2 |
Expression's last receding ray | T |
A gilded Halo hovering round decay | T |
The farewell beam of Feeling past away | T |
Spark of that flame perchance of heavenly birth | L2 |
Which gleams but warms no more its cherished earth | L2 |
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Clime of the unforgotten brave | A |
Whose land from plain to mountain cave | A |
Was Freedom s home or Glory's grave | A |
Shrine of the mighty can it be | K |
That this is all remains of thee | K |
Approach thou craven crouching slave | A |
Say is this not Thermopyl | P |
These waters blue that round you lave | A |
Of servile offspring of the free | K |
Pronounce what sea what shore is this | M2 |
The gulf the rock of Salamis | H |
These scenes their story yet unknown | H2 |
Arise and make again your own | H2 |
Snatch from the ashes of your Sires | N2 |
The embers of their former fires | E2 |
And he who in the strife expires | E2 |
Will add to theirs a name of fear | O2 |
That Tyranny shall quake to hear | P2 |
And leave his sons a hope a fame | Q2 |
They too will rather die than shame | Q2 |
For Freedom's battle once begun | O |
Bequeathed by bleeding Sire to Son | O |
Though baffled oft is ever won | O |
Bear witness Greece thy living page | R2 |
Attest it many a deathless age | R2 |
While Kings in dusty darkness hid | S2 |
Have left a namesless pyramid | S2 |
Thy Heroes though the general doom | K2 |
Hath swept the column from their tomb | K2 |
A mightier monument command | Z |
The mountains of thy native land | Z |
There points thy Muse to stranger's eye | L |
The graves of those that cannot die | L |
'T were long to tell and sad to trace | U |
Each step from Spledour to Disgrace | U |
Enough no foreign foe could quell | P |
Thy soul till from itself it fell | P |
Yet Self abasement paved the way | T |
To villain bonds and despot sway | T |
- | |
What can he tell who tread thy shore | S |
No legend of thine olden time | T2 |
No theme on which the Muse might soar | S |
High as thine own days of yore | S |
When man was worthy of thy clime | T2 |
The hearts within thy valleys bred | D2 |
The fiery souls that might have led | D2 |
Thy sons to deeds sublime | T2 |
Now crawl from cradle to the Grave | A |
Slaves nay the bondsmen of a Slave | A |
And callous save to crime | T2 |
Stained with each evil that pollutes | U2 |
Mankind where least above the brutes | U2 |
Without even savage virtue blest | N |
Without one free or valiant breast | N |
Still to the neighbouring ports tey waft | V2 |
Proverbial wiles and ancient craft | W2 |
In this subtle Greek is found | X2 |
For this and this alown renowned | X2 |
In vain might Liberty invoke | Y2 |
The spirit to its bondage broke | Y2 |
Or raise the neck that courts the yoke | Y2 |
No more her sorrows I bewail | P |
Yet this will be a mournful tale | P |
And they who listen may believe | Z2 |
Who heard it first had cause to grieve | Z2 |
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Far dark along the blue sea glancing | A3 |
The shadows of the rocks advancing | A3 |
Start on the fisher's eye like boat | B3 |
Of island pirate or Mainote | B3 |
And fearful for his light ca que | C3 |
He shuns the near but doubtful creek | G |
Though worn and weary with his toil | P |
And cumbered with his scaly spoil | P |
Slowly yet strongly plies the oar | S |
Till Port Leone's safer shore | S |
Receives him by the lovely light | B3 |
That best becomes an Eastern night | B3 |
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Who thundering comes on blackest steed | B3 |
With slackened bit and hoof of speed | B3 |
Beneath the clattering iron's sound | B3 |
The caverned echoes wake around | B3 |
In lash for lash and bound for bound | B3 |
The foam that streaks the courser's side | B3 |
Seems gathered from the ocean tide | B3 |
Though weary waves are sunk to rest | B3 |
There's none within his rider's breast | B3 |
And though tomorrow's tempest lower | Y |
'Tis calmer than thy heart young Giaour | Y |
I know thee not I loathe thy race | U2 |
But in thy lineaments I trace | U2 |
What time shall strengthen not efface | U2 |
Though young and pale that sallow front | B3 |
Is scathed by fiery passion's brunt | B3 |
Though bent on earth thine evil eye | L |
As meteor like thou glidest by | L |
Right well I view thee and deem thee one | O |
Whom Othman's sons should slay or shun | O |
- | |
On on he hastened and he drew | Y |
My gaze of wonder as he flew | Y |
Though like a demon of the night | B3 |
He passed and vanished from my sight | B3 |
His aspect and his air impressed | B3 |
A troubled memory on my breast | B3 |
And long upon my startled ear | Y |
Rung his dark courser's hoofs of fear | Y |
He spurs his steed he nears the steep | D3 |
That jutting shadows o'er the deep | D3 |
He winds around he hurries by | L |
The rock relieves him from mine eye | L |
For well I ween unwelcome he | K |
Whose glance is fixed on those that flee | K |
And not a start that shines too bright | B3 |
On him who takes such timeless flight | B3 |
He wound along but ere he passed | B3 |
One glance he snatched as if his last | B3 |
A moment checked his wheeling steed | B3 |
A moment breathed him from his speed | B3 |
A moment on his stirrup stood | B3 |
Why looks he o'er the olive wood | B3 |
The crescent glimmers on the hill | P |
The mosque's high lamps ar | Y |
George Gordon Byron
(2)
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