Heroic Poem In Praise Of Wine Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCC DDEEFFGGHHHHHIIHHJKH HLMEEHHNHHOOHHPPHHOO QQHHHHHH IIHHRRSSTT UUVVWWKKHHHHOOXXYYHH ZZYY HHYYYOOYYYYA2B2C2C2Q QD2D2YYJJYYYYOOE2E2O OYYHHF2F2IIIHH G2G2 HHHHH2H2QQYYYYI2I2J2 J2Q QQXXHHDDOOZZ QQYYOOQQHH IIYY QQOOH

To exalt enthrone establish and defendA
To welcome home mankind's mysterious friendA
Wine true begetter of all arts that beB
Wine privilege of the completely freeB
Wine the recorder wine the sagely strongC
Wine bright avenger of sly dealing wrongC
Awake Ausonian Muse and sing the vineyard songC
-
Sing how the Charioteer from Asia cameD
And on his front the little dancing flameD
Which marked the God head Sing the Panther teamE
The gilded Thrysus twirling and the gleamE
Of cymbals through the darkness Sing the drumsF
He comes the young renewer of Hellas comesF
The Seas await him Those Aegean SeasG
Roll from the dawning ponderous ill at easeG
In lifts of lead whose cresting hardly breaksH
To ghostly foam when suddenly there awakesH
A mountain glory inland All the skiesH
Are luminous and amid the sea bird criesH
The mariner hears a morning breeze ariseH
Then goes the Pageant forward The sea wayI
Silvers the feet of that august arrayI
Trailing above the waters through the airsH
And as they pass a wind before them bearsH
The quickening word the influence magicalJ
The Islands have received it marble tallK
The long shores of the mainland Something fillsH
The warm Euboean combes the sacred hillsH
Of Aulis and of Argos Still they moveL
Touching the City walls the Temple groveM
Till far upon the horizon glint a gleamE
Of light of trembling light revealed they seemE
Turned to a cloud but to a cloud that shinesH
And everywhere as they pass the Vines The VinesH
The Vines the conquering Vines And the VineN
breathsH
Her savour through the upland empty heathsH
Of treeless wastes the Vines have come to whereO
The dark Pelasgian steep defends the lairO
Of the wolf's hiding to the empty fieldsH
By Aufidus the dry campaign that yieldsH
No harvest for the husbandman but nowP
Shall bear a nobler foison than the ploughP
To where festooned along the tall elm treesH
Tendrils are mirrored in Tyrrhenian seasH
To where the South awaits them even to whereO
Stark African informed of burning airO
Upturned to Heaven the broad Hipponian plainQ
Extends luxurious and invites the mainQ
Guelma's a mother barren Thaspsa breedsH
And northward in the valleys next the meadsH
That sleep by misty river banks the VinesH
Have struck to spread below the solemn pinesH
The Vines are on the roof trees All the ShrinesH
And Homes of men are consecrate with VinesH
-
And now the task of that triumphant dayI
Has reached to victory In the reddening rayI
With all his train from hard Iberian landsH
Fulfilled apparent that Creator standsH
Halted on Atlas Far Beneath him farR
The strength of Ocean darkening and the starR
Beyond all shores There is a silence madeS
It glorifies and the gigantic shadeS
Of Hercules adores him from the WestT
Dead Lucre burnt Ambition Wine is bestT
-
But what are these that from the outer murkU
Of dense mephitic vapours creeping lurkU
To breathe foul airs from that corrupted wellV
Which oozes slime along the floor of HellV
These are the stricken palsied brood of sinW
In whose vile veins poor poisonous and thinW
Decoctions of embittered hatreds crawlK
These are the Water Drinkers cursed allK
On what gin sodden Hags what flaccid siresH
Bred these White Slugs from what exhaust desiresH
In what close prison's horror were their wilesH
Watched by what tyrant power with evil smilesH
Or in what caverns blocked from grace and airO
Received they then the mandates of despairO
What Must our race our tragic race that roamX
All exiled from our first and final homeX
That in one moment of temptation lostY
Our heritage and now wander hunger tostY
Beyond the Gates still speaking with our eyesH
For ever of remembered ParadiseH
Must we with every gift accepted stillZ
With every joy receive attendant illZ
Must some lewd evil follow all our goodY
And muttering dog our brief beatitudeY
-
A primal doom inexorable wiseH
Permitted ordered even these to riseH
Even in the shadow of so bright a LordY
Must swarm and propagate the filthy hordeY
Debased accursed I say abhorrent and abhorredY
Accursed and curse bestowing For whosoe'erO
Shall suffer their contagion everywhereO
Falls from the estate of man and finds his endY
To the mere beverage of the beast condemnedY
For such as these in vain the Rhine has rolledY
Imperial centuries by hills of goldY
For such as these the flashing Rhone shall rageA2
In vain its lightning through the HermitageB2
Or level browed divine Touraine receiveC2
The tribute of her vintages at eveC2
For such as these Burgundian heats in vainQ
Swell the rich slope or load the empurpled plainQ
Bootless for such as these the mighty taskD2
Of bottling God the Father in a flaskD2
And leading all Creation down distilledY
To one small ardent sphere immensely filledY
With memories empty with experience nullJ
With vapid eye balls meaningless and dullJ
They pass unblest through the unfruitful lightY
And when we open the bronze doors of NightY
When we in high carousal we reclinedY
Spur up to Heaven the still ascending mindY
Pass with the all inspiring to and froO
The torch of genius and the Muse's glowO
They lifeless stare at vacancy aloneE2
Or plan mean traffic or repeat their moanE2
We when repose demands us welcomed areO
In young white arms like our great ExemplarO
Who wearied with creation takes his restY
And sinks to sleep on Ariadne's breastY
They through the darkness into darkness pressH
Despised abandoned and companionlessH
And when the course of either's sleep has runF2
We leap to life like heralds of the sunF2
We from the couch in roseate mornings gayI
Salute as equals the exultant dayI
While they the unworthy unrewarded theyI
The dank despisers of the Vine ariseH
To watch grey dawns and mourn indifferent skiesH
-
Forget them Form the Dionysian ringG2
And pulse the ground and Io Io singG2
-
Father Lenaean to whom our strength belongsH
Our loves our wars our laughter and our songsH
Remember our inheritance who praiseH
Your glory in these last unhappy daysH
When beauty sickens and a muddied robeH2
Of baseness fouls the universal globeH2
Though all the Gods indignant and their trainQ
Abandon ruined man do thou remainQ
By thee the vesture of our life was madeY
The Embattled Gate the lordly ColonnadeY
The woven fabric's gracious hues the soundY
Of trumpets and the quivering fountain roundY
And indestructible the Arch and highI2
The Shaft of Stone that stands against the skyI2
And last the guardian genius of them RhymeJ2
Come from beyond the world to conquer timeJ2
All these are thine LenaeanQ
-
By thee do seers the inward light discernQ
By thee the statue lives the Gods returnQ
By thee the thunder and the falling foamX
Of loud Acquoria's torrent call to RomeX
Alba rejoices in a thousand springsH
Gensano laughs and Orvieto singsH
But Ah With Orvieto with that nameD
Of dark Eturian subterranean flameD
The years dissolve I am standing in that hourO
Of majesty Septembral and the powerO
Which swells the clusters when the nights are stillZ
With autumn stars on Orvieto hillZ
-
Had these been mine Ausonian Muse to knowQ
The large contented oxen heaving slowQ
To count my sheaves at harvest so to spendY
Perfected days in peace until the endY
With every evening's dust of gold to hearO
The bells upon the pasture height the clearO
Full horn of herdsmen gathering in the kineQ
To ancient byres in hamlets AppenineQ
And crown abundant age with generous easeH
Had these Ausonian Muse had these had theseH
-
But since I would not since I could not stayI
Let me remember even in this my dayI
How when the ephemeral vision's lure is pastY
All all must face their Passion at the lastY
-
Was there not one that did to Heaven complainQ
How driving through the midnight and the rainQ
He struck the Atlantic seethe and surge beforeO
Wrecked in the North along a lonely shoreO
To make the lights of home and hear hisH

Hilaire Belloc



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