The Curse Of Minerva Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFGHHAAII JJKKLLMMNNOOPP QQRRKKSSTTUVWWPPXNYY DD QQNNZZA2A2 PPB2B2C2C2OOD2D2E2E2 F2F2G2G2H2H2HHI2I2PP J2J2 K2K2L2L2M2M2N2O2P2Q2 QQR2R2S2S2K2K2T2T2U2 V2AAS2S2W2W2S2S2EEK2 K2 PPK2K2S2S2X2X2S2S2S2 S2Y2Y2S2S2QQX2X2S2S2 Z2Z2V2U2Y2Y2A3A3S2S2 X2X2 NNEES2S2 S2S2N2N2X2X2S2S2B3B3 S2S2S2S2N2N2X2X2N2N2 IIPPC3C3D3 X2X2X2X2N2N2E3E3S2S2 F3G3EES2S2 H3H3S2S2AAN2N2S2S2S2 S2W2W2 X2X2S2S2S2S2A3A3 X2X2B3B3PPAAS2S2 N2N2X2X2S2S2I3I3N2N2 S2S2X2X2S2S2J3 S2S2 N2N2K3K3S2S2N2N2L2S2 X2X2G3G3S2S2S2S2DD QQX2X2X2X2X2X2L3L3M3 M3X2X2S2S2S2S2AAK2K2 S2S2N3N3X2X2EES2S2O3 O3

Slow sinks more lovely ere his race be run	A
Along Morea's hills the setting Sun	A
Not as in northern climes obscurely bright	B
But one unclouded blaze of living light	B
O'er the hushed deep the yellow beam he throws	C
Gilds the green wave that trembles as it glows	C
On old gina's rock and Hydra's isle	D
The God of gladness sheds his parting smile	D
O'er his own regions lingering loves to shine	E
Though there his altars are no more divine	E
Descending fast the mountain shadows kiss	F
Thy glorious Gulf unconquered Salamis	G
Their azure arches through the long expanse	H
More deeply purpled meet his mellowing glance	H
And tenderest tints along their summits driven	A
Mark his gay course and own the hues of Heaven	A
Till darkly shaded from the land and deep	I
Behind his Delphian rock he sinks to sleep	I
	-
On such an eve his palest beam he cast	J
When Athens here thy Wisest looked his last	J
How watched thy better sons his farewell ray	K
That closed their murdered Sage's latest day	K
Not yet not yet Sol pauses on the hill	L
The precious hour of parting lingers still	L
But sad his light to agonizing eyes	M
And dark the mountain's once delightful dyes	M
Gloom o'er the lovely land he seemed to pour	N
The land where Phoebus never frowned before	N
But ere he sunk below Cithaeron's head	O
The cup of Woe was quaffed the Spirit fled	O
The soul of Him that scorned to fear or fly	P
Who lived and died as none can live or die	P
	-
But lo from high Hymettus to the plain	Q
The Queen of Night asserts her silent reign	Q
No murky vapour herald of the storm	R
Hides her fair face or girds her glowing form	R
With cornice glimmering as the moonbeams play	K
There the white column greets her grateful ray	K
And bright around with quivering beams beset	S
Her emblem sparkles o'er the Minaret	S
The groves of olive scattered dark and wide	T
Where meek Cephisus sheds his scanty tide	T
The cypress saddening by the sacred mosque	U
The gleaming turret of the gay kiosk	V
And sad and sombre 'mid the holy calm	W
Near Theseus' fane yon solitary palm	W
All tinged with varied hues arrest the eye	P
And dull were his that passed them heedless by	P
Again the gean heard no more afar	X
Lulls his chafed breast from elemental war	N
Again his waves in milder tints unfold	Y
Their long expanse of sapphire and of gold	Y
Mixed with the shades of many a distant isle	D
That frown where gentler Ocean deigns to smile	D
	-
As thus within the walls of Pallas' fane	Q
I marked the beauties of the land and main	Q
Alone and friendless on the magic shore	N
Whose arts and arms but live in poets' lore	N
Oft as the matchless dome I turned to scan	Z
Sacred to Gods but not secure from Man	Z
The Past returned the Present seemed to cease	A2
And Glory knew no clime beyond her Greece	A2
	-
Hour rolled along and Dian's orb on high	P
Had gained the centre of her softest sky	P
And yet unwearied still my footsteps trod	B2
O'er the vain shrine of many a vanished God	B2
But chiefly Pallas thine when Hecate's glare	C2
Checked by thy columns fell more sadly fair	C2
O'er the chill marble where the startling tread	O
Thrills the lone heart like echoes from the dead	O
Long had I mused and treasured every trace	D2
The wreck of Greece recorded of her race	D2
When lo a giant form before me strode	E2
And Pallas hailed me in her own Abode	E2
	-
Yes 'twas Minerva's self but ah how changed	F2
Since o'er the Dardan field in arms she ranged	F2
Not such as erst by her divine command	G2
Her form appeared from Phidias' plastic hand	G2
Gone were the terrors of her awful brow	H2
Her idle gis bore no Gorgon now	H2
Her helm was dinted and the broken lance	H
Seemed weak and shaftless e'en to mortal glance	H
The Olive Branch which still she deigned to clasp	I2
Shrunk from her touch and withered in her grasp	I2
And ah though still the brightest of the sky	P
Celestial tears bedimmed her large blue eye	P
Round the rent casque her owlet circled slow	J2
And mourned his mistress with a shriek of woe	J2
	-
Mortal 'twas thus she spake that blush of shame	K2
Proclaims thee Briton once a noble name	K2
First of the mighty foremost of the free	L2
Now honoured 'less' by all and 'least' by me	L2
Chief of thy foes shall Pallas still be found	M2
Seek'st thou the cause of loathing look around	M2
Lo here despite of war and wasting fire	N2
I saw successive Tyrannies expire	O2
'Scaped from the ravage of the Turk and Goth	P2
Thy country sends a spoiler worse than both	Q2
Survey this vacant violated fane	Q
Recount the relics torn that yet remain	Q
'These' Cecrops placed 'this' Pericles adorned	R2
'That' Adrian reared when drooping Science mourned	R2
What more I owe let Gratitude attest	S2
Know Alaric and Elgin did the rest	S2
That all may learn from whence the plunderer came	K2
The insulted wall sustains his hated name	K2
For Elgin's fame thus grateful Pallas pleads	T2
Below his name above behold his deeds	T2
Be ever hailed with equal honour here	U2
The Gothic monarch and the Pictish peer	V2
Arms gave the first his right the last had none	A
But basely stole what less barbarians won	A
So when the Lion quits his fell repast	S2
Next prowls the Wolf the filthy Jackal last	S2
Flesh limbs and blood the former make their own	W2
The last poor brute securely gnaws the bone	W2
Yet still the Gods are just and crimes are crossed	S2
See here what Elgin won and what he lost	S2
Another name with his pollutes my shrine	E
Behold where Dian's beams disdain to shine	E
Some retribution still might Pallas claim	K2
When Venus half avenged Minerva's shame	K2
	-
She ceased awhile and thus I dared reply	P
To soothe the vengeance kindling in her eye	P
Daughter of Jove in Britain's injured name	K2
A true born Briton may the deed disclaim	K2
Frown not on England England owns him not	S2
Athena no thy plunderer was a Scot	S2
Ask'st thou the difference From fair Phyles' towers	X2
Survey Boeotia Caledonia's ours	X2
And well I know within that bastard land	S2
Hath Wisdom's goddess never held command	S2
A barren soil where Nature's germs confined	S2
To stern sterility can stint the mind	S2
Whose thistle well betrays the niggard earth	Y2
Emblem of all to whom the Land gives birth	Y2
Each genial influence nurtured to resist	S2
A land of meanness sophistry and mist	S2
Each breeze from foggy mount and marshy plain	Q
Dilutes with drivel every drizzly brain	Q
Till burst at length each wat'ry head o'erflows	X2
Foul as their soil and frigid as their snows	X2
Then thousand schemes of petulance and pride	S2
Despatch her scheming children far and wide	S2
Some East some West some everywhere but North	Z2
In quest of lawless gain they issue forth	Z2
And thus accursed be the day and year	V2
She sent a Pict to play the felon here	U2
Yet Caledonia claims some native worth	Y2
As dull Boeotia gave a Pindar birth	Y2
So may her few the lettered and the brave	A3
Bound to no clime and victors of the grave	A3
Shake off the sordid dust of such a land	S2
And shine like children of a happier strand	S2
As once of yore in some obnoxious place	X2
Ten names if found had saved a wretched race	X2
	-
Mortal the blue eyed maid resumed once more	N
Bear back my mandate to thy native shore	N
Though fallen alas this vengeance yet is mine	E
To turn my counsels far from lands like thine	E
Hear then in silence Pallas' stern behest	S2
Hear and believe for Time will tell the rest	S2
	-
First on the head of him who did this deed	S2
My curse shall light on him and all his seed	S2
Without one spark of intellectual fire	N2
Be all the sons as senseless as the sire	N2
If one with wit the parent brood disgrace	X2
Believe him bastard of a brighter race	X2
Still with his hireling artists let him prate	S2
And Folly's praise repay for Wisdom's hate	S2
Long of their Patron's gusto let them tell	B3
Whose noblest native gusto is to sell	B3
To sell and make may shame record the day	S2
The State Receiver of his pilfered prey	S2
Meantime the flattering feeble dotard West	S2
Europe's worst dauber and poor Britain's best	S2
With palsied hand shall turn each model o'er	N2
And own himself an infant of fourscore	N2
Be all the Bruisers culled from all St Giles'	X2
That Art and Nature may compare their styles	X2
While brawny brutes in stupid wonder stare	N2
And marvel at his Lordship's 'stone shop' there	N2
Round the thronged gate shall sauntering coxcombs creep	I
To lounge and lucubrate to prate and peep	I
While many a languid maid with longing sigh	P
On giant statues casts the curious eye	P
The room with transient glance appears to skim	C3
Yet marks the mighty back and length of limb	C3
Mourns o'er the difference of now and then	D3
Exclaims 'These Greeks indeed were proper men '	-
Draws slight comparisons of 'these' with 'those'	X2
And envies La iuml s all her Attic beaux	X2
When shall a modern maid have swains like these	X2
Alas Sir Harry is no Hercules	X2
And last of all amidst the gaping crew	N2
Some calm spectator as he takes his view	N2
In silent indignation mixed with grief	E3
Admires the plunder but abhors the thief	E3
Oh loathed in life nor pardoned in the dust	S2
May Hate pursue his sacrilegious lust	S2
Linked with the fool that fired the Ephesian dome	F3
Shall vengeance follow far beyond the tomb	G3
And Eratostratus and Elgin shine	E
In many a branding page and burning line	E
Alike reserved for aye to stand accursed	S2
Perchance the second blacker than the first	S2
	-
So let him stand through ages yet unborn	H3
Fixed statue on the pedestal of Scorn	H3
Though not for him alone revenge shall wait	S2
But fits thy country for her coming fate	S2
Hers were the deeds that taught her lawless son	A
To do what oft Britannia's self had done	A
Look to the Baltic blazing from afar	N2
Your old Ally yet mourns perfidious war	N2
Not to such deeds did Pallas lend her aid	S2
Or break the compact which herself had made	S2
Far from such counsels from the faithless field	S2
She fled but left behind her Gorgon shield	S2
A fatal gift that turned your friends to stone	W2
And left lost Albion hated and alone	W2
	-
Look to the East where Ganges' swarthy race	X2
Shall shake your tyrant empire to its base	X2
Lo there Rebellion rears her ghastly head	S2
And glares the Nemesis of native dead	S2
Till Indus rolls a deep purpureal flood	S2
And claims his long arrear of northern blood	S2
So may ye perish Pallas when she gave	A3
Your free born rights forbade ye to enslave	A3
	-
Look on your Spain she clasps the hand she hates	X2
But boldly clasps and thrusts you from her gates	X2
Bear witness bright Barossa thou canst tell	B3
Whose were the sons that bravely fought and fell	B3
But Lusitania kind and dear ally	P
Can spare a few to fight and sometimes fly	P
Oh glorious field by Famine fiercely won	A
The Gaul retires for once and all is done	A
But when did Pallas teach that one retreat	S2
Retrieved three long Olympiads of defeat	S2
	-
Look last at home ye love not to look there	N2
On the grim smile of comfortless despair	N2
Your city saddens loud though Revel howls	X2
Here Famine faints and yonder Rapine prowls	X2
See all alike of more or less bereft	S2
No misers tremble when there's nothing left	S2
'Blest paper credit ' who shall dare to sing	I3
It clogs like lead Corruption's weary wing	I3
Yet Pallas pluck'd each Premier by the ear	N2
Who Gods and men alike disdained to hear	N2
But one repentant o'er a bankrupt state	S2
On Pallas calls but calls alas too late	S2
Then raves for' ' to that Mentor bends	X2
Though he and Pallas never yet were friends	X2
Him senates hear whom never yet they heard	S2
Contemptuous once and now no less absurd	S2
So once of yore each reasonable frog	J3
Swore faith and fealty to his sovereign 'log '	-
Thus hailed your rulers their patrician clod	S2
As Egypt chose an onion for a God	S2
	-
Now fare ye well enjoy your little hour	N2
Go grasp the shadow of your vanished power	N2
Gloss o'er the failure of each fondest scheme	K3
Your strength a name your bloated wealth a dream	K3
Gone is that Gold the marvel of mankind	S2
And Pirates barter all that's left behind	S2
No more the hirelings purchased near and far	N2
Crowd to the ranks of mercenary war	N2
The idle merchant on the useless quay	L2
Droops o'er the bales no bark may bear away	S2
Or back returning sees rejected stores	X2
Rot piecemeal on his own encumbered shores	X2
The starved mechanic breaks his rusting loom	G3
And desperate mans him 'gainst the coming doom	G3
Then in the Senates of your sinking state	S2
Show me the man whose counsels may have weight	S2
Vain is each voice where tones could once command	S2
E'en factions cease to charm a factious land	S2
Yet jarring sects convulse a sister Isle	D
And light with maddening hands the mutual pile	D
	-
'Tis done 'tis past since Pallas warns in vain	Q
The Furies seize her abdicated reign	Q
Wide o'er the realm they wave their kindling brands	X2
And wring her vitals with their fiery hands	X2
But one convulsive struggle still remains	X2
And Gaul shall weep ere Albion wear her chains	X2
The bannered pomp of war the glittering files	X2
O'er whose gay trappings stern Bellona smiles	X2
The brazen trump the spirit stirring drum	L3
That bid the foe defiance ere they come	L3
The hero bounding at his country's call	M3
The glorious death that consecrates his fall	M3
Swell the young heart with visionary charms	X2
And bid it antedate the joys of arms	X2
But know a lesson you may yet be taught	S2
With death alone are laurels cheaply bought	S2
Not in the conflict Havoc seeks delight	S2
His day of mercy is the day of fight	S2
But when the field is fought the battle won	A
Though drenched with gore his woes are but begun	A
His deeper deeds as yet ye know by name	K2
The slaughtered peasant and the ravished dame	K2
The rifled mansion and the foe reaped field	S2
Ill suit with souls at home untaught to yield	S2
Say with what eye along the distant down	N3
Would flying burghers mark the blazing town	N3
How view the column of ascending flames	X2
Shake his red shadow o'er the startled Thames	X2
Nay frown not Albion for the torch was thine	E
That lit such pyres from Tagus to the Rhine	E
Now should they burst on thy devoted coast	S2
Go ask thy bosom who deserves them most	S2
The law of Heaven and Earth is life for life	O3
And she who raised in vain regrets the strife	O3

George Gordon Lord Byron

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