Fame Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCCBDEEFGGHHIJJKLL A MGMGGGNNGGOPMMOPP A QRQRGGSTSTUUGVVGUUQQ GGWWGGMMXYGGAAAGG GGZZGGGGGGI | A |
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Once in a dream I saw a man | B |
With haggard face and tangled hair | C |
And eyes that nursed as wild a care | C |
As gaunt Starvation ever can | B |
And in his hand he held a wand | D |
Whose magic touch gave life and thought | E |
Unto a form his fancy wrought | E |
And robed with coloring so grand | F |
It seemed the reflex of some child | G |
Of Heaven fair and undefiled | G |
A face of purity and love | H |
To woo him into worlds above | H |
And as I gazed with dazzled eyes | I |
A gleaming smile lit up his lips | J |
As his bright soul from its eclipse | J |
Went flashing into Paradise | K |
Then tardy Fame came through the door | L |
And found a picture nothing more | L |
- | |
II | A |
- | |
And once I saw a man alone | M |
In abject poverty with hand | G |
Uplifted o'er a block of stone | M |
That took a shape at his command | G |
And smiled upon him fair and good | G |
A perfect work of womanhood | G |
Save that the eyes might never weep | N |
Nor weary hands be crossed in sleep | N |
Nor hair that fell from crown to wrist | G |
Be brushed away caressed and kissed | G |
And as in awe I gazed on her | O |
I saw the sculptor's chisel fall | P |
I saw him sink without a moan | M |
Sink lifeless at the feet of stone | M |
And lie there like a worshiper | O |
Fame crossed the threshold of the hall | P |
And found a statue that was all | P |
- | |
III | A |
- | |
And once I saw a man who drew | Q |
A gloom about him like a cloak | R |
And wandered aimlessly The few | Q |
Who spoke of him at all but spoke | R |
Disparagingly of a mind | G |
The Fates had faultily designed | G |
Too indolent for modern times | S |
Too fanciful and full of whims | T |
For talking to himself in rhymes | S |
And scrawling never heard of hymns | T |
The idle life to which he clung | U |
Was worthless as the songs he sung | U |
I saw him in my vision filled | G |
With rapture o'er a spray of bloom | V |
The wind threw in his lonely room | V |
And of the sweet perfume it spilled | G |
He drank to drunkenness and flung | U |
His long hair back and laughed and sung | U |
And clapped his hands as children do | Q |
At fairy tales they listen to | Q |
While from his flying quill there dripped | G |
Such music on his manuscript | G |
That he who listens to the words | W |
May close his eyes and dream the birds | W |
Are twittering on every hand | G |
A language he can understand | G |
He journeyed on through life unknown | M |
Without one friend to call his own | M |
He tired No kindly hand to press | X |
The cooling touch of tenderness | Y |
Upon his burning brow nor lift | G |
To his parched lips God's freest gift | G |
No sympathetic sob or sigh | A |
Of trembling lips no sorrowing eye | A |
Looked out through tears to see him die | A |
And Fame her greenest laurels brought | G |
To crown a head that heeded not | G |
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And this is Fame A thing indeed | G |
That only comes when least the need | G |
The wisest minds of every age | Z |
The book of life from page to page | Z |
Have searched in vain each lesson conned | G |
Will promise it the page beyond | G |
Until the last when dusk of night | G |
Falls over it and reason's light | G |
Is smothered by that unknown friend | G |
Who signs his nom de plume The End | G |
James Whitcomb Riley
(1)
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