The Olive Branch Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DE E FGFG HIHI JKJK LMLM KNKN OPOP QRQR STST USUS KKKK KVKV KKKK WXWX YSYS ZA2ZA2 B2SB2S C2D2C2D2 KSKS UKUK E2F2E2F2 SG2SG2 H2I2H2I2 KKKK SSSS E2J2E2J2 SSSS BK2BK2 L2CL2A

A dove flew with an Olive BranchA
It crossed the sea and reached the shoreB
And on a ship about to launchC
Dropped down the happy sign it boreB
-
'An omen' rang the glad acclaimD
The Captain stooped and picked it upE
'Be then the Olive Branch her name '-
Cried she who flung the christening cupE
-
The vessel took the laughing tidesF
It was a joyous revelryG
To see her dashing from her sidesF
The rough salt kisses of the seaG
-
And forth into the bursting foamH
She spread her sail and sped awayI
The rolling surge her restless homeH
Her incense wreaths the showering sprayI
-
Far out and where the riot wavesJ
Run mingling in tumultuous throngsK
She danced above a thousand gravesJ
And heard a thousand briny songsK
-
Her mission with her manly crewL
Her flag unfurl'd her title toldM
She took the Old World to the NewL
And brought the New World to the OldM
-
Secure of friendliest welcomingsK
She swam the havens sheening fairN
Secure upon her glad white wingsK
She fluttered on the ocean airN
-
To her no more the bastioned fortO
Shot out its swarthy tongue of fireP
From bay to bay from port to portO
Her coming was the world's desireP
-
And tho' the tempest lashed her oftQ
And tho' the rocks had hungry teethR
And lightnings split the masts aloftQ
And thunders shook the planks beneathR
-
And tho' the storm self willed and blindS
Made tatters of her dauntless sailT
And all the wildness of the windS
Was loosed on her she did not failT
-
But gallantly she ploughed the mainU
And gloriously her welcome pealedS
And grandly shone to sky and plainU
The goodly bales her decks revealedS
-
Brought from the fruitful eastern glebesK
Where blow the gusts of balm and spiceK
Or where the black blockaded ribsK
Are jammed 'mongst ghostly fleets of iceK
-
Or where upon the curling hillsK
Glow clusters of the bright eyed grapeV
Or where the hand of labour drillsK
The stubbornness of earth to shapeV
-
Rich harvestings and wealthy germsK
And handicrafts and shapely waresK
And spinnings of the hermit wormsK
And fruits that bloom by lions' lairsK
-
Come read the meaning of the deepW
The use of winds and waters learnX
'Tis not to make the mother weepW
For sons that never will returnX
-
'Tis not to make the nations showY
Contempt for all whom seas divideS
'Tis not to pamper war and woeY
Nor feed traditionary prideS
-
'Tis not to make the floating bulkZ
Mask death upon its slippery deckA2
Itself in turn a shattered hulkZ
A ghastly raft a bleeding wreckA2
-
It is to knit with loving lipB2
The interests of land to landS
To join in far seen fellowshipB2
The tropic and the polar strandS
-
It is to make that foaming StrengthC2
Whose rebel forces wrestle stillD2
Thro' all his boundaried breadth and lengthC2
Become a vassal to our willD2
-
It is to make the various skiesK
And all the various fruits they vauntS
And all the dowers of earth we prizeK
Subservient to our household wantS
-
And more for knowledge crowns the gainU
Of intercourse with other soulsK
And Wisdom travels not in vainU
The plunging spaces of the polesK
-
The wild Atlantic's weltering gloomE2
Earth clasping seas of North and SouthF2
The Baltic with its amber spumeE2
The Caspian with its frozen mouthF2
-
The broad Pacific basking brightS
And girdling lands of lustrous growthG2
Vast continents and isles of lightS
Dumb tracts of undiscovered slothG2
-
She visits these traversing eachH2
They ripen to the common sunI2
Thro' diverse forms and different speechH2
The world's humanity is oneI2
-
O may her voice have power to sayK
How soon the wrecking discords ceaseK
When every wandering wave is gayK
With golden argosies of peaceK
-
Now when the ark of human fateS
Long baffled by the wayward windS
Is drifting with its peopled freightS
Safe haven on the heights to findS
-
Safe haven from the drowning slimeE2
Of evil deeds and Deluge wrathJ2
To plant again the foot of TimeE2
Upon a purer firmer pathJ2
-
'Tis now the hour to probe the groundS
To watch the Heavens to speak the wordS
The fathoms of the deep to soundS
And send abroad the missioned birdS
-
On strengthened wing for evermoreB
Let Science swiftly as she canK2
Fly seaward on from shore to shoreB
And bind the links of man to manK2
-
And like that fair propitious DoveL2
Bless future fleets about to launchC
Make every freight a freight of loveL2
And every ship an Olive BranchA

George Meredith



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