Lines On Seeing Schiller's Skull Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BA CB BC DC DE DF GE GH GH EH EI EI JI KL JL ML M| WITHIN a gloomy charnel house one day | A |
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| I view'd the countless skulls so strangely mated | B |
| And of old times I thought that now were grey | A |
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| Close pack'd they stand that once so fiercely hated | C |
| And hardy bones that to the death contended | B |
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| Are lying cross'd to lie for ever fated | B |
| What held those crooked shoulder blades suspended | C |
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| No one now asks and limbs with vigour fired | D |
| The hand the foot their use in life is ended | C |
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| Vainly ye sought the tomb for rest when tired | D |
| Peace in the grave may not be yours ye're driven | E |
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| Back into daylight by a force inspired | D |
| But none can love the wither'd husk though even | F |
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| A glorious noble kernel it contained | G |
| To me an adept was the writing given | E |
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| Which not to all its holy sense explained | G |
| When 'mid the crowd their icy shadows flinging | H |
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| I saw a form that glorious still remained | G |
| And even there where mould and damp were clinging | H |
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| Gave me a blest a rapture fraught emotion | E |
| As though from death a living fount were springing | H |
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| What mystic joy I felt What rapt devotion | E |
| That form how pregnant with a godlike trace | I |
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| A look how did it whirl me tow'rd that ocean | E |
| Whose rolling billows mightier shapes embrace | I |
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| Mysterious vessel Oracle how dear | J |
| Even to grasp thee is my hand too base | I |
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| Except to steal thee from thy prison here | K |
| With pious purpose and devoutly go | L |
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| Back to the air free thoughts and sunlight clear | J |
| What greater gain in life can man e'er know | L |
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| Than when God Nature will to him explain | M |
| How into Spirit steadfastness may flow | L |
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| How steadfast too the Spirit Born remain | M |
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
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Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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