The Call Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABB CACAA DEDEE FGHGG AAAAA IJIJJ KALAA MNMNN OPOPP QARAA SASAA AGAGG TATAA UVUVV| Under what spell are we debased | A |
| By fears for our inviolate Isle | B |
| Whose record is of dangers faced | A |
| And flung to heel with even smile | B |
| Is it a vaster force a subtler guile | B |
| - | |
| They say Exercitus designs | C |
| To match the famed Salsipotent | A |
| Where on her sceptre she reclines | C |
| Awake but were a slumber sent | A |
| By guilty gods more fell his foul intent | A |
| - | |
| The subtler web the vaster foe | D |
| Well may we meet when drilled for deeds | E |
| But in these days of wealth at flow | D |
| A word of breezy warning breeds | E |
| The pained responses seen in lakeside reeds | E |
| - | |
| We fain would stand contemplative | F |
| All innocent as meadow grass | G |
| In human goodness fain believe | H |
| Believe a cloud is formed to pass | G |
| Its shadows chase with draughts of hippocras | G |
| - | |
| Others have gone the way they went | A |
| Sweet sunny now and safe our nest | A |
| Humanity enlightenment | A |
| Against the warning hum protest | A |
| Let the world hear that we know what is best | A |
| - | |
| So do the beatific speak | I |
| Yet have they ears and eyes as well | J |
| And if not with a paler cheek | I |
| They feel the shivers in them dwell | J |
| That something of a dubious future tell | J |
| - | |
| For huge possessions render slack | K |
| The power we need to hold them fast | A |
| Save when a quickened heart shall make | L |
| Our people one to meet what blast | A |
| May blow from temporal heavens overcast | A |
| - | |
| Our people one Nor they with strength | M |
| Dependent on a single arm | N |
| Alert and braced the whole land's length | M |
| Rejoicing in their manhood's charm | N |
| For friend or foe to succour not to harm | N |
| - | |
| Has ever weakness won esteem | O |
| Or counts it as a prized ally | P |
| They who have read in History deem | O |
| It ranks among the slavish fry | P |
| Whose claim to live justiciary Fates deny | P |
| - | |
| It can not be declared we are | Q |
| A nation till from end to end | A |
| The land can show such front to war | R |
| As bids a crouching foe expend | A |
| His ire in air and preferably be friend | A |
| - | |
| We dreading him we do him wrong | S |
| For fears discolour fears invite | A |
| Like him our task is to be strong | S |
| Unlike him claiming not by might | A |
| To snatch an envied treasure as a right | A |
| - | |
| So may a stouter brotherhood | A |
| At home be signalled over sea | G |
| For righteous and be understood | A |
| Nay welcomed when 'tis shown that we | G |
| All duties have embraced in being free | G |
| - | |
| This Britain slumbering she is rich | T |
| Lies placid as a cradled child | A |
| At times with an uneasy twitch | T |
| That tells of dreams unduly wild | A |
| Shall she be with a foreign drug defiled | A |
| - | |
| The grandeur of her deeds recall | U |
| Look on her face so kindly fair | V |
| This Britain and were she to fall | U |
| Mankind would breathe a harsher air | V |
| The nations miss a light of leading rare | V |
George Meredith
(1)
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About The Call
The Call is a poem by George Meredith. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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