The Island: Canto I. Poem Rhyme Scheme

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I	A
The morning watch was come the vessel lay	B
Her course and gently made her liquid way	B
The cloven billow flashed from off her prow	C
In furrows formed by that majestic plough	C
The waters with their world were all before	D
Behind the South Sea's many an islet shore	D
The quiet night now dappling 'gan to wane	E
Dividing darkness from the dawning main	E
The dolphins not unconscious of the day	B
Swam high as eager of the coming ray	B
The stars from broader beams began to creep	F
And lift their shining eyelids from the deep	F
The sail resumed its lately shadowed white	G
And the wind fluttered with a freshening flight	G
The purpling Ocean owns the coming Sun	H
But ere he break a deed is to be done	H
e	-
II	A
The gallant Chief within his cabin slept	I
Secure in those by whom the watch was kept	I
His dreams were of Old England's welcome shore	D
Of toils rewarded and of dangers o'er	J
His name was added to the glorious roll	K
Of those who search the storm surrounded Pole	K
The worst was over and the rest seemed sure	L
And why should not his slumber be secure	L
Alas his deck was trod by unwilling feet	M
And wilder hands would hold the vessel's sheet	M
Young hearts which languished for some sunny isle	N
Where summer years and summer women smile	N
Men without country who too long estranged	O
Had found no native home or found it changed	O
And half uncivilised preferred the cave	P
Of some soft savage to the uncertain wave	P
The gushing fruits that nature gave untilled	O
The wood without a path but where they willed	O
The field o'er which promiscuous Plenty poured	O
Her horn the equal land without a lord	O
The wish which ages have not yet subdued	O
In man to have no master save his mood	O
The earth whose mine was on its face unsold	O
The glowing sun and produce all its gold	O
The Freedom which can call each grot a home	Q
The general garden where all steps may roam	Q
Where Nature owns a nation as her child	O
Exulting in the enjoyment of the wild	O
Their shells their fruits the only wealth they know	R
Their unexploring navy the canoe	S
Their sport the dashing breakers and the chase	T
Their strangest sight an European face	T
Such was the country which these strangers yearned	O
To see again a sight they dearly earned	O
	-
III	A
Awake bold Bligh the foe is at the gate	O
Awake awake Alas it is too late	O
Fiercely beside thy cot the mutineer	U
Stands and proclaims the reign of rage and fear	U
Thy limbs are bound the bayonet at thy breast	O
The hands which trembled at thy voice arrest	O
Dragged o'er the deck no more at thy command	O
The obedient helm shall veer the sail expand	O
That savage Spirit which would lull by wrath	V
Its desperate escape from Duty's path	V
Glares round thee in the scarce believing eyes	W
Of those who fear the Chief they sacrifice	X
For ne'er can Man his conscience all assuage	Y
Unless he drain the wine of Passion Rage	Y
	-
IV	P
In vain not silenced by the eye of Death	Z
Thou call'st the loyal with thy menaced breath	Z
They come not they are few and overawed	O
Must acquiesce while sterner hearts applaud	O
In vain thou dost demand the cause a curse	A2
Is all the answer with the threat of worse	A2
Full in thine eyes is waved the glittering blade	O
Close to thy throat the pointed bayonet laid	O
The levelled muskets circle round thy breast	O
In hands as steeled to do the deadly rest	O
Thou dar'st them to their worst exclaiming 'Fire '	-
But they who pitied not could yet admire	B2
Some lurking remnant of their former awe	C2
Restrained them longer than their broken law	D2
They would not dip their souls at once in blood	O
But left thee to the mercies of the flood	O
	-
V	P
'Hoist out the boat ' was now the leader's cry	A
And who dare answer 'No ' to Mutiny	P
In the first dawning of the drunken hour	J
The Saturnalia of unhoped for power	J
The boat is lowered with all the haste of hate	O
With its slight plank between thee and thy fate	O
Her only cargo such a scant supply	A
As promises the death their hands deny	A
And just enough of water and of bread	O
To keep some days the dying from the dead	O
Some cordage canvass sails and lines and twine	E2
But treasures all to hermits of the brine	E2
Were added after to the earnest prayer	F2
Of those who saw no hope save sea and air	F2
And last that trembling vassal of the Pole	K
The feeling compass Navigation's soul	K
	-
VI	A
And now the self elected Chief finds time	G2
To stun the first sensation of his crime	G2
And raise it in his followers ' Ho the bowl '	-
Lest passion should return to reason's shoal	K
'Brandy for heroes ' Burke could once exclaim	H2
No doubt a liquid path to Epic fame	H2
And such the new born heroes found it here	I2
And drained the draught with an applauding cheer	U
'Huzza for Otaheite ' was the cry	A
How strange such shouts from sons of Mutiny	P
The gentle island and the genial soil	K
The friendly hearts the feasts without a toil	K
The courteous manners but from nature caught	O
The wealth unhoarded and the love unbought sic	J2
Could these have charms for rudest sea boys driven	H
Before the mast by every wind of heaven	H
And now even now prepared with others' woes	K2
To earn mild Virtue's vain desire repose	K2
Alas such is our nature all but aim	H2
At the same end by pathways not the same	H2
Our means our birth our nation and our name	H2
Our fortune temper even our outward frame	H2
Are far more potent o'er our yielding clay	K
Than aught we know beyond our little day	K
Yet still there whispers the small voice within	L2
Heard through Gain's silence and o'er Glory's din	L2
Whatever creed be taught or land be trod	O
Man's conscience is the Oracle of God	O
	-
VII	A
The launch is crowded with the faithful few	A
Who wait their Chief a melancholy crew	A
But some remained reluctant on the deck	M2
Of that proud vessel now a moral wreck	M2
And viewed their Captain's fate with piteous eyes	W
While others scoffed his augured miseries	N2
Sneered at the prospect of his pigmy sail	K
And the slight bark so laden and so frail	K
The tender nautilus who steers his prow	C
The sea born sailor of his shell canoe	A
The ocean Mab the fairy of the sea	P
Seems far less fragile and alas more free	P
He when the lightning winged Tornados sweep	F
The surge is safe his port is in the deep	F
And triumphs o'er the armadas of Mankind	O
Which shake the World yet crumble in the wind	O
	-
VIII	A
When all was now prepared the vessel clear	U
Which hailed her master in the mutineer	U
A seaman less obdurate than his mates	O2
Showed the vain pity which but irritates	O2
Watched his late Chieftain with exploring eye	A
And told in signs repentant sympathy	P
Held the moist shaddock to his parch d mouth	P2
Which felt Exhaustion's deep and bitter drouth	P2
But soon observed this guardian was withdrawn	Q2
Nor further Mercy clouds Rebellion's dawn	Q2
Then forward stepped the bold and froward boy	R2
His Chief had cherished only to destroy	R2
And pointing to the helpless prow beneath	P2
Exclaimed 'Depart at once delay is death '	-
Yet then even then his feelings ceased not all	K
In that last moment could a word recall	K
Remorse for the black deed as yet half done	H
And what he hid from many showed to one	H
When Bligh in stern reproach demanded where	F2
Was now his grateful sense of former care	F2
Where all his hopes to see his name aspire	B2
And blazon Britain's thousand glories higher	J
His feverish lips thus broke their gloomy spell	K
''Tis that 'Tis that I am in hell in hell '	-
No more he said but urging to the bark	S2
His Chief commits him to his fragile ark	S2
These the sole accents from his tongue that fell	K
But volumes lurked below his fierce farewell	K
	-
IX	O2
The arctic Sun rose broad above the wave	A
The breeze now sank now whispered from his cave	A
As on the Aeolian harp his fitful wings	O2
Now swelled now fluttered o'er his Ocean strings	O2
With slow despairing oar the abandoned skiff	A
Ploughs its drear progress to the scarce seen cliff	A
Which lifts its peak a cloud above the main	E
That boat and ship shall never meet again	T2

George Gordon Byron

The Island: Canto I. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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