Genius: An Ode Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDDEFEF A GHGHIIJKJK A LLMMLNOOOPQRPR A BSBSTTOOOO A UFUFOOOEOE A VVFFVRRVWCXJAYAY ZZA2A2QOOOOBBI | A |
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Many there be who through the vale of life | B |
With velvet pace unnoticed softly go | C |
While jarring discord's inharmonious strife | B |
Awakes them not to woe | C |
By them unheeded carking care | D |
Green eyed grief and dull despair | D |
Smoothly they pursue their way | E |
With even tenor and with equal breath | F |
Alike through cloudy and through sunny day | E |
Then sink in peace to death | F |
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II | A |
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But ah a few there be whom griefs devour | G |
And weeping woe and disappointment keen | H |
Repining penury and sorrow sour | G |
And self consuming spleen | H |
And these are Genius' favourites these | I |
Know the thought throned mind to please | I |
And from her fleshy seat to draw | J |
To realms where Fancy's golden orbits roll | K |
Disdaining all but 'wildering rapture's law | J |
The captivated soul | K |
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III | A |
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Genius from thy starry throne | L |
High above the burning zone | L |
In radiant robe of light array'd | M |
Oh hear the plaint by thy sad favourite made | M |
His melancholy moan | L |
He tells of scorn he tells of broken vows | N |
Of sleepless nights of anguish ridden days | O |
Pangs that his sensibility uprouse | O |
To curse his being and his thirst for praise | O |
Thou gavest to him with treble force to feel | P |
The sting of keen neglect the rich man's scorn | Q |
And what o'er all does in his soul preside | R |
Predominant and tempers him to steel | P |
His high indignant pride | R |
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I | A |
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Lament not ye who humbly steal through life | B |
That Genius visits not your lowly shed | S |
For ah what woes and sorrows ever rife | B |
Distract his hapless head | S |
For him awaits no balmy sleep | T |
He wakes all night and wakes to weep | T |
Or by his lonely lamp he sits | O |
At solemn midnight when the peasant sleeps | O |
In feverish study and in moody fits | O |
His mournful vigils keeps | O |
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II | A |
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And oh for what consumes his watchful oil | U |
For what does thus he waste life's fleeting breath | F |
'T is for neglect and penury he doth toil | U |
'Tis for untimely death | F |
Lo where dejected pale he lies | O |
Despair depicted in his eyes | O |
He feels the vital flame decrease | O |
He sees the grave wide yawning for its prey | E |
Without a friend to soothe his soul to peace | O |
And cheer the expiring ray | E |
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III | A |
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By Sulmo's bard of mournful fame | V |
By gentle Otway's magic name | V |
By him the youth who smiled at death | F |
And rashly dared to stop his vital breath | F |
Will I thy pangs proclaim | V |
For still to misery closely thou'rt allied | R |
Though gaudy pageants glitter by thy side | R |
And far resounding Fame | V |
What though to thee the dazzled millions bow | W |
And to thy posthumous merit bend them low | C |
Though unto thee the monarch looks with awe | X |
And thou at thy flash'd car dost nations draw | J |
Yet ah unseen behind thee fly | A |
Corroding Anguish soul subduing Pain | Y |
And Discontent that clouds the fairest sky | A |
A melancholy train | Y |
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Yes Genius thee a thousand cares await | Z |
Mocking thy derided state | Z |
Thee chill Adversity will still attend | A2 |
Before whose face flies fast the summer's friend | A2 |
And leaves thee all forlorn | Q |
While leaden Ignorance rears her head and laughs | O |
And fat Stupidity shakes his jolly sides | O |
And while the cup of affluence he quaffs | O |
With bee eyed Wisdom Genius derides | O |
Who toils and every hardship doth outbrave | B |
To gain the meed of praise when he is mouldering in his grave | B |
Henry Kirk White
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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