The Washington Memorial Ode Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDEEFFGGHHII JJKKLLMMNNOOPP IIQQRRJJSSTTUUVV WWDDXXYY ZZA2A2B2B2C2C2MMD2D2 E2E2LLF2F2D2D2G2G2 H2H2IID2D2I2I2J2J2D2 D2K2K2D2D2ZZ L2L2D2D2SSM2M2 N2N2D2D2D2D2D2D2D2D2 O2O2P2P2G2Q2YYD2D2D2 D2R2R2S2S2 PPD2D2D2D2T2T2 D2D2D2D2U2U2V2V2W2W2 X2X2VV D2D2LLD2D2U2U2Y2Y2Z2 A3JJB3B3C3C3D2D2 D2D2YYD3D3EEE3 DDF3F3H2H2U2U2SS JJD2D2G3G3YYF3F3 H3H3H2H2I3I3YYSSD2D2 DD D2D2D2D2Y2Y2W2W2Y2Y2 D2D2JJD2D2Y2Y2Y2Y2JJ G2G2CCD2D2ZZ R2R2D2D2D2D2J3J3H2H2 K3K3 U2U2L3L3B2B2JJF3F3M3 M3 H2H2W2W2E2E2L2L2 ZZN3N3D2D2JJ YYB3B3SSH3H3 O3O3H2H2JJ P3P3D2D2D2D2D2D2Y2Y2 D2D2D2D2D2D2LLYYSSY2 Y2B2B2T2T2E3E3

Certain events like architects build up	A
Viewless cathedrals in whose aisles the cup	A
Of some impressive sacrament is kist	B
Where thankful nations taste the Eucharist	C
Pressed to their lips by some heroic Past	D
Enthroned like Pontiff in the temple vast	D
Where incense rises t'wards the dome sublime	E
From golden censers in the hands of Time	E
Where through the smoke some sculptured saint appears	F
Crowned with the glories of historic years	F
Before whose shrine whole races tell their beads	G
From whose pale front each sordid thought recedes	G
Gliding away like white and stealthy ghost	H
As Memory rears it's consecrated Host	H
As blood and body of a sacred name	I
Make the last supper of some deathless fame	I
	-
This the event Here springs the temple grand	J
Whose mighty arches take in all the land	J
Its twilight aisles stretch far away and reach	K
'Mid lights and shadows which defy my speech	K
And near its portal which Morn opened wide	L
Grey Janitor to let in all this tide	L
Of prayerful men most solemnly there stands	M
One recollection which for pious hands	M
Is ready like the Minster's sculptured vase	N
With holy water for each reverent face	N
And mystic columns which my fancy views	O
Glow in a thousand soft subduing hues	O
Flung through the stained windows of the Past in gloom	P
Of royal purple o'er our warrior's tomb	P
	-
	-
	-
Oh proud old Commonwealth thy sacred name	I
Makes frequent music on the lips of Fame	I
And as the nation in its onward march	Q
Thunders beneath the Union's mighty arch	Q
Thine the bold front which every patriot sees	R
The stateliest figure on its massive frieze	R
Oh proud old State well may thy form be grand	J
'Twas thine to give a Savior to the land	J
For in the past when upward rose the cry	S
Save or we perish thine 'twas to supply	S
The master spirit of the storm whose will	T
Said to the billows in their wrath Be still	T
And though a great calm followed yet the age	U
In which he saw that mad tornado rage	U
Made in its cares and wild tempestuous strife	V
One solemn Passion of his noble life	V
	-
This day then Countrymen of all the year	W
We well may claim to be without a peer	W
Amid the rest impalpable and vast	D
It stands a Cheops looming through the past	D
Close to the rushing patriotic Nile	X
Which here o'erflows our hearts to make them smile	X
With a rich harvest of devoted zeal	Y
Men of Virginia for the Common weal	Y
	-
And to our Bethlehem ye who come to day	Z
Ye who compose this multitude's array	Z
Ye who are here from mighty Northern marts	A2
With frankincense and myrrh within your hearts	A2
Ye who are here from the gigantic West	B2
The offspring nurtured at Virginia's breast	B2
Which in development by magic seems	C2
Straight to embody all that Progress dreams	C2
Ye who are here from summer wedded lands	M
From Carolina's woods to Tampa's sands	M
From Florida to Texas broad and free	D2
Where spreads the prairie like a dark green sea	D2
Ye whose bold fathers from Virginia went	E2
In wilds to pitch brave enterprise's tent	E2
Spreading our faith and social system wide	L
By which we stand peculiarly allied	L
Ye Southern men whose work is but begun	F2
Whose course is on t'ward regions of the sun	F2
Whose brave battalions moved to tropic sods	D2
Solemn and certain as though marching gods	D2
Were ordered in their circumstance and state	G2
Beneath the banner of resistless Fate	G2
	-
Ye have been welcomed Countrymen by him	H2
Beside whose speech my rhetoric grows dim	H2
Whose thoughts are flint and steel whose words are flame	I
For they all stir us like some hero's name	I
But once again the Commonwealth extends	D2
Her open hand in welcome to her friends	D2
Come ye from North or South or West or East	I2
No bull's head enters at Virginia's feast	I2
And ye who've journeyed hither from afar	J2
Know that fair Freedom's liquid morning star	J2
Still sheds its glories in a thousand beams	D2
Gilding our forests fountains mountains streams	D2
With light as luminous as on that morn	K2
When the Messiah of the land was born	K2
Then as we here partake the mystic rites	D2
To which his memory like a priest invites	D2
Kneeling beside the altars of this day	Z
Let every heart subdued one moment pray	Z
	-
	-
	-
That He who lit our morning star's pure light	L2
Will never blot it from the nation's sight	L2
That He will banish those portentous clouds	D2
Which from so many its effulgence shrouds	D2
Which none will deem me Hamlet mad when I	S
Say hang like banners on the darkened sky	S
Suggesting perils in their warlike shape	M2
Which Heavenly Father grant that we escape	M2
	-
	-
	-
Why touch upon these topics do you ask	N2
Why blend these themes with my allotted task	N2
My answer's brief 'tis Citizens because	D2
I see fierce warfare made upon the Laws	D2
A people's poets are that people's seers	D2
The prophet's faculty in part is theirs	D2
And thus 'tis fit that from this statue's base	D2
Beneath great Washington's majestic face	D2
That I should point the dangers which menace	D2
Our social temple's symmetry and grace	D2
	-
	-
	-
But here I pause for happier omens look	O2
And playing Flamen turn to Nature's book	O2
Where late rich Autumn sat on golden throne	P2
A stern usurper makes the crown his own	P2
The courtier woodlands robbed of all their state	G2
Stripped of their pomp look grim and desolate	Q2
Reluctant conscripts clad in icy mail	Y
Their captive pleadings rise on every gale	Y
Now mighty oaks stand like bereaved Lears	D2
Pennons are furled on all the sedgy spears	D2
Where the sad river glides between its banks	D2
Like beaten general twixt his pompless ranks	D2
And the earth's bosom clad in armor now	R2
Bids stern defiance to the iron plough	R2
While o'er the fields so desolate and damp	S2
Invading Winter spreads his hostile camp	S2
	-
And as he shakes his helmet's snowy plume	P
The landscape saddens into deeper gloom	P
But yet ere many moons have flung to lea	D2
To begging billows of the hungry sea	D2
Their generous gold like oriental queens	D2
A change will pass o'er all these wintry scenes	D2
There'll come the coronation of glad Spring	T2
Grander than any made for bride of king	T2
	-
	-
	-
Earth's hodden grey will change to livelier hues	D2
Enriched with pearl drops of the limpid dews	D2
Plenty will stand with her large tranquil eyes	D2
To see her treasures o'er the landscape rise	D2
Thus may the lover of his country hope	U2
To see again the Nation's spring tide ope	U2
And freedom's harvest turn to ripened gold	V2
So that our world may give unto the old	V2
Of its great opulence as Joseph gave	W2
Bread to his brothers when they came to crave	W2
	-
But from his name I've paused too long you think	X2
Yet he who stands beside Niagra's brink	X2
Breaketh not forth at once of its grand strife	V
'Tis thus I stand subdued by his great life	V
	-
	-
	-
And with his name a host of others rise	D2
Climbing like planets Fame's eternal skies	D2
Great names my Brothers with such deeds allied	L
That all Virginians glow with filial pride	L
That here the multitude shall daily pace	D2
Around this statue's hero circled base	D2
Thinking on those who though long sunk in sleep	U2
Still round our camp the guard of sentries keep	U2
Who when a foe encroaches on our line	Y2
Prompt the stern challenge for the countersign	Y2
Who with proud memories feed our bright watch fire	Z2
Which ne'er has faded never will expire	A3
Grand benedictions they in bronze will stand	J
To guard and consecrate our native land	J
Great names are theirs But his like battle song	B3
In quicker current sends our blood along	B3
For at its music hearts throb quick and large	C3
Like those of horsemen thundering in the charge	C3
God's own Knight Errant There his figure stands	D2
Our souls are full our bonnets in our hands	D2
	-
When the fierce torrent lava like of bronze	D2
To mould this statue burst it furnace bonds	D2
When it out thundered in its liquid flow	Y
With splendid flame and scintillating glow	Y
'Twas in its wild tumultuous throb and storm	D3
Type of the age which moulded into form	D3
The god like character of him sublime	E
Whose name is reared a statue for all time	E
In the great minster of the whole world's heart	E3
	-
	-
	-
I've called his name a statue Stern and vast	D
It rests enthroned upon the mighty past	D
Fit plinth for him whose image in the mind	F3
Looms up as that of one by God designed	F3
Fit plinth in sooth the mighty past for him	H2
Whose simple name is Glory's synonyme	H2
E'en Fancy's self in her enchanted sleep	U2
Can dream no future which may cease to keep	U2
His name in guard like sentinel and cry	S
From Time's great bastions It shall never die	S
	-
	-
	-
His simple name a statue Yes and grand	J
'Tis reared in this and every other land	J
Around its base a group more noble stands	D2
Than e'er was carved by human sculptor's hands	D2
E'en though each form like that of old should flush	G3
With vivid beauty's animating blush	G3
Though dusky bronze or pallid stone should thrill	Y
With sudden life at some Pygmalion's will	Y
For these great figures with his own enshrined	F3
Are seen my Countrymen by men though blind	F3
	-
There Valor fronts us with her storied shield	H3
Brave in devices won on many a field	H3
A splendid wreath snatched from the carnage grim	H2
Is twined around that buckler's burnished rim	H2
And as we gaze the brazen trumpets blare	I3
With shrill vibration shakes the frightened air	I3
The roll of musketry the clash of steel	Y
The clang of hoofs as charging squadrons wheel	Y
The hoarse command the imprecative cry	S
Swell loud and long while Fancy's eager eye	S
Sees the stern van move on with crimson strides	D2
Where Freedom's warrior on his war horse rides	D2
Sees the great cannon flash out red and fast	D
Through battle mists which canopy the past	D
	-
And solemn fronted Truth with earnest eyes	D2
Stands there serenely beautiful and wise	D2
Her stately form in undisturbed repose	D2
Rests by her well where limpid crystal flows	D2
While on her face which can severely frown	Y2
A smile is breaking as she gazes down	Y2
For clearly marked upon that tranquil wave	W2
Slumbers his image in a picture brave	W2
And leaning on the fountain's coping stone	Y2
She scarce can tell his shadow from her own	Y2
	-
And Wisdom with her meditative gaze	D2
Beside its base her mighty chart displays	D2
There with her solemn and impressive hand	J
Writes as she stoops as Christ wrote on the sand	J
But what she traces all may read 'tis this	D2
An invocation by our dreams of bliss	D2
By hopes to do and by our great deeds done	Y2
The war of sections thro' all time to shun	Y2
She writes the words which almost seem divine	Y2
Our deadliest foe's a geographic line	Y2
And Justice with her face severely grand	J
Stands 'mid the group her balances in hand	J
Faultless in judging trivial deeds or great	G2
Unmoved by love and unimpressed by hate	G2
Beside her gleams undimmed by spot or rust	C
A mighty blade to strike when strike she must	C
And this bright falchion like that which defends	D2
The guarded gate where earth in Eden ends	D2
With flame terrific and with ponderous sway	Z
Frightens each Brennus from her scales away	Z
	-
And there we see pale pleading Mercy bow	R2
A troubled shadow on her saintly brow	R2
Her fringed lashes tremulous with tears	D2
Which glitter still through all the change of years	D2
And as we see those tear drops slowly rise	D2
Giving new softness to her tender eyes	D2
Away the mists which o'er the dark past drift	J3
Are rent and scattered while the sudden rift	J3
Shows like some distant headland vast and dim	H2
Seen through the tempest the great soul of him	H2
Who guarding against the native traitor could	K3
Turn from her pleadings for his country's good	K3
	-
And Honor last completes the stately group	U2
With eye like eagle's in descending swoop	U2
Fronted like goddess beautiful and proud	L3
When sailing on the lazy pacing cloud	L3
Prouder her port than that of all the rest	B2
With radiant forehead and translucent breast	B2
She needs no gesture of supreme command	J
For us to know her foremost of the band	J
They were his counsellors she as the mind	F3
By which their promptings were in deeds combined	F3
In deeds which Fame like fasces bears before	M3
The noblest consul that earth ever bore	M3
	-
	-
	-
Why are we here It were a bitter shame	H2
To pay this homage to a hero's name	H2
And yet forget the principles which gave	W2
His true defiance to oblivion's wave	W2
Aye Sirs remember when the day is spent	E2
In Freedom's camp our soldier pitched his tent	E2
Maintain your own respect your brother's right	L2
Thus will you praise Jehovah's belted Knight	L2
	-
Are we Pompeians gathered here to day	Z
Gazing upon our last superb display	Z
Crowning the hours with many a festal wreath	N3
While red Vesuvius bubbles underneath	N3
Oh no my Countrymen This cloud must be	D2
The smoke of incense floating o'er the free	D2
No lava flood can e'er o'erwhelm this land	J
Held as 'tis holden in God's mighty hand	J
	-
And when the garlands of to day are pale	Y
Shall clang of armorers riveting our mail	Y
Rise in harsh dissonance where now the song	B3
In surging music sweeps the land along	B3
No Brothers no The Providence on high	S
Stretches above us like the arching sky	S
As o'er the world that broad empyrean field	H3
So o'er the nation God's protecting shield	H3
	-
	-
	-
His the great will which sways the tide of earth	O3
His the great will which giveth empires birth	O3
And this grand truth through every age and clime	H2
Is written out in characters sublime	H2
But most we see the traces of His hand	J
In the great Epic of our native land	J
	-
This new world had its Adam and he fled	P3
God's was the voice and God's the mighty tread	P3
Which scared the red man from his Eden bowers	D2
God's the decree which made the garden ours	D2
And Eden 'twas and such it still remains	D2
Oh Brothers shall we prove a race of Cains	D2
Shall impious hands be armed with deadly things	D2
Because we bring up different offerings	D2
Unto our altars To the Nation's shrine	Y2
I take my gift my brother take thou thine	Y2
Again I ask While this proud bronze remains	D2
Shall this great people prove a race of Cains	D2
Here make your answer at this statue's base	D2
Beneath this warrior's calm majestic face	D2
And here remember that your best applause	D2
To him is shown in standing by the Laws	D2
But if our rights shall ever be denied	L
I call upon you by your race's pride	L
To seek some West Augusta and unfurl	Y
Our banner where the mountain vapors curl	Y
Lowland and valley then will swell the cry	S
He left us free thus will we live or die	S
One other word Virginia hear thy son	Y2
Whose filial service now is nearly done	Y2
Hear me old State Thou art supremely blest	B2
A hero's ashes slumber in thy breast	B2
Oh Mother if the ashes of a king	T2
Could nerve to deeds with which Fame's trumpets ring	T2
What glove of challenger shall make thee start	E3
When thy great son lies sleeping on thy heart	E3

James Barron Hope

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