And The Greatest Of These Is War Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLM A ANIOPQRSTM A CUVWXYHZA2B2C2D2E2F2 G2H2I2J2H2 H2K2 L2| Around the council board of Hell with Satan at their head | A |
| The Three Great Scourges of humanity sat | B |
| Gaunt Famine with hollow cheek and voice arose and spoke | C |
| O Prince I have stalked the earth | D |
| And my victims by ten thousands I have slain | E |
| I have smitten old and young | F |
| Mouths of the helpless old moaning for bread I have filled with dust | G |
| And I have laughed to see a crying babe tug at the shriveling breast | H |
| Of its mother dead and cold | I |
| I have heard the cries and prayers of men go up to a tearless sky | J |
| And fall back upon an earth of ashes | K |
| But heedless I have gone on with my work | L |
| 'Tis thus O Prince that I have scourged mankind | M |
| - | |
| And Satan nodded his head | A |
| - | |
| Pale Pestilence with stenchful breath then spoke and said | A |
| Great Prince my brother Famine attacks the poor | N |
| He is most terrible against the helpless and the old | I |
| But I have made a charnel house of the mightiest cities of men | O |
| When I strike neither their stores of gold or of grain avail | P |
| With a breath I lay low their strongest and wither up their fairest | Q |
| I come upon them without warning lancing invisible death | R |
| From me they flee with eyes and mouths distended | S |
| I poison the air for which they gasp and I strike them down fleeing | T |
| 'Tis thus great Prince that I have scourged mankind | M |
| - | |
| And Satan nodded his head | A |
| - | |
| Then the red monster War rose up and spoke | C |
| His blood shot eyes glared 'round him and his thundering voice | U |
| Echoed through the murky vaults of Hell | V |
| O mighty Prince my brothers Famine and Pestilence | W |
| Have slain their thousands and ten thousands true | X |
| But the greater their victories have been | Y |
| The more have they wakened in Man's breast | H |
| The God like attributes of sympathy of brotherhood and love | Z |
| And made of him a searcher after wisdom | A2 |
| But I arouse in Man the demon and the brute | B2 |
| I plant black hatred in his heart and red revenge | C2 |
| From the summit of fifty thousand years of upward climb | D2 |
| I haul him down to the level of the start back to the wolf | E2 |
| I give him claws | F2 |
| I set his teeth into his brother's throat | G2 |
| I make him drunk with his brother's blood | H2 |
| And I laugh ho ho while he destroys himself | I2 |
| O mighty Prince not only do I slay | J2 |
| But I draw Man hellward | H2 |
| - | |
| And Satan smiled stretched out his hand and said | H2 |
| O War of all the scourges of humanity I crown you chief | K2 |
| - | |
| And Hell rang with the acclamation of the Fiends | L2 |
James Weldon Johnson
(1)
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