The Nile Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCCBDEDEE FFGHHGIJIKK LLMNNMOPOPP AABQQBKRKRR SSMKKMTUTUU| Out of the unknown South | A |
| Through the dark lands of drouth | A |
| Far wanders ancient Nile in slumber gliding | B |
| Clear mirrored in his dream | C |
| The deeds that haunt his stream | C |
| Flash out and fade like stars in midnight sliding | B |
| Long since before the life of man | D |
| Rose from among the lives that creep | E |
| With Time's own tide began | D |
| That still mysterious sleep | E |
| Only to cease when Time shall reach the eternal deep | E |
| - | |
| From out his vision vast | F |
| The early gods have passed | F |
| They waned and perished with the faith that made them | G |
| The long phantasmal line | H |
| Of Pharaohs crowned divine | H |
| Are dust among the dust that once obeyed them | G |
| Their land is one mute burial mound | I |
| Save when across the drifted years | J |
| Some chant of hollow sound | I |
| Some triumph blent with tears | K |
| From Memnon's lips at dawn wakens the desert meres | K |
| - | |
| O Nile and can it be | L |
| No memory dwells with thee | L |
| Of Grecian lore and the sweet Grecian singer | M |
| The legions' iron tramp | N |
| The Goths' wide wandering camp | N |
| Had these no fame that by thy shore might linger | M |
| Nay then must all be lost indeed | O |
| Lost too the swift pursuing might | P |
| That cleft with passionate speed | O |
| Aboukir's tranquil night | P |
| And shattered in mid swoop the great world eagle's flight | P |
| - | |
| Yet have there been on earth | A |
| Spirits of starry birth | A |
| Whose splendour rushed to no eternal setting | B |
| They over all endure | Q |
| Their course through all is sure | Q |
| The dark world's light is still of their begetting | B |
| Though the long past forgotten lies | K |
| Nile in thy dream remember him | R |
| Whose like no more shall rise | K |
| Above our twilight's rim | R |
| Until the immortal dawn shall make all glories dim | R |
| - | |
| For this man was not great | S |
| By gold or kingly state | S |
| Or the bright sword or knowledge of earth's wonder | M |
| But more than all his race | K |
| He saw life face to face | K |
| And heard the still small voice above the thunder | M |
| O river while thy waters roll | T |
| By yonder vast deserted tomb | U |
| There where so clear a soul | T |
| So shone through gathering doom | U |
| Thou and thy land shall keep the tale of lost Khartoum | U |
Henry Newbolt
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Nile poem by Henry Newbolt
Best Poems of Henry Newbolt