The Fountain Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDD AEAEFG HDHDII JKJKLL GMGMNL JCJBDD OGOGLL ALALPP GQGCLL ALALRR QGQGGG AOAOQQ ALALLL LQLCSS ATAUVV JUJTOO GDGDLL JWJWKK GOGOKKTraveller on thy journey toiling | A |
By the swift Powow | B |
With the summer sunshine falling | A |
On thy heated brow | C |
Listen while all else is still | D |
To the brooklet from the hill | D |
- | |
Wild and sweet the flowers are blowing | A |
By that streamlet's side | E |
And a greener verdure showing | A |
Where its waters glide | E |
Down the hill slope murmuring on | F |
Over root and mossy stone | G |
- | |
Where yon oak his broad arms flingeth | H |
O'er the sloping hill | D |
Beautiful and freshly springeth | H |
That soft flowing rill | D |
Through its dark roots wreathed and bare | I |
Gushing up to sun and air | I |
- | |
Brighter waters sparkled never | J |
In that magic well | K |
Of whose gift of life forever | J |
Ancient legends tell | K |
In the lonely desert wasted | L |
And by mortal lip untasted | L |
- | |
Waters which the proud Castilian | G |
Sought with longing eyes | M |
Underneath the bright pavilion | G |
Of the Indian skies | M |
Where his forest pathway lay | N |
Through the blooms of Florida | L |
- | |
Years ago a lonely stranger | J |
With the dusky brow | C |
Of the outcast forest ranger | J |
Crossed the swift Powow | B |
And betook him to the rill | D |
And the oak upon the hill | D |
- | |
O'er his face of moody sadness | O |
For an instant shone | G |
Something like a gleam of gladness | O |
As he stooped him down | G |
To the fountain's grassy side | L |
And his eager thirst supplied | L |
- | |
With the oak its shadow throwing | A |
O'er his mossy seat | L |
And the cool sweet waters flowing | A |
Softly at his feet | L |
Closely by the fountain's rim | P |
That lone Indian seated him | P |
- | |
Autumn's earliest frost had given | G |
To the woods below | Q |
Hues of beauty such as heaven | G |
Lendeth to its bow | C |
And the soft breeze from the west | L |
Scarcely broke their dreamy rest | L |
- | |
Far behind was Ocean striving | A |
With his chains of sand | L |
Southward sunny glimpses giving | A |
'Twixt the swells of land | L |
Of its calm and silvery track | R |
Rolled the tranquil Merrimac | R |
- | |
Over village wood and meadow | Q |
Gazed that stranger man | G |
Sadly till the twilight shadow | Q |
Over all things ran | G |
Save where spire and westward pane | G |
Flashed the sunset back again | G |
- | |
Gazing thus upon the dwelling | A |
Of his warrior sires | O |
Where no lingering trace was telling | A |
Of their wigwam fires | O |
Who the gloomy thoughts might know | Q |
Of that wandering child of woe | Q |
- | |
Naked lay in sunshine glowing | A |
Hills that once had stood | L |
Down their sides the shadows throwing | A |
Of a mighty wood | L |
Where the deer his covert kept | L |
And the eagle's pinion swept | L |
- | |
Where the birch canoe had glided | L |
Down the swift Powow | Q |
Dark and gloomy bridges strided | L |
Those clear waters now | C |
And where once the beaver swam | S |
Jarred the wheel and frowned the dam | S |
- | |
For the wood bird's merry singing | A |
And the hunter's cheer | T |
Iron clang and hammer's ringing | A |
Smote upon his ear | U |
And the thick and sullen smoke | V |
From the blackened forges broke | V |
- | |
Could it be his fathers ever | J |
Loved to linger here | U |
These bare hills this conquered river | J |
Could they hold them dear | T |
With their native loveliness | O |
Tamed and tortured into this | O |
- | |
Sadly as the shades of even | G |
Gathered o'er the hill | D |
While the western half of heaven | G |
Blushed with sunset still | D |
From the fountain's mossy seat | L |
Turned the Indian's weary feet | L |
- | |
Year on year hath flown forever | J |
But he came no more | W |
To the hillside on the river | J |
Where he came before | W |
But the villager can tell | K |
Of that strange man's visit well | K |
- | |
And the merry children laden | G |
With their fruits or flowers | O |
Roving boy and laughing maiden | G |
In their school day hours | O |
Love the simple tale to tell | K |
Of the Indian and his well | K |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Fountain poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
Best Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier