Lincoln Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCCD ECFGHCIJ A CKJC LMNOP CQRF SCTUK A VCFW CCQX YCQB ZCQH A2B2CC2D2 CQQE2 CF2ZG2 CCH2K I2D2J2D2| I | A |
| - | |
| Like a gaunt scraggly pine | B |
| Which lifts its head above the mournful sandhills | C |
| And patiently through dull years of bitter silence | C |
| Untended and uncared for starts to grow | D |
| - | |
| Ungainly labouring huge | E |
| The wind of the north has twisted and gnarled its branches | C |
| Yet in the heat of midsummer days when thunderclouds ring the horizon | F |
| A nation of men shall rest beneath its shade | G |
| And it shall protect them all | H |
| Hold everyone safe there watching aloof in silence | C |
| Until at last one mad stray bolt from the zenith | I |
| Shall strike it in an instant down to earth | J |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| There was a darkness in this man an immense and hollow darkness | C |
| Of which we may not speak nor share with him nor enter | K |
| A darkness through which strong roots stretched downwards into the earth | J |
| Towards old things | C |
| - | |
| Towards the herdman kings who walked the earth and spoke with God | L |
| Towards the wanderers who sought for they knew not what and found their goal | M |
| at last | N |
| Towards the men who waited only waited patiently when all seemed lost | O |
| Many bitter winters of defeat | P |
| - | |
| Down to the granite of patience | C |
| These roots swept knotted fibrous roots prying piercing seeking | Q |
| And drew from the living rock and the living waters about it | R |
| The red sap to carry upwards to the sun | F |
| - | |
| Not proud but humble | S |
| Only to serve and pass on to endure to the end through service | C |
| For the ax is laid at the roots of the trees and all that bring not forth | T |
| good fruit | U |
| Shall be cut down on the day to come and cast into the fire | K |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| There is a silence abroad in the land to day | V |
| And in the hearts of men a deep and anxious silence | C |
| And because we are still at last those bronze lips slowly open | F |
| Those hollow and weary eyes take on a gleam of light | W |
| - | |
| Slowly a patient firm syllabled voice cuts through the endless silence | C |
| Like labouring oxen that drag a plow through the chaos of rude clay fields | C |
| I went forward as the light goes forward in early spring | Q |
| But there were also many things which I left behind | X |
| - | |
| Tombs that were quiet | Y |
| One of a mother whose brief light went out in the darkness | C |
| One of a loved one the snow on whose grave is long falling | Q |
| One only of a child but it was mine | B |
| - | |
| Have you forgot your graves Go question them in anguish | Z |
| Listen long to their unstirred lips From your hostages to silence | C |
| Learn there is no life without death no dawn without sun setting | Q |
| No victory but to him who has given all | H |
| - | |
| IV | - |
| - | |
| The clamour of cannon dies down the furnace mouth of the battle is silent | A2 |
| The midwinter sun dips and descends the earth takes on afresh | B2 |
| its bright colours | C |
| But he whom we mocked and obeyed not he whom we scorned and mistrusted | C2 |
| He has descended like a god to his rest | D2 |
| - | |
| Over the uproar of cities | C |
| Over the million intricate threads of life wavering and crossing | Q |
| In the midst of problems we know not tangling perplexing ensnaring | Q |
| Rises one white tomb alone | E2 |
| - | |
| Beam over it stars | C |
| Wrap it round stripes stripes red for the pain that he bore for you | F2 |
| Enfold it forever O flag rent soiled but repaired through your anguish | Z |
| Long as you keep him there safe the nations shall bow to your law | G2 |
| - | |
| Strew over him flowers | C |
| Blue forget me nots from the north and the bright pink arbutus | C |
| From the east and from the west rich orange blossom | H2 |
| And from the heart of the land take the passion flower | K |
| - | |
| Rayed violet dim | I2 |
| With the nails that pierced the cross that he bore and the circlet | D2 |
| And beside it there lay also one lonely snow white magnolia | J2 |
| Bitter for remembrance of the healing which has passed | D2 |
John Gould Fletcher
(1)
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About Lincoln
Lincoln is a poem by John Gould Fletcher. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.