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 B3B3B3B3B3B3B3B3PY

No breath of air to break the waveA
That rolls below the Athenian's graveA
That tomb which gleaming o'er the cliffB
First greets the homeward veering skiffB
High o'er the land he saved in vainC
When shall such Hero live againD
-
Fair clime where every season smilesE
Benignant o'er those bless d islesE
Which seen from far Colonna's heightF
Make glad the heart that hails the sightF
And lend to lonliness delightF
There mildly dimpling Ocean's cheekG
Reflects the tints of many a peakG
Caught by the laughing tides that laveA
These Edens of the Eastern waveA
And if at times a transient breezeH
Break the blue crystal of the seasH
Or sweep one blossom from the treesH
How welcome is each gentle airI
That waves and wafts the odours thereI
For there the Rose o'er crag or valeJ
Sultana of the NightingaleJ
-
The maid for whom his melodyK
His thousand songs are heard on highL
Blooms blushing to her lover's taleJ
His queen the garden queen his RoseM
Unbent by winds unchilled by snowsM
Far from winters of the westN
By every breeze and season blestN
Returns the sweets by Nature givenO
In soft incense back to HeavenO
And gratefu yields that smiling skyL
Her fairest hue and fragrant sighL
And many a summer flower is thereI
And many a shade that Love might shareI
And many a grotto meant by restN
That holds the pirate for a guestN
Whose bark in sheltering cove belowP
Lurks for the pasiing peaceful prowQ
Till the gay mariner's guitarR
Is heard and seen the Evening StarR
Then stealing with the muffled oarS
Far shaded by the rocky shoreS
Rush the night prowlers on the preyT
And turns to groan his roudelayP
Strande that where Nature loved to traceU
As if for Gods a dwelling placeU
And every charm and grace hath mixedV
Within the Paradise she fixedV
There man enarmoured of distressW
Shoul mar it into wildernessX
And trample brute like o'er each flowerY
That tasks not one labourious hourY
Nor claims the culture of his handZ
To blood along the fairy landZ
But springs as to preclude his careI
And sweetly woos him but to spareI
Strange that where all is Peace besideA2
There Passion riots in her prideA2
And Lust and Rapine wildly reignC
To darken o'er the fair domainC
It is as though the Fiends prevailedB2
Against the Seraphs they assailedB2
And fixed on heavenly thrones should dwellP
The freed inheritors of HellP
So soft the scene so formed for joyC2
So curst the tyrants that destroyC2
-
He who hath bent him o'er the deadD2
Ere the first day of Death is fledD2
The first dark day of NothingnessX
The last of Danger and DistressW
Before Decay's effacing fingersE2
Have swept the lines where Beauty lingersE2
And marked the mild angelic airI
The rapture of Repose that's thereI
The fixed yet tender thraits that streakG
The languor of the placid cheekG
And but for that sad shrouded eyeL
That fires not wins not weeps not nowQ
And but for that chill changeless browQ
-
Where cold Obstruction's apathyK
Appals the gazing mourner's heartF2
As if to him it could impartF2
The doom he dreads yet dwells uponG2
Yes but for these and these aloneH2
Some moments aye one treacherous hourY
He still might doubt the Tyrant's powerY
So fair so calm so softly sealedI2
The first last look by Death revealedI2
Such is the aspect of his shoreS
'T is Greece but living Greece no moreS
So coldly sweet so deadly fairI
We start for Soul is wanting thereI
Hers is the loveliness in deathJ2
That parts not quite with parting breathJ2
But beauty with that fearful bloomK2
That hue which haunts it to the tombK2
Expression's last receding rayT
A gilded Halo hovering round decayT
The farewell beam of Feeling past awayT
Spark of that flame perchance of heavenly birthL2
Which gleams but warms no more its cherished earthL2
-
Clime of the unforgotten braveA
Whose land from plain to mountain caveA
Was Freedom s home or Glory's graveA
Shrine of the mighty can it beK
That this is all remains of theeK
Approach thou craven crouching slaveA
Say is this not ThermopylP
These waters blue that round you laveA
Of servile offspring of the freeK
Pronounce what sea what shore is thisM2
The gulf the rock of SalamisH
These scenes their story yet unknownH2
Arise and make again your ownH2
Snatch from the ashes of your SiresN2
The embers of their former firesE2
And he who in the strife expiresE2
Will add to theirs a name of fearO2
That Tyranny shall quake to hearP2
And leave his sons a hope a fameQ2
They too will rather die than shameQ2
For Freedom's battle once begunO
Bequeathed by bleeding Sire to SonO
Though baffled oft is ever wonO
Bear witness Greece thy living pageR2
Attest it many a deathless ageR2
While Kings in dusty darkness hidS2
Have left a namesless pyramidS2
Thy Heroes though the general doomK2
Hath swept the column from their tombK2
A mightier monument commandZ
The mountains of thy native landZ
There points thy Muse to stranger's eyeL
The graves of those that cannot dieL
'T were long to tell and sad to traceU
Each step from Spledour to DisgraceU
Enough no foreign foe could quellP
Thy soul till from itself it fellP
Yet Self abasement paved the wayT
To villain bonds and despot swayT
-
What can he tell who tread thy shoreS
No legend of thine olden timeT2
No theme on which the Muse might soarS
High as thine own days of yoreS
When man was worthy of thy climeT2
The hearts within thy valleys bredD2
The fiery souls that might have ledD2
Thy sons to deeds sublimeT2
Now crawl from cradle to the GraveA
Slaves nay the bondsmen of a SlaveA
And callous save to crimeT2
Stained with each evil that pollutesU2
Mankind where least above the brutesU2
Without even savage virtue blestN
Without one free or valiant breastN
Still to the neighbouring ports tey waftV2
Proverbial wiles and ancient craftW2
In this subtle Greek is foundX2
For this and this alown renownedX2
In vain might Liberty invokeY2
The spirit to its bondage brokeY2
Or raise the neck that courts the yokeY2
No more her sorrows I bewailP
Yet this will be a mournful taleP
And they who listen may believeZ2
Who heard it first had cause to grieveZ2
-
Far dark along the blue sea glancingA3
The shadows of the rocks advancingA3
Start on the fisher's eye like boatB3
Of island pirate or MainoteB3
And fearful for his light ca queC3
He shuns the near but doubtful creekG
Though worn and weary with his toilP
And cumbered with his scaly spoilP
Slowly yet strongly plies the oarS
Till Port Leone's safer shoreS
Receives him by the lovely lightB3
That best becomes an Eastern nightB3
-
Who thundering comes on blackest steedB3
With slackened bit and hoof of speedB3
Beneath the clattering iron's soundB3
The caverned echoes wake aroundB3
In lash for lash and bound for boundB3
The foam that streaks the courser's sideB3
Seems gathered from the ocean tideB3
Though weary waves are sunk to restB3
There's none within his rider's breastB3
And though tomorrow's tempest lowerY
'Tis calmer than thy heart young GiaourY
I know thee not I loathe thy raceU2
But in thy lineaments I traceU2
What time shall strengthen not effaceU2
Though young and pale that sallow frontB3
Is scathed by fiery passion's bruntB3
Though bent on earth thine evil eyeL
As meteor like thou glidest byL
Right well I view thee and deem thee oneO
Whom Othman's sons should slay or shunO
-
On on he hastened and he drewY
My gaze of wonder as he flewY
Though like a demon of the nightB3
He passed and vanished from my sightB3
His aspect and his air impressedB3
A troubled memory on my breastB3
And long upon my startled earY
Rung his dark courser's hoofs of fearY
He spurs his steed he nears the steepD3
That jutting shadows o'er the deepD3
He winds around he hurries byL
The rock relieves him from mine eyeL
For well I ween unwelcome heK
Whose glance is fixed on those that fleeK
And not a start that shines too brightB3
On him who takes such timeless flightB3
He wound along but ere he passedB3
One glance he snatched as if his lastB3
A moment checked his wheeling steedB3
A moment breathed him from his speedB3
A moment on his stirrup stoodB3
Why looks he o'er the olive woodB3
The crescent glimmers on the hillP
The mosque's high lamps arY

George Gordon Byron



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