An Outdoor Reception Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBBBBBCCDEBBBBFFGG HHIIBBJJKLMMNNBBBBOO PPQRSSMMBBTUOOBB VVPPWWBBTT OOOXXYYMMZZ UUBBA2A2BBBBBPPOOWWB 2C2 XXD2D2PPBBFFBB

On these green banks where falls too soonA
The shade of Autumn's afternoonA
The south wind blowing soft and sweetB
The water gliding at nay feetB
The distant northern range uplitB
By the slant sunshine over itB
With changes of the mountain mistB
From tender blush to amethystB
The valley's stretch of shade and gleamC
Fair as in Mirza's Bagdad dreamC
With glad young faces smiling nearD
And merry voices in my earE
I sit methinks as Hafiz mightB
In Iran's Garden of DelightB
For Persian roses blushing redB
Aster and gentian bloom insteadB
For Shiraz wine this mountain airF
For feast the blueberries which I shareF
With one who proffers with stained handsG
Her gleanings from yon pasture landsG
Wild fruit that art and culture spoilH
The harvest of an untilled soilH
And with her one whose tender eyesI
Reflect the change of April skiesI
Midway 'twixt child and maiden yetB
Fresh as Spring's earliest violetB
And one whose look and voice and waysJ
Make where she goes idyllic daysJ
And one whose sweet still countenanceK
Seems dreamful of a child's romanceL
And others welcome as are theseM
Like and unlike varietiesM
Of pearls on nature's chaplet strungN
And all are fair for all are youngN
Gathered from seaside cities oldB
From midland prairie lake and woldB
From the great wheat fields which might feedB
The hunger of a world at needB
In healthful change of rest and playO
Their school vacations glide awayO
-
No critics these they only seeP
An old and kindly friend in meP
In whose amused indulgent lookQ
Their innocent mirth has no rebukeR
They scarce can know my rugged rhymesS
The harsher songs of evil timesS
Nor graver themes in minor keysM
Of life's and death's solemnitiesM
But haply as they bear in mindB
Some verse of lighter happier kindB
Hints of the boyhood of the manT
Youth viewed from life's meridianU
Half seriously and half in playO
My pleasant interviewers payO
Their visit with no fell intentB
Of taking notes and punishmentB
-
As yonder solitary pineV
Is ringed below with flower and vineV
More favored than that lonely treeP
The bloom of girlhood circles meP
In such an atmosphere of youthW
I half forget my age's truthW
The shadow of my life's long dateB
Runs backward on the dial plateB
Until it seems a step might spanT
The gulf between the boy and manT
-
My young friends smile as if some jayO
On bleak December's leafless sprayO
Essayed to sing the songs of MayO
Well let them smile and live to knowX
When their brown locks are flecked with snowX
'T is tedious to be always sageY
And pose the dignity of ageY
While so much of our early livesM
On memory's playground still survivesM
And owns as at the present hourZ
The spell of youth's magnetic powerZ
-
But though I feel with SolomonU
'T is pleasant to behold the sunU
I would not if I could repeatB
A life which still is good and sweetB
I keep in age as in my primeA2
A not uncheerful step with timeA2
And grateful for all blessings sentB
I go the common way contentB
To make no new experimentB
On easy terms with law and fateB
For what must be I calmly waitB
And trust the path I cannot seeP
That God is good sufficeth meP
And when at last on life's strange playO
The curtain falls I only prayO
That hope may lose itself in truthW
And age in Heaven's immortal youthW
And all our loves and longing proveB2
The foretaste of diviner loveC2
-
The day is done Its afterglowX
Along the west is burning lowX
My visitors like birds have flownD2
I hear their voices fainter grownD2
And dimly through the dusk I seeP
Their 'kerchiefs wave good night to meP
Light hearts of girlhood knowing noughtB
Of all the cheer their coming broughtB
And in their going unawareF
Of silent following feet of prayerF
Heaven make their budding promise goodB
With flowers of gracious womanhoodB

John Greenleaf Whittier



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about An Outdoor Reception poem by John Greenleaf Whittier


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 0 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets