The Pagan Past Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK LMLM NONO PQPQ RKRK STST CUCU| What sylvan god was worshipped here | A |
| What nymph once made this grove her home | B |
| And bathed within its fountain clear | C |
| When Caesar ruled the world at Rome | B |
| - | |
| Did Pan frequent this charming site | D |
| So hidden from the haunts of men | E |
| Did nymphs and satyrs dance at night | D |
| Within this moon illumined glen | E |
| - | |
| Ah who can doubt it when these vines | F |
| Form trellised screens for distant snow | G |
| And trace in arabesque designs | F |
| Their profiles on the Alpine glow | G |
| - | |
| So sure were Dryads to select | H |
| A region thus supremely fair | I |
| So apt were mortals to erect | H |
| In such a place a shrine for prayer | I |
| - | |
| The two millenniums have not brought | J |
| Diminished splendor to this bay | K |
| The strand which Pliny loved and sought | J |
| Is no less beautiful to day | K |
| - | |
| Hence while the fragrant rose leaves fall | L |
| And white magnolia blossoms gleam | M |
| Above my wave lapped garden wall | L |
| I seem to see as in a dream | M |
| - | |
| The kneeling forms of those who laid | N |
| Their floral offerings on that shrine | O |
| And here their grateful tribute paid | N |
| To beauty rightly deemed divine | O |
| - | |
| Doth some Divinity each morn | P |
| Cast over me its ancient spell | Q |
| That this sweet landscape seems forlorn | P |
| Without the gods who loved it well | Q |
| - | |
| Men tell me they are dead and gone | R |
| But when my soul is moved to pray | K |
| I feel beside my sculptured Faun | R |
| They are not very far away | K |
| - | |
| For I who love this classic lake | S |
| And cruise along its storied shores | T |
| See Roman galleys in my wake | S |
| And hear the stroke of phantom oars | T |
| - | |
| It matters not which way I steer | C |
| Or if my course be slow or fast | U |
| The Pagan world seems always near | C |
| I sail companioned by the Past | U |
John L. Stoddard
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