Seringapatam Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDED FGFGHIJI KLKLMNON PQPQRSTS UVUVWXYX ZCZCA2B2C2B2 FD2FD2E2F2GF2 G2H2G2H2I2EJ2E ABABF2K2L2K2The sleep that Tippoo Sahib sleeps | A |
Heeds not the cry of man | B |
The faith that Tippoo Sahib keeps | A |
No judge on earth may scan | B |
He is the lord of whom ye hold | C |
Spirit and sense and limb | D |
Fetter and chain are all ye gain | E |
Who dared to plead with him | D |
- | |
Baird was bonny and Baird was young | F |
His heart was strong as steel | G |
But life and death in the balance hung | F |
For his wounds were ill to heal | G |
Of fifty chains the Sultan gave | H |
We have filled but forty nine | I |
We dare not fail of the perfect tale | J |
For all Golconda's mine | I |
- | |
That was the hour when Lucas first | K |
Leapt to his long renown | L |
Like summer rains his anger burst | K |
And swept their scruples down | L |
Tell ye the lord to whom ye crouch | M |
His fetters bite their fill | N |
To save your oath I'll wear them both | O |
And step the lighter still | N |
- | |
The seasons came the seasons passed | P |
They watched their fellows die | Q |
But still their thought was forward cast | P |
Their courage still was high | Q |
Through tortured days and fevered nights | R |
Their limbs alone were weak | S |
And year by year they kept their cheer | T |
And spoke as freemen speak | S |
- | |
But once a year on the fourth of June | U |
Their speech to silence died | V |
And the silence beat to a soundless tune | U |
And sang with a wordless pride | V |
Till when the Indian stars were bright | W |
And bells at home would ring | X |
To the fetters' clank they rose and drank | Y |
England God save the King | X |
- | |
The years came and the years went | Z |
The wheel full circle rolled | C |
The tyrant's neck must yet be bent | Z |
The price of blood be told | C |
The city yet must hear the roar | A2 |
Of Baird's avenging guns | B2 |
And see him stand with lifted hand | C2 |
By Tippoo Sahib's sons | B2 |
- | |
The lads were bonny the lads were young | F |
But he claimed a pitiless debt | D2 |
Life and death in the balance hung | F |
They watched it swing and set | D2 |
They saw him search with sombre eyes | E2 |
They knew the place he sought | F2 |
They saw him feel for the hilted steel | G |
They bowed before his thought | F2 |
- | |
But he he saw the prison there | G2 |
In the old quivering heat | H2 |
Where merry hearts had met despair | G2 |
And died without defeat | H2 |
Where feeble hands had raised the cup | I2 |
For feebler lips to drain | E |
And one had worn with smiling scorn | J2 |
His double load of pain | E |
- | |
The sleep that Tippoo Sahib sleeps | A |
Hears not the voice of man | B |
The faith that Tippoo Sahib keeps | A |
No earthly judge may scan | B |
For all the wrong your father wrought | F2 |
Your father's sons are free | K2 |
Where Lucas lay no tongue shall say | L2 |
That Mercy bound not me | K2 |
Henry Newbolt
(1)
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