The Irish Avatar.[ir][592] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC DEFG HIHI HJHK HHHH ILIM NHOH PQPQ RCRC STUT VFWF XYXY AOHO ZCZB AQA2Q OB2OB2 HHC2A D2HD2H E2HE2F E2F2E2F2 G2H2G2H2 G2HG2H KI2KJ2 E2HK2H E2L2E2M2 H2N2H2N2 E2IL2I E2HE2H ID2ID2 HE2IE2 IBIL2 IIII IO2And Ireland like a bastinadoed elephant kneeling to receive the paltry rider Life of Curran ii | A |
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Ere the daughter of Brunswick is cold in her grave | B |
And her ashes still float to their home o'er the tide | C |
Lo George the triumphant speeds over the wave | B |
To the long cherished Isle which he loved like his bride | C |
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True the great of her bright and brief Era are gone | D |
The rain bow like Epoch where Freedom could pause | E |
For the few little years out of centuries won | F |
Which betrayed not or crushed not or wept not her cause | G |
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True the chains of the Catholic clank o'er his rags | H |
The Castle still stands and the Senate's no more | I |
And the Famine which dwelt on her freedomless crags | H |
Is extending its steps to her desolate shore | I |
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To her desolate shore where the emigrant stands | H |
For a moment to gaze ere he flies from his hearth | J |
Tears fall on his chain though it drops from his hands | H |
For the dungeon he quits is the place of his birth | K |
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But he comes the Messiah of Royalty comes | H |
Like a goodly Leviathan rolled from the waves | H |
Then receive him as best such an advent becomes is | H |
With a legion of cooks and an army of slaves | H |
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He comes in the promise and bloom of threescore | I |
To perform in the pageant the Sovereign's part it | L |
But long live the Shamrock which shadows him o'er | I |
Could the Green in his hat be transferred to his heart | M |
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Could that long withered spot but be verdant again | N |
And a new spring of noble affections arise | H |
Then might Freedom forgive thee this dance in thy chain | O |
And this shout of thy slavery which saddens the skies | H |
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Is it madness or meanness which clings to thee now | P |
Were he God as he is but the commonest clay | Q |
With scarce fewer wrinkles than sins on his brow | P |
Such servile devotion might shame him away | Q |
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Aye roar in his train let thine orators lash | R |
Their fanciful spirits to pamper his pride | C |
Not thus did thy Grattan indignantly flash | R |
His soul o'er the freedom implored and denied | C |
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Ever glorious Grattan the best of the good | S |
So simple in heart so sublime in the rest | T |
With all which Demosthenes wanted endued | U |
And his rival or victor in all he possessed | T |
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Ere Tully arose in the zenith of Rome | V |
Though unequalled preceded the task was begun | F |
But Grattan sprung up like a god from the tomb | W |
Of ages the first last the saviour the one | F |
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With the skill of an Orpheus to soften the brute | X |
With the fire of Prometheus to kindle mankind | Y |
Even Tyranny listening sate melted or mute | X |
And Corruption shrunk scorched from the glance of his mind | Y |
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But back to our theme Back to despots and slaves iu | A |
Feasts furnished by Famine rejoicings by Pain | O |
True Freedom but welcomes while Slavery still raves | H |
When a week's Saturnalia hath loosened her chain | O |
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Let the poor squalid splendour thy wreck can afford | Z |
As the bankrupt's profusion his ruin would hide | C |
Gild over the palace Lo Erin thy Lord | Z |
Kiss his foot with thy blessing his blessings denied iv | B |
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Or if freedom past hope be extorted at last iw | A |
If the idol of brass find his feet are of clay | Q |
Must what terror or policy wring forth be classed | A2 |
With what monarchs ne'er give but as wolves yield their prey | Q |
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Each brute hath its nature a King's is to reign | O |
To reign in that word see ye ages comprised | B2 |
The cause of the curses all annals contain | O |
From C sar the dreaded to George the despised | B2 |
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Wear Fingal thy trapping O'Connell proclaim ix | H |
His accomplishments His and thy country convince | H |
Half an age's contempt was an error of fame | C2 |
And that Hal is the rascaliest sweetest young prince iy | A |
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Will thy yard of blue riband poor Fingal recall | D2 |
The fetters from millions of Catholic limbs | H |
Or has it not bound thee the fastest of all | D2 |
The slaves who now hail their betrayer with hymns | H |
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Aye Build him a dwelling let each give his mite | E2 |
Till like Babel the new royal dome hath arisen iz | H |
Let thy beggars and helots their pittance unite | E2 |
And a palace bestow for a poor house and prison | F |
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Spread spread for Vitellius the royal repast | E2 |
Till the gluttonous despot be stuffed to the gorge | F2 |
And the roar of his drunkards proclaim him at last | E2 |
The Fourth of the fools and oppressors called George | F2 |
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Let the tables be loaded with feasts till they groan | G2 |
Till they groan like thy people through ages of woe | H2 |
Let the wine flow around the old Bacchanal's throne | G2 |
Like their blood which has flowed and which yet has to flow | H2 |
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But let not his name be thine idol alone | G2 |
On his right hand behold a Sejanus appears | H |
Thine own Castlereagh let him still be thine own | G2 |
A wretch never named but with curses and jeers | H |
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Till now when the Isle which should blush for his birth | K |
Deep deep as the gore which he shed on her soil | I2 |
Seems proud of the reptile which crawled from her earth | K |
And for murder repays him with shouts and a smile | J2 |
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Without one single ray of her genius without | E2 |
The fancy the manhood the fire of her race | H |
The miscreant who well might plunge Erin in doubt ja | K2 |
If she ever gave birth to a being so base | H |
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If she did let her long boasted proverb be hushed | E2 |
Which proclaims that from Erin no reptile can spring | L2 |
See the cold blooded Serpent with venom full flushed | E2 |
Still warming its folds in the breast of a King jb | M2 |
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Shout drink feast and flatter Oh Erin how low | H2 |
Wert thou sunk by misfortune and tyranny till | N2 |
Thy welcome of tyrants hath plunged thee below | H2 |
The depth of thy deep in a deeper gulf still | N2 |
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My voice though but humble was raised for thy right | E2 |
My vote as a freeman's still voted thee free | I |
This hand though but feeble would arm in thy fight jc | L2 |
And this heart though outworn had a throb still for thee | I |
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Yes I loved thee and thine though thou art not my land jd | E2 |
I have known noble hearts and great souls in thy sons | H |
And I wept with the world o'er the patriot band | E2 |
Who are gone but I weep them no longer as once | H |
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For happy are they now reposing afar | I |
Thy Grattan thy Curran thy Sheridan all | D2 |
Who for years were the chiefs in the eloquent war | I |
And redeemed if they have not retarded thy fall | D2 |
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Yes happy are they in their cold English graves | H |
Their shades cannot start to thy shouts of to day | E2 |
Nor the steps of enslavers and chain kissing slaves je | I |
Be stamped in the turf o'er their fetterless clay | E2 |
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Till now I had envied thy sons and their shore | I |
Though their virtues were hunted their liberties fled jf | B |
There was something so warm and sublime in the core | I |
Of an Irishman's heart that I envy thy dead jg | L2 |
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Or if aught in my bosom can quench for an hour | I |
My contempt for a nation so servile though sore | I |
Which though trod like the worm will not turn upon power | I |
'Tis the glory of Grattan and genius of Moore jh | I |
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Ra September | I |
First published Conversations of Lord Byron pp | O2 |
George Gordon Byron
(1)
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