The Shipwreck Of Idomeneus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDECFGHIJKLMNKOPQR STUVWBXYZA2B2C2D2E2F 2G2H2I2J2K2L2ZM2N2O2 P2NQ2R2F2S2E2K2T2A2P U2ZPZPV2PPQ2W2NX2Y2A 2PZ2PA3Q2ZPPKPOM2DB3 C3M2PD3B3M2PNE3PZF3A 2ZB3D3Q2ZPG3H3B3B3ZB 3PQ2B3N I3C2F3PN PZJ3O2B3O2B3Z2PB3QB3 B3B3PPPA3ZTB3KPK3PA2 L3PB3PPM3QPE3 N3PB3O3Q2PM2PPB3PB3F 2P3ZQ3B3PB3B3B3B3R3Z

Swept from his fleet upon that fatal nightA
When great Poseidon's sudden veering wrathB
Scattered the happy homeward floating GreeksC
Like foam flakes off the waves the King of CreteD
Held lofty commune with the dark Sea godE
His brows were crowned with victory his cheeksC
Were flushed with triumph but the mighty joyF
Of Troy's destruction and his own great deedsG
Passed for the thoughts of home were dearer nowH
And sweet the memory of wife and childI
And weary now the ten long foreign yearsJ
And terrible the doubt of short delayK
More terrible O Gods he cried but stoppedL
Then raised his voice upon the storm and prayedM
O thou if injured injured not by meN
Poseidon whom sea deities obeyK
And mortals worship hear me for indeedO
It was our oath to aid the cause of GreeceP
Not unespoused by Gods and most of allQ
By thee if gentle currents havens calmR
Fair winds and prosperous voyage and the ShapeS
Impersonate in many a perilous hourT
Both in the stately councils of the KingsU
And when the husky battle murmured thickV
May testify of services performedW
But now the seas are haggard with thy wrathB
Thy breath is tempest never at the shoresX
Of hostile Ilium did thy stormful browsY
Betray such fierce magnificence not evenZ
On that wild day when mad with torch and glareA2
The frantic crowds with eyes like starving wolvesB2
Burst from their ports impregnable a streamC2
Of headlong fury toward the hissing deepD2
Where then full armed I stood in guard compactE2
Beside thee and alone with brand and spearF2
We held at bay the swarming brood and pouredG2
Blood of choice warriors on the foot ploughed sandsH2
Thou meantime dark with conflict as a cloudI2
That thickens in the bosom of the WestJ2
Over quenched sunset circled round with flameK2
Huge as a billow running from the windsL2
Long distances till with black shipwreck swolnZ
It flings its angry mane about the skyM2
And like that billow heaving ere it burstN2
And like that cloud urged by impulsive stormO2
With charge of thunder lightning and the drenchP2
Of torrents thou in all thy majestyN
Of mightiness didst fall upon the warQ2
Remember that great moment Nor forgetR2
The aid I gave thee how my ready spearF2
Flew swiftly seconding thy mortal strokeS2
Where'er the press was hottest never slackedE2
My arm its duty nor mine eye its aimK2
Though terribly they compassed us and stoodT2
Thick as an Autumn forest whose brown hairA2
Lustrous with sunlight by the still increaseP
Of heat to glowing heat conceives like zealU2
Of radiance till at the pitch of noonZ
'Tis seized with conflagration and distendsP
Horridly over leagues of doom'd domainZ
Mingling the screams of birds the cries of brutesP
The wail of creatures in the covert pentV2
Howls yells and shrieks of agony the hissP
Of seething sap and crash of falling boughsP
Together in its dull voracious roarQ2
So closely and so fearfully they throng'dW2
Savage with phantasies of victoryN
A sea of dusky shapes for day had passedX2
And night fell on their darkened faces redY2
With fight and torchflare shrill the resonant airA2
With eager shouts and hoarse with angry groansP
While over all the dense and sullen boomZ2
The din and murmur of the myriadsP
Rolled with its awful intervals as thoughA3
The battle breathed or as against the shoreQ2
Waves gather back to heave themselves anewZ
That night sleep dropped not from the dreary skiesP
Nor could the prowess of our chiefs opposeP
That sea of raging men But what were theyK
Or what is man opposed to thee Its hopesP
Are wrecks himself the drowning drifting weedO
That wanders on thy waters such as IM2
Who see the scattered remnants of my fleetD
Remembering the day when first we sailedB3
Each glad ship shining like the morning starC3
With promise for the world Oh such as IM2
Thus darkly drifting on the drowning wavesP
O God of waters 'tis a dreadful thingD3
To suffer for an evil unrevealedB3
Dreadful it is to hear the perishing cryM2
Of those we love the silence that succeedsP
How dreadful Still my trust is fixed on theeN
For those that still remain and for myselfE3
And if I hear thy swift foam snorting steedsP
Drawing thy dusky chariot as inZ
The pauses of the wind I seem to hearF3
Deaf thou art not to my entreating prayerA2
Haste then to give us help for closely nowZ
Crete whispers in my ears and all my bloodB3
Runs keen and warm for home and I have yearningD3
Such yearning as I never felt beforeQ2
To see again my wife my little sonZ
My Queen my pretty nursling of five yearsP
The darling of my hopes our dearest pledgeG3
Of marriage and our brightest prize of loveH3
Whose parting cry rings clearest in my heartB3
O lay this horror much offended GodB3
And making all as fair and firm as whenZ
We trusted to thy mighty depths of oldB3
I vow to sacrifice the first whom ZeusP
Shall prompt to hail us from the white seashoreQ2
And welcome our return to royal CreteB3
An offering Poseidon unto theeN
-
Amid the din of elemental strifeI3
No voice may pierce but Deity supremeC2
And Deity supreme alone can hearF3
Above the hurricane's discordant shrieksP
The cry of agonized humanityN
-
Not unappeased was He who smites the wavesP
When to his stormy ears the warrior's vowZ
Entered and from his foamy pinnacleJ3
Tumultuous he beheld the prostrate formO2
And knew the mighty heart Awhile he gazedB3
As doubtful of his purpose and the stormO2
Conscious of that divine debate withheldB3
Its fierce emotion in the luminous gloomZ2
Of those so dark irradiating eyesP
Beneath whose wavering lustre shone revealedB3
The tumult of the purpling deeps and allQ
The throbbing of the tempest as it pausedB3
Slowly subsiding seeming to awaitB3
The sudden signal as a faithful houndB3
Pants with the forepaws stretched before its noseP
Athwart the greensward after an eager chaseP
Its hot tongue thrust to cool its foamy jawsP
Open to let the swift breath come and goA3
Its quick interrogating eyes fixed keenZ
Upon the huntsman's countenance and everT
Lashing its sharp impatient tail with hasteB3
Prompt at the slightest sign to scour awayK
And hang itself afresh by the bleeding fangsP
Upon the neck of some death singled stagK3
Whose royal antlers eyes and stumbling kneesP
Will supplicate the Gods in mute despairA2
This time not mute nor yet in vain this timeL3
For still the burden of the earnest voiceP
And all the vivid glories it revokedB3
Sank in the God with that absorbed suspenseP
Felt only by the Olympians whose mindsP
Unbounded like our mortal brain perceiveM3
All things complete the end the aim of allQ
To whom the crown and consequence of deedsP
Are ever present with the deed itselfE3
-
And now the pouring surges vast and smoothN3
Grew weary of restraint and heaved themselvesP
Headlong beneath him breaking at his feetB3
With wild importunate cries and angry wailO3
Like crowds that shout for bread and hunger moreQ2
And now the surface of their rolling backsP
Was ridged with foam topt furrows rising highM2
And dashing wildly like to fiery steedsP
Fresh from the Thracian or Thessalian plainsP
High blooded mares just tempering to the bitB3
Whose manes at full speed stream upon the windsP
And in whose delicate nostrils when the gustB3
Breathes of their native plains they ramp and rearF2
Frothing the curb and bounding from the earthP3
As though the Sun god's chariot aloneZ
Were fit to follow in their flashing trackQ3
Anon with gathering stature to the heightB3
Of those colossal giants doomed long sinceP
To torturous grief and penance that assailedB3
The sky throned courts of Zeus and climbing daredB3
For once in a world the Olympic wrath and bravedB3
The electric spirit which from his clenching handB3
Pierces the dark veined earth and with a touchR3
Is death to mortals fearfully they grewZ

George Meredith



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