The Norsemen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDBBEEFFGGHHII JKLL FFBBBBBBMMNNOONNPPQQ RRNSBBTUVVWWXX YYPPBBZZJKCCA2A2OOB2 B2C2C2BD2ZZ E2E2ZZF2F2LLG2G2FFXL LLH2H2BBBBBBI2J2LLNN BBK2K2BBL2L2LL| Gift from the cold and silent Past | A |
| A relic to the present cast | A |
| Left on the ever changing strand | B |
| Of shifting and unstable sand | B |
| Which wastes beneath the steady chime | C |
| And beating of the waves of Time | C |
| Who from its bed of primal rock | D |
| First wrenched thy dark unshapely block | D |
| Whose hand of curious skill untaught | B |
| Thy rude and savage outline wrought | B |
| The waters of my native stream | E |
| Are glancing in the sun's warm beam | E |
| From sail urged keel and flashing oar | F |
| The circles widen to its shore | F |
| And cultured field and peopled town | G |
| Slope to its willowed margin down | G |
| Yet while this morning breeze is bringing | H |
| The home life sound of school bells ringing | H |
| And rolling wheel and rapid jar | I |
| Of the fire winged and steedless car | I |
| And voices from the wayside near | J |
| Come quick and blended on my ear | K |
| A spell is in this old gray stone | L |
| My thoughts are with the Past alone | L |
| - | |
| A change The steepled town no more | F |
| Stretches along the sail thronged shore | F |
| Like palace domes in sunset's cloud | B |
| Fade sun gilt spire and mansion proud | B |
| Spectrally rising where they stood | B |
| I see the old primeval wood | B |
| Dark shadow like on either hand | B |
| I see its solemn waste expand | B |
| It climbs the green and cultured hill | M |
| It arches o'er the valley's rill | M |
| And leans from cliff and crag to throw | N |
| Its wild arms o'er the stream below | N |
| Unchanged alone the same bright river | O |
| Flows on as it will flow forever | O |
| I listen and I hear the low | N |
| Soft ripple where its water go | N |
| I hear behind the panther's cry | P |
| The wild bird's scream goes thrilling by | P |
| And shyly on the river's brink | Q |
| The deer is stooping down to drink | Q |
| - | |
| But hard from wood and rock flung back | R |
| What sound come up the Merrimac | R |
| What sea worn barks are those which throw | N |
| The light spray from each rushing prow | S |
| Have they not in the North Sea's blast | B |
| Bowed to the waves the straining mast | B |
| Their frozen sails the low pale sun | T |
| Of Thul 's night has shone upon | U |
| Flapped by the sea wind's gusty sweep | V |
| Round icy drift and headland steep | V |
| Wild Jutland's wives and Lochlin's daughters | W |
| Have watched them fading o'er the waters | W |
| Lessening through driving mist and spray | X |
| Like white winged sea birds on their way | X |
| - | |
| Onward they glide and now I view | Y |
| Their iron armed and stalwart crew | Y |
| Joy glistens in each wild blue eye | P |
| Turned to green earth and summer sky | P |
| Each broad seamed breast has cast aside | B |
| Its cumbering vest of shaggy hide | B |
| Bared to the sun and soft warm air | Z |
| Streams back the Northmen's yellow hair | Z |
| I see the gleam of axe and spear | J |
| A sound of smitten shields I hear | K |
| Keeping a harsh and fitting time | C |
| To Saga's chant and Runic rhyme | C |
| Such lays as Zetland's Scald has sung | A2 |
| His gray and naked isles among | A2 |
| Or mutter low at midnight hour | O |
| Round Odin's mossy stone of power | O |
| The wolf beneath the Arctic moon | B2 |
| Has answered to that startling rune | B2 |
| The Gael has heard its stormy swell | C2 |
| The light Frank knows its summons well | C2 |
| Iona's sable stoled Culdee | B |
| Has heard it sounding o'er the sea | D2 |
| And swept with hoary beard and hair | Z |
| His altar's foot in trembling prayer | Z |
| - | |
| 'T is past the 'wildering vision dies | E2 |
| In darkness on my dreaming eyes | E2 |
| The forest vanishes in air | Z |
| Hill slope and vale lie starkly bare | Z |
| I hear the common tread of men | F2 |
| And hum of work day life again | F2 |
| The mystic relic seems alone | L |
| A broken mass of common stone | L |
| And if it be the chiselled limb | G2 |
| Of Berserker or idol grim | G2 |
| A fragment of Valhalla's Thor | F |
| The stormy Viking's god of War | F |
| Or Praga of the Runic lay | X |
| Or love awakening Siona | L |
| I know not for no graven line | L |
| Nor Druid mark nor Runic sign | L |
| Is left me here by which to trace | H2 |
| Its name or origin or place | H2 |
| Yet for this vision of the Past | B |
| This glance upon its darkness cast | B |
| My spirit bows in gratitude | B |
| Before the Giver of all good | B |
| Who fashioned so the human mind | B |
| That from the waste of Time behind | B |
| A simple stone or mound of earth | I2 |
| Can summon the departed forth | J2 |
| Quicken the Past to life again | L |
| The Present lose in what hath been | L |
| And in their primal freshness show | N |
| The buried forms of long ago | N |
| As if a portion of that Thought | B |
| By which the Eternal will is wrought | B |
| Whose impulse fills anew with breath | K2 |
| The frozen solitude of Death | K2 |
| To mortal mind were sometimes lent | B |
| To mortal musing sometimes sent | B |
| To whisper even when it seems | L2 |
| But Memory's fantasy of dreams | L2 |
| Through the mind's waste of woe and sin | L |
| Of an immortal origin | L |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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About The Norsemen
The Norsemen is a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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