Phaethon--attempted In Galliambic Measure Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKALMNAHJOA PQQRHSKTAUVWXOYZA2CA KOB2C2AD2ZAPE2HHDF2X HQG2H2G2KUG2I2AAG2G2 J2PG2K2G2L2M2HM2G2G2 MG2APG2AK AN2 O2KP2AG2AHP2P2P2G2P2 HAD2G2P2PAMC2 AAPG2HQ2HUP2KAR2PP2G 2P2G2G2HP2SPHG2P2S2A G2P2PHHHG2G2UAG2HP2G 2G2UAt the coming up of Phoebus the all luminous charioteer | A |
Double visaged stand the mountains in imperial multitudes | B |
And with shadows dappled men sing to him Hail O Beneficent | C |
For they shudder chill the earth vales at his clouding shudder to | D |
black | E |
In the light of him there is music thro' the poplar and river sedge | F |
Renovation chirp of brooks hum of the forest an ocean song | G |
Never pearl from ocean hollows by the diver exultingly | H |
In his breathlessness above thrust is as earth to Helios | I |
Who usurps his place there rashest Aphrodite's loved one it is | J |
To his son the flaming Sun God to the tender youth Phaethon | K |
Rule of day this day surrenders as a thing hereditary | A |
Having sworn by Styx tremendous for the proof of his parentage | L |
He would grant his son's petition whatsoever the sign thereof | M |
Then rejoiced the stripling answered 'Rule of day give me give | N |
it me | A |
Give me place that men may see me how I blaze and transcendingly | H |
I divine proclaim my birthright ' Darkened Helios and his | J |
utterance | O |
Choked prophetic 'O half mortal ' he exclaimed in an agony | A |
'O lost son of mine lost son No put a prayer for another thing | P |
Not for this insane to wish it and to crave the gift impious | Q |
Cannot other gifts my godhead shed upon thee miraculous | Q |
Mighty gifts to prove a blessing that to earth thou shalt be a joy | R |
Gifts of healing wherewith men walk as the Gods beneficently | H |
As a God to sway to concord hearts of men reconciling them | S |
Gifts of verse the lyre the laurel therewithal that thine origin | K |
Shall be known even as when I strike on the string'd shell with | T |
melody | A |
And the golden notes like medicine darting straight to the | U |
cavities | V |
Fill them up till hearts of men bound as the billows the ships | W |
thereon ' | X |
Thus intently urged the Sun God but the force of his eloquence | O |
Was the pressing on of sea waves scattered broad from the rocks | Y |
away | Z |
What shall move a soul from madness Lost lost in delirium | A2 |
Rock fast the adolescent to his father irreverent | C |
'By the oath the oath thine oath ' cried The effulgent foreseer | A |
then | K |
Quivering in his loins parental on the boy's beaming countenance | O |
Looked and moaned and urged him for love's sake for sweet life's | B2 |
sake to yield the claim | C2 |
To abandon his mad hunger and avert the calamity | A |
But he vehement passionate called out 'Let me show I am what I | D2 |
say | Z |
That the taunts I hear be silenced I am stung with their | A |
whispering | P |
Only Thou my Father Thou tell how aloft the revolving wheels | E2 |
How aloft the cleaving horse crests I may guide peremptorily | H |
Till I drink the shadows fire hot like a flower celestial | H |
And my fellows see me curbing the fierce steeds the dear dew | D |
drinkers | F2 |
Yea for this I gaze on life's light throw for this any sacrifice ' | X |
- | |
All the end foreseeing Phoebus to his oath irrevocable | H |
Bowed obedient deploring the insanity pitiless | Q |
Then the flame outsnorting horses were led forth it was so | G2 |
decreed | H2 |
They were yoked before the glad youth by his sister ancillaries | G2 |
Swift the ripple ripples follow'd as of aureate Helicon | K |
Down their flanks while they impatient pawed desire of the | U |
distances | G2 |
And the bit with fury champed Oh unimaginable delight | I2 |
Unimagined speed and splendour in the circle of upper air | A |
Glory grander than the armed host upon earth singing victory | A |
Chafed the youth with their spirit surcharged as when blossom is | G2 |
shaken by winds | G2 |
Marked that labour by his sister Phaethontiades finished quick | J2 |
On the slope of the car his forefoot set assured and the morning | P |
rose | G2 |
Seeing whom and what a day dawned stood the God as in harvest | K2 |
fields | G2 |
When the reaper grasps the full sheaf and the sickle that severs it | L2 |
Hugged the withered head with one hand with the other to indicate | M2 |
If this woe might be averted this immeasurable evil | H |
Laid the kindling course in view told how the reins to manipulate | M2 |
Named the horses fondly fearful caution'd urgently betweenwhiles | G2 |
Their diverging tempers dwelt on and their wantonness wickedness | G2 |
That the voice of Gods alone held in restraint but the voice of | M |
Gods | G2 |
None but Gods can curb He spake vain were the words scarcely | A |
listening | P |
Mounted Phaethon swinging reins loose and 'Behold me companions | G2 |
It is I here I ' he shouted glancing down with supremacy | A |
'Not to any of you was this gift granted ever in annals of men | K |
I alone what only Gods can I alone am governing day ' | - |
Short the triumph brief his rapture see a hurricane suddenly | A |
Beat the lifting billow crestless roll it broken this way and that | N2 |
- | |
At the leap on yielding ether in despite of his reprimand | O2 |
Swayed tumultuous the fire steeds plunging reckless hither and yon | K |
Unto men a great amazement all agaze at the Troubled East | P2 |
Pitifully for mastery striving in ascension the charioteer | A |
Reminiscent drifts of counsel caught confused in his arid wits | G2 |
The reins stiff ahind his shoulder madly pulled for the mastery | A |
Till a thunder off the tense chords thro' his ears dinned horrible | H |
Panic seized him fled his vision of inviolability | P2 |
Fled the dream that he of mortals rode mischances predominant | P2 |
And he cried 'Had I petitioned for a cup of chill aconite | P2 |
My descent to awful Hades had been soft for now must I go | G2 |
With the curse by father Zeus cast on ambition immoderate | P2 |
Oh my sisters Thou my Goddess in whose love I was enviable | H |
From whose arms I rushed befrenzied what a wreck will this body be | A |
That admired of thee stood rose warm in the courts where thy | D2 |
mysteries | G2 |
Celebration had from me me the most splendidly privileged | P2 |
Never more shall I thy temple fill with incenses bewildering | P |
Not again hear thy half murmurs I am lost never never more | A |
I am wrecked on seas of air hurled to my death in a vessel of | M |
flame | C2 |
Hither sisters Father save me Hither succour me Cypria ' | - |
- | |
Now a wail of men to Zeus rang from Olympus the Thunderer | A |
Saw the rage of the havoc wide mouthed the bright car | A |
superimpending | P |
Over Asia Africa low down ruin flaming over the vales | G2 |
Light disastrous rising savage out of smoke inveterately | H |
Beast black conflagration like a menacing shadow move | Q2 |
With voracious roaring southward where aslant insufferable | H |
The bright steeds careered their parched way down an arc of the | U |
firmament | P2 |
For the day grew like to thick night and the orb was its beacon | K |
fire | A |
And from hill to hill of darkness burst the day's apparition forth | R2 |
Lo a wrestler not a God stood in the chariot ever lowering | P |
Lo the shape of one who raced there to outstrip the legitimate | P2 |
hours | G2 |
Lo the ravish'd beams of Phoebus dragged in shame at the chariot | P2 |
wheels | G2 |
Light of days of happy pipings by the mead singing rivulets | G2 |
Lo lo increasing lustre torrid breath to the nostrils lo | H |
Torrid brilliancies thro' the vapours lighten swifter penetrate | P2 |
them | S |
Fasten merciless ruminant hueless on earth's frame crackling | P |
busily | H |
He aloft the frenzied driver in the glow of the universe | G2 |
Like the paling of the dawn star withers visibly he aloft | P2 |
Bitter fury in his aspect bitter death in the heart of him | S2 |
Crouch the herds contract the reptiles crouch the lions under | A |
their paws | G2 |
White as metal in the furnace are the faces of human kind | P2 |
Inarticulate creatures of earth dumb all await the ultimate shock | P |
To the bolt he launched 'Strike dead thou ' uttered Zeus very | H |
terrible | H |
'Perish folly else 'tis man's fate' and the bolt flew unerringly | H |
Then the kindler stooped from the torch car down the measureless | G2 |
altitudes | G2 |
Leaned his rayless head relinquished rein and footing raised not a | U |
cry | A |
Like the flower on the river's surface when expanding it vanishes | G2 |
Gave his limbs to right and left quenched and so fell he | H |
precipitate | P2 |
Seen of men as a glad rain fall sending coolness yet ere it comes | G2 |
So he showered above them shadowed o'er the blue archipelagoes | G2 |
O'er the silken shining pastures of the continents and the | U |
George Meredith
(1)
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