The Lee Memorial Ode Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDB AAEAFA GHIHJH AAKALA MNANAN AOAOAO APAPAP AQRQAQ AASATA U VAEAAA WOXOVO XYAYNY VAXAKA EAZACA XBABAB VAAAA2A AANAB2A U MAAAAA AAC2AA2A WCD2CAC SE2AE2F2E2 GHG2HAH AAH2AE2A MAAAI2A J2AAAMA K2L2ZL2VL2 M2AVAN2A K2XXXO2X AAP2AXA TAZAQ2A VR2AR2XR2 TS2TS2XS2 R2 XSASSS XCVCVC ASSSSS SSXSSS T2S2SS2AS2 A XSXSSS XSASXS U2V2AV2S2V2 AASAAA XSS2SAAS| Great Mother of great Commonwealths | A |
| Men call our Mother State | B |
| And she so well has earned this name | C |
| That she may challenge Fate | B |
| To snatch away the epithet | D |
| Long given her of great | B |
| - | |
| First of all Old England's outposts | A |
| To stand fast upon these shores | A |
| Soon she brought a mighty harvest | E |
| To a People's threshing floors | A |
| And more than golden grain was piled | F |
| Within her ample doors | A |
| - | |
| Behind her stormy sunrise shone | G |
| Her shadow fell vast and long | H |
| And her mighty Adm'ral English Smith | I |
| Heads a prodigous throng | H |
| Of as mighty men from Raleigh down | J |
| As ever arose in song | H |
| - | |
| Her names are the shining arrows | A |
| Which her ancient quiver bears | A |
| And their splendid sheaf has thickened | K |
| Through the long march of the years | A |
| While her great shield has been burnished | L |
| By her children's blood and tears | A |
| - | |
| Yes it is true my Countrymen | M |
| We are rich in names and blood | N |
| And red have been the blossoms | A |
| From the first Colonial bud | N |
| While her names have blazed as meteors | A |
| By many a field and flood | N |
| - | |
| And as some flood tumultuous | A |
| In sounding billows rolled | O |
| Gives back the evening's glories | A |
| In a wealth of blazing gold | O |
| So does the present from its waves | A |
| Reflect the lights of old | O |
| - | |
| Our history is a shining sea | A |
| Locked in by lofty land | P |
| And its great Pillars of Hercules | A |
| Above the shining sand | P |
| I here behold in majesty | A |
| Uprising on each hand | P |
| - | |
| These Pillars of our history | A |
| In fame forever young | Q |
| Are known in every latitude | R |
| And named in every tongue | Q |
| And down through all the Ages | A |
| Their story shall be sung | Q |
| - | |
| The Father of his Country | A |
| Stands above that shut in sea | A |
| A glorious symbol to the world | S |
| Of all that's great and free | A |
| And to day Virginia matches him | T |
| And matches him with Lee | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| II | U |
| - | |
| Who shall blame the social order | V |
| Which gave us men as great as these | A |
| Who condemn the soil of t' forest | E |
| Which bring forth gigantic trees | A |
| Who presume to doubt that Providence | A |
| Shapes out our destinies | A |
| - | |
| Fore ordained and long maturing | W |
| Came the famous men of old | O |
| In the dark mines deep were driven | X |
| Down the shafts to reach the gold | O |
| And the story is far longer | V |
| Than the histories have told | O |
| - | |
| From Bacon down to Washington | X |
| The generations passed | Y |
| Great events and moving causes | A |
| Were in serried order massed | Y |
| Berkeley well was first confronted | N |
| Better George the King at last | Y |
| - | |
| From the time of that stern ruler | V |
| To our own familiar days | A |
| Long the pathway we have trodden | X |
| Hard and devious were its ways | A |
| Till at last there came the second | K |
| Mightier Revolution's blaze | A |
| - | |
| Till at last there broke the tempest | E |
| Like a cyclone on the sea | A |
| When the lightnings blazed and dazzled | Z |
| And the thunders were set free | A |
| And riding on that whirlwind came | C |
| Majestic Robert Lee | A |
| - | |
| Who again I ask the question | X |
| Who may challenge in debate | B |
| With any show of truthfulness | A |
| Our former social state | B |
| Which brought forth more than heroes | A |
| In their lives supremely great | B |
| - | |
| Not Peter the wild Crusader | V |
| When bent upon his knee | A |
| Not Arthur and his belted knights | A |
| In the Poet's Song could be | A |
| More earnest than those Southern men | A2 |
| Who followed Robert Lee | A |
| - | |
| They thought that they were right and this | A |
| Was hammered into those | A |
| Who held that crest all drenched in blood | N |
| Where the Bloody Angle rose | A |
| As for all else It passes by | B2 |
| As the idle wind that blows | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| III | U |
| - | |
| Then stand up oh my Countrymen | M |
| And unto God give thanks | A |
| On mountains and on hillsides | A |
| And by sloping river banks | A |
| Thank God that you were worthy | A |
| Of the grand Confederate ranks | A |
| - | |
| That you who came from uplands | A |
| And from beside the sea | A |
| Filled with love of Old Virginia | C2 |
| And the teachings of the free | A |
| May boast in sight of all men | A2 |
| That you followed Robert Lee | A |
| - | |
| Peace has come God give his blessing | W |
| On the fact and on the name | C |
| The South speaks no invective | D2 |
| And she writes no word of blame | C |
| But we call all men to witness | A |
| That we stand up without shame | C |
| - | |
| Nay Send it forth to all the world | S |
| That we stand up here with pride | E2 |
| With love for our living comrades | A |
| And with praise for those who died | E2 |
| And in this manly frame of mind | F2 |
| Till death we will abide | E2 |
| - | |
| GOD and our consciences alone | G |
| Give us measure of right and wrong | H |
| The race may fall unto the swift | G2 |
| And the battle to the strong | H |
| But the truth will shine in history | A |
| And blossom into song | H |
| - | |
| Human grief full oft by glory | A |
| Is assuaged and disappears | A |
| When its requiem swells with music | H2 |
| Like the shock of shields and spears | A |
| And its passion is too full of pride | E2 |
| To leave a space for tears | A |
| - | |
| And hence to day my Countrymen | M |
| We come with undimmed eyes | A |
| In homage of the hero Lee | A |
| The good the great the wise | A |
| And at his name our hearts will leap | I2 |
| Till his last old soldier dies | A |
| - | |
| Ask me if so you please to paint | J2 |
| Storm winds upon the sea | A |
| Tell me to weigh great Cheops | A |
| Set volcanic forces free | A |
| But bid me not my Countrymen | M |
| To picture Robert Lee | A |
| - | |
| As Saul bound for Damascus fair | K2 |
| Was struck blind by sudden light | L2 |
| So my eyes are pained and dazzled | Z |
| By a radiance pure and white | L2 |
| Shot back by the burnished armor | V |
| Of that glory belted Knight | L2 |
| - | |
| His was all the Norman's polish | M2 |
| And sobriety of grace | A |
| All the Goth's majestic figure | V |
| All the Roman's noble face | A |
| And he stood the tall exemplar | N2 |
| Of a grand historic race | A |
| - | |
| Baronial were his acres where | K2 |
| Potomac's waters run | X |
| High his lineage and his blazon | X |
| Was by cunning heralds done | X |
| But better still he might have said | O2 |
| Of his works he was the son | X |
| - | |
| Truth walked beside him always | A |
| From his childhood's early years | A |
| Honor followed as his shadow | P2 |
| Valor lightened all his cares | A |
| And he rode that grand Virginian | X |
| Last of all the Cavaliers | A |
| - | |
| As a soldier we all knew him | T |
| Great in action and repose | A |
| Saw how his genius kindled | Z |
| And his mighty spirit rose | A |
| When the four quarters of the globe | Q2 |
| Encompassed him with foes | A |
| - | |
| But he and his grew braver | V |
| As the danger grew more rife | R2 |
| Avaricious they of glory | A |
| But most prodigal of life | R2 |
| And the Army of Virginia | X |
| Was the Atlas of the strife | R2 |
| - | |
| As his troubles gathered round him | T |
| Thick as waves that beat the shore | S2 |
| Atra Cura rode behind him | T |
| Famine's shadow filled his door | S2 |
| Still he wrought deeds no mortal man | X |
| Had ever wrought before | S2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| IV | R2 |
| - | |
| Then came the end my Countrymen | X |
| The last thunderbolts were hurled | S |
| Worn out by his own victories | A |
| His battle flags were furled | S |
| And a history was finished | S |
| That has changed the modern world | S |
| - | |
| As some saint in the arena | X |
| Of a bloody Roman game | C |
| As the prize of his endeavor | V |
| Put on an immortal frame | C |
| Through long agonies our Soldier | V |
| Won the crown of martial fame | C |
| - | |
| But there came a greater glory | A |
| To that man supremely great | S |
| When his just sword he laid aside | S |
| In peace to serve his State | S |
| For in his classic solitude | S |
| He rose up and mastered Fate | S |
| - | |
| He triumphed and he did not die | S |
| No funeral bells are tolled | S |
| But on that day in Lexington | X |
| Fame came herself to hold | S |
| His stirrup while he mounted | S |
| To ride down the streets of gold | S |
| - | |
| He is not dead There is no death | T2 |
| He only went before | S2 |
| His journey on when CHRIST THE LORD | S |
| Wide open held the door | S2 |
| And a calm celestial peace is his | A |
| Thank God forevermore | S2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| V | A |
| - | |
| When the effigy of Washington | X |
| In its bronze was reared on high | S |
| 'Twas mine with others now long gone | X |
| Beneath a stormy sky | S |
| To utter to the multitude | S |
| His name that cannot die | S |
| - | |
| And here to day my Countrymen | X |
| I tell you Lee shall ride | S |
| With that great rebel down the years | A |
| Twin rebels side by side | S |
| And confronting such a vision | X |
| All our grief gives place to pride | S |
| - | |
| Those two shall ride immortal | U2 |
| And shall ride abreast of Time | V2 |
| Shall light up stately history | A |
| And blaze in Epic Rhyme | V2 |
| Both patriots both Virginians true | S2 |
| Both rebels both sublime | V2 |
| - | |
| Our past is full of glories | A |
| It is a shut in sea | A |
| The pillars overlooking it | S |
| Are Washington and Lee | A |
| And a future spreads before us | A |
| Not unworthy of the free | A |
| - | |
| And here and now my Countrymen | X |
| Upon this sacred sod | S |
| Let us feel It was OUR FATHER | S2 |
| Who above us held the rod | S |
| And from hills to sea | A |
| Like Robert Lee | A |
| Bow reverently to God | S |
James Barron Hope
(1)
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About The Lee Memorial Ode
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