The Monks Of Basle Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEFE GHGH IFEF JEEE EEEE KLEL MNON PEEE MEPE QRSR TCUC VNWN XYEY ZEA2E EEEE CB2C2B2 P D2EE2E PEF2EI tore this weed from the rank dark soil | A |
Where it grew in the monkish time | B |
I trimmed it close and set it again | C |
In a border of modern rhyme | B |
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I | - |
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Long years ago when the Devil was loose | D |
And faith was sorely tried | E |
Three monks of Basle went out to walk | F |
In the quiet eventide | E |
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A breeze as pure as the breath of Heaven | G |
Blew fresh through the cloister shades | H |
A sky as glad as the smile of Heaven | G |
Blushed rose o'er the minster glades | H |
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But scorning the lures of summer and sense | I |
The monks passed on in their walk | F |
Their eyes were abased their senses slept | E |
Their souls were in their talk | F |
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In the tough grim talk of the monkish days | J |
They hammered and slashed about | E |
Dry husks of logic old scraps of creed | E |
And the cold gray dreams of doubt | E |
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And whether Just or Justified | E |
Was the Church's mystic Head | E |
And whether the Bread was changed to God | E |
Or God became the Bread | E |
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But of human hearts outside their walls | K |
They never paused to dream | L |
And they never thought of the love of God | E |
That smiled in the twilight gleam | L |
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II | - |
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As these three monks went bickering on | M |
By the foot of a spreading tree | N |
Out from its heart of verdurous gloom | O |
A song burst wild and free | N |
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A wordless carol of life and love | P |
Of nature free and wild | E |
And the three monks paused in the evening shade | E |
Looked up at each other and smiled | E |
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And tender and gay the bird sang on | M |
And cooed and whistled and trilled | E |
And the wasteful wealth of life and love | P |
From his happy heart was spilled | E |
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The song had power on the grim old monks | Q |
In the light of the rosy skies | R |
And as they listened the years rolled back | S |
And tears came into their eyes | R |
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The years rolled back and they were young | T |
With the hearts and hopes of men | C |
They plucked the daisies and kissed the girls | U |
Of dear dead summers again | C |
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III | - |
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But the eldest monk soon broke the spell | V |
'Tis sin and shame quoth he | N |
To be turned from talk of holy things | W |
By a bird's cry from a tree | N |
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Perchance the Enemy of Souls | X |
Hath come to tempt us so | Y |
Let us try by the power of the Awful Word | E |
If it be he or no | Y |
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To Heaven the three monks raised their hands | Z |
We charge thee speak they said | E |
By His dread Name who shall one day come | A2 |
To judge the quick and the dead | E |
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Who art thou Speak The bird laughed loud | E |
I am the Devil he said | E |
The monks on their faces fell the bird | E |
Away through the twilight sped | E |
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A horror fell on those holy men | C |
The faithful legends say | B2 |
And one by one from the face of earth | C2 |
They pined and vanished away | B2 |
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IV | P |
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So goes the tale of the monkish books | D2 |
The moral who runs may read | E |
He has no ears for Nature's voice | E2 |
Whose soul is the slave of creed | E |
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Not all in vain with beauty and love | P |
Has God the world adorned | E |
And he who Nature scorns and mocks | F2 |
By Nature is mocked and scorned | E |
John Hay
(1)
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