The Doom Of A City Part Ii: The City Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDDBCEEFEGGFHIAHJA KLKLBLBLMN A GOGOPOPOQRQRPRSRTUTU VPVWWP A HAHITIHXHYXYZZHHHBHA 2BA2HTB2HTB2 A2 C2D2D2E2HHHHA2HHA2HL LHHF2F2HG2A2A2G2H2HH I2ZHHZGA2GA2RR| I | A |
| A near the dying of that royal day | B |
| Those amber vested hills began to swerve | C |
| And soon a lofty Pharos gleaming white | D |
| Upon its isle set darkly in the light | D |
| Beckoned us onward to the spacious bay | B |
| Encompassed broadly by their noble curve | C |
| And so at length we entered it and faced | E |
| The thin dark lines of countless masts all traced | E |
| Upon the saddest sunset ever seen | F |
| Spread out like an interminable waste | E |
| Of red and saffron sand devoured by slow | G |
| Persistent fire beneath whose desolate glow | G |
| A City lay thick zoned with solemn green | F |
| Of foliage massed upon the steeps around | H |
| Between those mast lines flamed the crystal fires | I |
| Of multitudinous windows and on high | A |
| Grand marble palaces and temples crowned | H |
| gt With golden domes and radiant towers and spires | J |
| Stood all entranced beneath that desert sky | A |
| Based on an awful stillness Dead or dumb | K |
| That mighty City through the breathless air | L |
| Thrilled forth no pulse of sound no faintest hum | K |
| Of congregated life in street and square | L |
| Becalmed beyond all calm those galleons lay | B |
| As still and lifeless as their shadows there | L |
| Fixed in the magic mirror of the bay | B |
| As in a rose flushed crystal weirdly fair | L |
| A strange sad dream and like a fiery pall | M |
| Blazoned with death that sky hung over all | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| Where eastward from the town the shore was low | G |
| I drew at length my shallop up the sand | O |
| The quiet and gloomless twilight gathering slow | G |
| And took my way across the lonely strand | O |
| And onward to the City lost in thought | P |
| Who shall his own wild life course understand | O |
| From terror through great terrors I am brought | P |
| To front my fate in this mysterious land | O |
| In my old common world well fenced about | Q |
| With myriad lives that fellowed well my own | R |
| Terror and deadly anguish found me out | Q |
| And drove me forth to seek the dread Unknown | R |
| Through all whose terrors I have yet been brought | P |
| Though hopeless helpless utterly alone | R |
| May yet my long wild night be blessed with morn | S |
| Some revelation from the awful Throne | R |
| Awaits me surely if my life torn free | T |
| From dire Egyptian bondage has been led | U |
| In safety through the all devouring sea | T |
| If lost in foodless deserts it was fed | U |
| Though murmuring ever hath it truly trod | V |
| Such paths for nothing Shall it not be brought | P |
| To stand awe stricken 'neath some Mount of God | V |
| Wrapt in thick clouds of thunder fire and gloom | W |
| And hear the Law of Heaven by which its doom | W |
| To good or evil must be henceforth wrought | P |
| - | |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| The moon hung golden large and round | H |
| Soothing its beauty up the quiet sky | A |
| In swanlike slow pulsations while I wound | H |
| Through dewy meads and gardens of rich flowers | I |
| Whose fragrance like a subtle harmony | T |
| Was fascination to the languid hours | I |
| A tender mist of light was interfused | H |
| Upon the hills and waters woods and leas | X |
| Throughout the gloomless gloaming and I mused | H |
| Dim thoughts deep floating in delicious dream | Y |
| Until the long stern lines of cypress trees | X |
| Amidst whose plumes funereal there did seem | Y |
| To creep with quivering sobs a moaning breath | Z |
| Awed back my heart to life to life and death | Z |
| Far in the mystic moonlight lay outspread | H |
| In trance of solemn beauty still and weird | H |
| That Camp and City of the ancient dead | H |
| And far around stood up in dense array | B |
| Those monumental marbles ever reared | H |
| By men still battling with the powers of Life | A2 |
| To those released before them from its sway | B |
| Victors or vanquished in the fearful strife | A2 |
| What matters ah within our Mother's breast | H |
| From toil and tumult sin and sorrow free | T |
| Sphered beyond hope and dread divinely calm | B2 |
| They lie all gathered into perfect rest | H |
| And o'er the trance of their Eternity | T |
| The cypress waves more holy than the palm | B2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| IV | A2 |
| - | |
| A funeral train was gathered round a bier | C2 |
| The reverend priest with lifted hands and face | D2 |
| Appealing silently to Heaven's grace | D2 |
| For this young soul called early from our sphere | E2 |
| And white robed maidens pale whose hands scarce held | H |
| What further symbol flowers they had to shed | H |
| Upon their sweet lost sister awe and dread | H |
| Numbing their noisier grief they stood compelled | H |
| To meet Death's eyes which wither youth from Life | A2 |
| And leaning sole against a tree apart | H |
| As one might lean just stricken to the heart | H |
| A youth wrought calm by woe's self slaying strife | A2 |
| His head was sunken nerveless on his breast | H |
| He stood a dumb blind statue of Despair | L |
| While all yet moved not I approached them there | L |
| Murmuring They bring this maiden to her rest | H |
| Beneath the pure sad moon in thoughtful night | H |
| Rather than in the garish day whose King | F2 |
| Rides through the heavens for ever triumphing | F2 |
| Throned above ruth in never darkened light | H |
| That ere the blank dawn chills them they may gaze | G2 |
| And see her soul as some white cloud on high | A2 |
| Floating serenely up the star strewn sky | A2 |
| My steps were now close near them when amaze | G2 |
| Convulsed me with a swooning suddenness | H2 |
| What people dwell within this Silent Land | H |
| Who thus have placed through day and night to stand | H |
| This Scene complete in all its images | I2 |
| Of Life in solemn conference with Death | Z |
| Amidst the wide and populous solitude | H |
| Of Death's own realm a people of strange mood | H |
| For all the maidens meek with bated breath | Z |
| And eyes weighed down by awe and fear and sorrow | G |
| The priest appealing to the heavens above | A2 |
| The youth whose mortal night could hope no morrow | G |
| The sweet young girl new riven from his love | A2 |
| All save the flowers the withered flowers alone | R |
| Were carven weirdly in unconscious stone | R |
James Thomson
(1)
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About The Doom Of A City Part Ii: The City
The Doom Of A City Part Ii: The City is a poem by James Thomson. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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