Translations. - The Diver (from Schiller.) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDD EFGFGG HAHAII JKJKLM ENENDD HDHDOP QRQRII SKTKOO UVUVII IUIUWW XYXYDD HDHDDD IRIRZZ A2KA2KUU B2C2B2C2II ARARYY IUIUII ID2ID2LL FYFYII LB2LB2E2E2 F2ZF2G2LL H2UH2UB2B2 UI2UI2B2B2 YLYLDJ2 K2L2K2ODD UDUDUU SM2TM2DD| Which of you knight or squire will dare | A |
| Plunge into yonder gulf | B |
| A golden beaker I fling in it there | A |
| The black mouth swallows it like a wolf | C |
| Who brings me the cup again whoever | D |
| It is his own he may keep it for ever | D |
| - | |
| Tis the king who speaks and 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 brave heart plunge into yon dark hollow | G |
| - | |
| The knights and the squires the king about | H |
| Hear him and dumbly stare | A |
| Into the wild sea's tumbling rout | H |
| But to win the beaker they hardly care | A |
| The king for the third time round him glaring | I |
| Not a soul of you has the daring | I |
| - | |
| Speechless all as before they stand | J |
| When a vassal bold gentle and gay | K |
| Steps out 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 grand looking youth astounded | M |
| - | |
| And when he stepped to the rock's rough brow | E |
| Looking 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 | D |
| Foaming they burst from the dark lap under | D |
| - | |
| It wallows seethes hisses in raging rout | H |
| As when water wrestles with fire | D |
| Till to heaven the yeasty tongues they spout | H |
| And flood upon flood keeps mounting higher | D |
| 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 should 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 | D |
| Comes its roaring nearer and ever nearer | D |
| - | |
| It wallows seethes hisses in raging rout | H |
| As when water wrestles with fire | D |
| Till to heaven the yeasty tongues they spout | H |
| Wave upon wave's back mounting higher | D |
| And as with the rumble of distant thunder | D |
| Bellowing it bursts from the dark lap under | D |
| - | |
| 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 unrelaxing might | R |
| It is he and aloft in his left hand holden | Z |
| He swings recovered the beaker golden | Z |
| - | |
| With long deep breaths his path he ploughed | A2 |
| Glad greeting the heavenly day | K |
| Jubilant shouted the gazing crowd | A2 |
| He lives he is free he has burst his way | 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 | B2 |
| At the king's feet he sinks on the sod | C2 |
| And hands him the beaker upon his knee | B2 |
| To his lovely daughter the king gives a nod | C2 |
| She fills it brim full of wine sparkling and raying | I |
| And then to the monarch the youth turned saying | I |
| - | |
| Long live the king Ah well doth he fare | A |
| Who breathes in this rosy light | R |
| For frightful yea horrible is it down there | A |
| And man ought not to tempt the heavenly Might | R |
| Or long to see with prying unwholesome | Y |
| What He graciously covers with darkness dolesome | Y |
| - | |
| It tore me down as on lightning's wing | I |
| When a shaft in a rock outpours | U |
| Wild rushing against me a torrent spring | I |
| Its conflict seized me with raging force | U |
| And like a top with giddy twisting | I |
| Spun me about there was no resisting | I |
| - | |
| Then God did show me sore beseeching | I |
| In deepest frightfullest need | D2 |
| Up from the bottom a rock ledge reaching | I |
| At it I caught and from death was freed | D2 |
| 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 | B2 |
| Wallowed the conger the thorny skate | L |
| The lobster's grisly deformity | B2 |
| And baring its teeth with cruel sheen a | E2 |
| Terrible shark the sea's hyena | E2 |
| - | |
| So there I hung and shuddering knew | F2 |
| That human help was none | Z |
| One thinking soul mid the horrid crew | F2 |
| In the ghastly desert I was alone | G2 |
| Deeper than human speech e'er sounded | L |
| By the sad waste's dismal monsters surrounded | L |
| - | |
| Thus thought I and shivered Then a something crept near | H2 |
| Upon legs with a hundred joints | U |
| It snaps at me suddenly frantic with fear | H2 |
| I lost my grasp of the coral points | U |
| Away the whirl in its raging tore me | B2 |
| But it was my salvation and upward bore me | B2 |
| - | |
| 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 dare it yet once and bring me the story | B2 |
| Of what's in the sea's lowest repertory | B2 |
| - | |
| His daughter she hears him with tender dismay | Y |
| And with sweet words suasive doth plead | L |
| Father enough of this cruel play | Y |
| For you he has done an unheard of deed | L |
| If you may not master your heart's desire | D |
| 'Tis the knights' turn now to shame the squire | J2 |
| - | |
| The king sudden snatches and hurls the cup | K2 |
| Into the swirling pool | L2 |
| If thou bring me once more that beaker up | K2 |
| Thou art best of my knights the most worshipful | O |
| And this very day to thy home thou shalt lead her | D |
| Who stands there for thee such a pitiful pleader | D |
| - | |
| A passion divine his being invades | U |
| His eyes dart a lightning ray | D |
| He sees of her blushes the changeful shades | U |
| He sees her grow pallid and sink away | D |
| Determination thorough him flashes | U |
| And downward for life or for death he dashes | U |
| - | |
| They hear the dull roar 'tis returning again | S |
| Announced by 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 they rush ever and ever | D |
| The youth to the daylight rises never | D |
George Macdonald
(1)
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About Translations. - The Diver (from Schiller.)
Translations. - The Diver (from Schiller.) is a poem by George Macdonald. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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