Amy Wentworth - To William Bradford Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBBBCCDDEFGGHIJJBB KKLMNNOOPPBBIQBBRSTT BBUUSSVVWWXX GGIIBBYYYCCZZBBA2B2B BBBC2C2D2D2KK PDE2D F2C2BC2 G2H2I2H2 J2RK2R L2M2N2M2 O2P2Q2P2 R2D2J2D2 GS2J2S2 T2U2J2U2 RLM2L BV2J2V2 W2J2X2J2 BD2BD2 BYK2Y BJ2XJ2 Y2CJ2C J2BJ2B GZ2A3Z2

As they who watch by sick beds find reliefA
Unwittingly from the great stress of griefA
And anxious care in fantasies outwroughtB
From the hearth's embers flickering low or caughtB
From whispering wind or tread of passing feetB
Or vagrant memory calling up some sweetB
Snatch of old song or romance whence or whyC
They scarcely know or ask so thou and IC
Nursed in the faith that Truth alone is strongD
In the endurance which outwearies WrongD
With meek persistence baffling brutal forceE
And trusting God against the universeF
We doomed to watch a strife we may not shareG
With other weapons than the patriot's prayerG
Yet owning with full hearts and moistened eyesH
The awful beauty of self sacrificeI
And wrung by keenest sympathy for allJ
Who give their loved ones for the living wallJ
'Twixt law and treason in this evil dayB
May haply find through automatic playB
Of pen and pencil solace to our painK
And hearten others with the strength we gainK
I know it has been said our times requireL
No play of art nor dalliance with the lyreM
No weak essay with Fancy's chloroformN
To calm the hot mad pulses of the stormN
But the stern war blast rather such as setsO
The battle's teeth of serried bayonetsO
And pictures grim as Vernet's Yet with theseP
Some softer tints may blend and milder keysP
Relieve the storm stunned ear Let us keep sweetB
If so we may our hearts even while we eatB
The bitter harvest of our own deviceI
And half a century's moral cowardiceQ
As N rnberg sang while Wittenberg defiedB
And Kranach painted by his Luther's sideB
And through the war march of the PuritanR
The silver stream of Marvell's music ranS
So let the household melodies be sungT
The pleasant pictures on the wall be hungT
So let us hold against the hosts of nightB
And slavery all our vantage ground of lightB
Let Treason boast its savagery and shakeU
From its flag folds its symbol rattlesnakeU
Nurse its fine arts lay human skins in tanS
And carve its pipe bowls from the bones of manS
And make the tale of Fijian banquets dullV
By drinking whiskey from a loyal skullV
But let us guard till this sad war shall ceaseW
God grant it soon the graceful arts of peaceW
No foes are conquered who the victors teachX
Their vandal manners and barbaric speechX
-
And while with hearts of thankfulness we bearG
Of the great common burden our full shareG
Let none upbraid us that the waves enticeI
Thy sea dipped pencil or some quaint deviceI
Rhythmic and sweet beguiles my pen awayB
From the sharp strifes and sorrows of to dayB
Thus while the east wind keen from LabradorY
Sings it the leafless elms and from the shoreY
Of the great sea comes the monotonous roarY
Of the long breaking surf and all the skyC
Is gray with cloud home bound and dull I tryC
To time a simple legend to the soundsZ
Of winds in the woods and waves on pebbled boundsZ
A song for oars to chime with such as mightB
Be sung by tired sea painters who at nightB
Look from their hemlock camps by quiet coveA2
Or beach moon lighted on the waves they loveB2
So hast thou looked when level sunset layB
On the calm bosom of some Eastern bayB
And all the spray moist rocks and waves that rolledB
Up the white sand slopes flashed with ruddy goldB
Something it has a flavor of the seaC2
And the sea's freedom which reminds of theeC2
Its faded picture dimly smiling downD2
From the blurred fresco of the ancient townD2
I have not touched with warmer tints in vainK
If in this dark sad year it steals one thought from painK
-
Her fingers shame the ivory keysP
They dance so light alongD
The bloom upon her parted lipsE2
Is sweeter than the songD
-
O perfumed suitor spare thy smilesF2
Her thoughts are not of theeC2
She better loves the salted windB
The voices of the seaC2
-
Her heart is like an outbound shipG2
That at its anchor swingsH2
The murmur of the stranded shellI2
Is in the song she singsH2
-
She sings and smiling hears her praiseJ2
But dreams the while of oneR
Who watches from his sea blown deckK2
The icebergs in the sunR
-
She questions all the winds that blowL2
And every fog wreath dimM2
And bids the sea birds flying northN2
Bear messages to himM2
-
She speeds them with the thanks of menO2
He perilled life to saveP2
And grateful prayers like holy oilQ2
To smooth for him the waveP2
-
Brown Viking of the fishing smackR2
Fair toast of all the townD2
The skipper's jerkin ill beseemsJ2
The lady's silken gownD2
-
But ne'er shall Amy Wentworth wearG
For him the blush of shameS2
Who dares to set his manly giftsJ2
Against her ancient nameS2
-
The stream is brightest at its springT2
And blood is not like wineU2
Nor honored less than he who heirsJ2
Is he who founds a lineU2
-
Full lightly shall the prize be wonR
If love be Fortune's spurL
And never maiden stoops to himM2
Who lifts himself to herL
-
Her home is brave in Jaffrey StreetB
With stately stairways wornV2
By feet of old Colonial knightsJ2
And ladies gentle bornV2
-
Still green about its ample porchW2
The English ivy twinesJ2
Trained back to show in English oakX2
The herald's carven signsJ2
-
And on her from the wainscot oldB
Ancestral faces frownD2
And this has worn the soldier's swordB
And that the judge's gownD2
-
But strong of will and proud as theyB
She walks the gallery floorY
As if she trod her sailor's deckK2
By stormy LabradorY
-
The sweetbrier blooms on Kittery sideB
And green are Elliot's bowersJ2
Her garden is the pebbled beachX
The mosses are her flowersJ2
-
She looks across the harbor barY2
To see the white gulls flyC
His greeting from the Northern seaJ2
Is in their clanging cryC
-
She hums a song and dreams that heJ2
As in its romance oldB
Shall homeward ride with silken sailsJ2
And masts of beaten goldB
-
Oh rank is good and gold is fairG
And high and low mate illZ2
But love has never known a lawA3
Beyond its own sweet willZ2

John Greenleaf Whittier



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