The Diver Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBDAA EFGFGG HBHBII JKJKLM ENENAA HAHAOP QRQRII SKTKOO UVUVII IUIUWW XYXYAA HAHAAA IRIRAA ZKZKUU A2B2A2B2II BRBRYY IUIUII IC2IC2LL FYFYII LA2LA2D2D2 E2F2E2G2LL H2UH2UA2A2 UI2UI2A2A2 YLYLAJ2 K2L2K2OAA UAUAUU SM2TM2AAFrom Schiller | A |
- | |
- | |
Which of you knight or squire will dare | B |
Plunge into yonder gulf | C |
A golden beaker I fling in it there | B |
The black mouth swallows it like a wolf | D |
Who brings me the cup again whoever | A |
It is his own he may keep it for ever | A |
- | |
'Tis the king who speaks He flings from the brow | E |
Of the cliff that rugged and steep | F |
Hangs out o'er the endless sea below | G |
The cup in the whirlpool's howling heap | F |
Again I ask what hero will follow | G |
What hero plunge into yon dark hollow | G |
- | |
The knights and the squires the king about | H |
Hear and dumbly stare | B |
Into the wild sea's tumbling rout | H |
To win the beaker they hardly care | B |
The king for the third time round him glaring | I |
Not one soul of you has the daring | I |
- | |
Speechless all as before they stand | J |
Then a squire young gentle gay | K |
Steps from his comrades' shrinking band | J |
Flinging his girdle and cloak away | K |
And all the women and men that surrounded | L |
Gazed on the noble youth astounded | M |
- | |
And when he stepped to the rock's rough brow | E |
And looked down on the gulf so black | N |
The waters which it had swallowed now | E |
Charybdis bellowing rendered back | N |
And with a roar as of distant thunder | A |
Foaming they burst from the dark lap under | A |
- | |
It wallows seethes hisses in raging rout | H |
As when water wrestles with fire | A |
Till to heaven the yeasty tongues they spout | H |
And flood upon flood keeps mounting higher | A |
It will never its endless coil unravel | O |
As the sea with another sea were in travail | P |
- | |
But at last slow sinks the writhing spasm | Q |
And black through the foaming white | R |
Downward gapes a yawning chasm | Q |
Bottomless cloven to hell's wide night | R |
And sucked up see the billows roaring | I |
Down through the whirling funnel pouring | I |
- | |
Then in haste ere the out rage return again | S |
The youth to his God doth pray | K |
And ascends a cry of horror and pain | T |
Already the vortex hath swept him away | K |
And o'er the bold swimmer in darkness eternal | O |
Close the great jaws of the gulf infernal | O |
- | |
Then the water above grows smooth as glass | U |
While below dull roarings ply | V |
And trembling they hear the murmur pass | U |
High hearted youth farewell good bye | V |
And hollower still comes the howl affraying | I |
Till their hearts are sick with the frightful delaying | I |
- | |
If the crown itself thou in should fling | I |
And say Who back with it hies | U |
Himself shall wear it and shall be king | I |
I would not covet the precious prize | U |
What Ocean hides in that howling hell of it | W |
Live soul will never come back to tell of it | W |
- | |
Ships many caught in that whirling surge | X |
Shot sheer to their dismal doom | Y |
Keel and mast only did ever emerge | X |
Shattered from out the all gulping tomb | Y |
Like the bluster of tempest clearer and clearer | A |
Comes its roaring nearer and ever nearer | A |
- | |
It wallows seethes hisses in raging rout | H |
As when water wrestles with fire | A |
Till to heaven the yeasty tongues they spout | H |
Wave upon wave's back mounting higher | A |
And as with the grumble of distant thunder | A |
Bellowing it bursts from the dark lap under | A |
- | |
And see from its bosom flowing dark | I |
Something heave up swan white | R |
An arm and a shining neck they mark | I |
And it rows with never relaxing might | R |
It is he and high his golden capture | A |
His left hand waves in success's rapture | A |
- | |
With long deep breaths his path he ploughed | Z |
And he hailed the heavenly day | K |
Jubilant shouted the gazing crowd | Z |
He lives he is there he broke away | K |
Out of the grave the whirlpool uproarious | U |
The hero hath rescued his life victorious | U |
- | |
He comes they surround him with shouts of glee | A2 |
At the king's feet he sinks on the sod | B2 |
And hands him the beaker upon his knee | A2 |
To his lovely daughter the king gives a nod | B2 |
She fills it brim full of wine sparkling and playing | I |
And then to the king the youth turned him saying | I |
- | |
Long live the king Well doth he fare | B |
Who breathes in this rosy light | R |
But ah it is horrible down there | B |
And man must not tempt the heavenly Might | R |
Or ever seek with prying unwholesome | Y |
What he graciously covers with darkness dolesome | Y |
- | |
It tore me down with a headlong swing | I |
Then a shaft in a rock outpours | U |
Wild rushing against me a torrent spring | I |
It seized me the double stream's raging force | U |
And like a top with giddy twisting | I |
It spun me round there was no resisting | I |
- | |
Then God did show me sore beseeching | I |
In deepest frightfullest need | C2 |
Up from the bottom a rock ledge reaching | I |
At it I caught and from death was freed | C2 |
And behold on spiked corals the beaker suspended | L |
Which had else to the very abyss descended | L |
- | |
For below me it lay yet mountain deep | F |
The purply darksome maw | Y |
And though to the ear it was dead asleep | F |
The ghasted eye down staring saw | Y |
How with dragons lizards salamanders crawling | I |
The hell jaws horrible were sprawling | I |
- | |
Black swarming in medley miscreate | L |
In masses lumped hideously | A2 |
Wallowed the conger the thorny skate | L |
The lobster's grisly deformity | A2 |
And bared its teeth with cruel sheen a | D2 |
Terrible shark the sea's hyena | D2 |
- | |
And there I hung and shuddering knew | E2 |
That human help was none | F2 |
One thinking soul mid the horrid crew | E2 |
In the ghastly solitude I was alone | G2 |
Deeper than man's speech ever sounded | L |
By the waste sea's dismal monsters surrounded | L |
- | |
I thought and shivered Then something crept near | H2 |
Moved at once a hundred joints | U |
Now it will have me Frantic with fear | H2 |
I lost my grasp of the coral points | U |
Away the whirl in its raging tore me | A2 |
But it was my salvation and upward bore me | A2 |
- | |
The king at the tale is filled with amaze | U |
The beaker well won is thine | I2 |
And this ring I will give thee too he says | U |
Precious with gems that are more than fine | I2 |
If thou dive yet once and bring me the story | A2 |
What thou sawst in the sea's lowest repertory | A2 |
- | |
His daughter she hears with a tender dismay | Y |
And her words sweet suasive plead | L |
Father enough of this cruel play | Y |
For you he has done an unheard of deed | L |
And can you not master your soul's desire | A |
'Tis the knights' turn now to disgrace the squire | J2 |
- | |
The king he snatches and hurls the cup | K2 |
Into the swirling pool | L2 |
If thou bring me once more that beaker up | K2 |
My best knight I hold thee most worshipful | O |
And this very day to thy home thou shall lead her | A |
Who there for thee stands such a pitying pleader | A |
- | |
A heavenly passion his being invades | U |
His eyes dart a lightning ray | A |
He sees on her beauty the flushing shades | U |
He sees her grow pallid and sink away | A |
Determination thorough him flashes | U |
And downward for life or for death he dashes | U |
- | |
They hear the dull roar it is turning again | S |
Its herald the thunderous brawl | M2 |
Downward they bend with loving strain | T |
They come they are coming the waters all | M2 |
They rush up they rush down up down for ever | A |
The youth again bring they never | A |
George Macdonald
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Diver poem by George Macdonald
Best Poems of George Macdonald