Belfry Of Bruges, The Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABA CDC EFGF CHIH JJ CKBK LL BJBJ MN JJ COC OO CC BPCP CC CC CC CC JOJ JJ| In the market place of Bruges stands the belfry old and brown | A |
| Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded still it watches o'er the | B |
| town | A |
| - | |
| As the summer morn was breaking on that lofty tower I stood | C |
| And the world threw off the darkness like the weeds of | D |
| widowhood | C |
| - | |
| Thick with towns and hamlets studded and with streams and vapors | E |
| gray | F |
| Like a shield embossed with silver round and vast the landscape | G |
| lay | F |
| - | |
| At my feet the city slumbered From its chimneys here and | C |
| there | H |
| Wreaths of snow white smoke ascending vanished ghost like | I |
| into air | H |
| - | |
| Not a sound rose from the city at that early morning hour | J |
| But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower | J |
| - | |
| From their nests beneath the rafters sang the swallows wild and | C |
| high | K |
| And the world beneath me sleeping seemed more distant than the | B |
| sky | K |
| - | |
| Then most musical and solemn bringing back the olden times | L |
| With their strange unearthly changes rang the melancholy chimes | L |
| - | |
| Like the psalms from some old cloister when the nuns sing in the | B |
| choir | J |
| And the great bell tolled among them like the chanting of a | B |
| friar | J |
| - | |
| Visions of the days departed shadowy phantoms filled my brain | M |
| They who live in history only seemed to walk the earth again | N |
| - | |
| All the Foresters of Flanders mighty Baldwin Bras de Fer | J |
| Lyderick du Bucq and Cressy Philip Guy de Dampierre | J |
| - | |
| I beheld the pageants splendid that adorned those days of old | C |
| Stately dames like queens attended knights who bore the Fleece | O |
| of Gold | C |
| - | |
| Lombard and Venetian merchants with deep laden argosies | O |
| Ministers from twenty nations more than royal pomp and ease | O |
| - | |
| I beheld proud Maximilian kneeling humbly on the ground | C |
| I beheld the gentle Mary hunting with her hawk and hound | C |
| - | |
| And her lighted bridal chamber where a duke slept with the | B |
| queen | P |
| And the armed guard around them and the sword unsheathed | C |
| between | P |
| - | |
| I beheld the Flemish weavers with Namur and Juliers bold | C |
| Marching homeward from the bloody battle of the Spurs of Gold | C |
| - | |
| Saw the light at Minnewater saw the White Hoods moving west | C |
| Saw great Artevelde victorious scale the Golden Dragon's nest | C |
| - | |
| And again the whiskered Spaniard all the land with terror smote | C |
| And again the wild alarum sounded from the tocsin's throat | C |
| - | |
| Till the bell of Ghent responded o'er lagoon and dike of sand | C |
| I am Roland I am Roland there is victory in the land | C |
| - | |
| Then the sound of drums aroused me The awakened city's roar | J |
| Chased the phantoms I had summoned back into their graves once | O |
| more | J |
| - | |
| Hours had passed away like minutes and before I was aware | J |
| Lo the shadow of the belfry crossed the sun illumined square | J |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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