Lycidas Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAC DEFFEEGHEGHIJKLMMNOP PQRRSTUTCCVWWVXXYPZP PPPA2B2A2KB2IC2B2C2D 2D2E2E2PDPF2DF2DKG2B 2B2G2KB2JB2JB2B2B2B2 H2H2B2B2D2I2I2I2B2I2 B2B2B2B2PB2KKB2I2PI2 J2J2PK2L2L2K2L2K2M2P PM2PM2I2M2I2I2I2I2B2 I2B2KI2KI2KI2KKI2B2I 2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2PI2 I2PI2B2I2B2B2B2B2B2I 2B2I2I2I2I2I2I2N2N2K I2KI2I2KM2M2B2M2B2M2 D2D2B2D2B2KKI2I2B2KB 2KB2KGGIn this Monody the author bewails a learned Friend unfortunately | A |
drowned in his passage from Chester on the Irish Seas | B |
and by occasion foretells the ruin of our corrupted Clergy | A |
then in their height | C |
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Yet once more O ye laurels and once more | D |
Ye myrtles brown with ivy never sere | E |
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude | F |
And with forced fingers rude | F |
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year | E |
Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear | E |
Compels me to disturb your season due | G |
For Lycidas is dead dead ere his prime | H |
Young Lycidas and hath not left his peer | E |
Who would not sing for Lycidas he knew | G |
Himself to sing and build the lofty rhyme | H |
He must not float upon his watery bier | I |
Unwept and welter to the parching wind | J |
Without the meed of some melodious tear | K |
Begin then Sisters of the sacred well | L |
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring | M |
Begin and somewhat loudly sweep the string | M |
Hence with denial vain and coy excuse | N |
So may some gentle Muse | O |
With lucky words favour my destined urn | P |
And as he passes turn | P |
And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud | Q |
For we were nursed upon the self same hill | R |
Fed the same flock by fountain shade and rill | R |
Together both ere the high lawns appeared | S |
Under the opening eyelids of the Morn | T |
We drove a field and both together heard | U |
What time the grey fly winds her sultry horn | T |
Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night | C |
Oft till the star that rose at evening bright | C |
Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering wheel | V |
Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute | W |
Tempered to the oaten flute | W |
Rough Satyrs danced and Fauns with cloven heel | V |
From the glad sound would not be absent long | X |
And old Damoetas loved to hear our song | X |
But oh the heavy change now thou art gone | Y |
Now thou art gone and never must return | P |
Thee Shepherd thee the woods and desert caves | Z |
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown | P |
And all their echoes mourn | P |
The willows and the hazel copses green | P |
Shall now no more be seen | P |
Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays | A2 |
As killing as the canker to the rose | B2 |
Or taint worm to the weanling herds that graze | A2 |
Or frost to flowers that their gay wardrobe wear | K |
When first the white thorn blows | B2 |
Such Lycidas thy loss to shepherd's ear | I |
Where were ye Nymphs when the remorseless deep | C2 |
Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas | B2 |
For neither were ye playing on the steep | C2 |
Where your old bards the famous Druids lie | D2 |
Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high | D2 |
Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream | E2 |
Ay me I fondly dream | E2 |
RHad ye been there S for what could that have done | P |
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore | D |
The Muse herself for her enchanting son | P |
Whom universal nature did lament | F2 |
When by the rout that made the hideous roar | D |
His gory visage down the stream was sent | F2 |
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore | D |
Alas what boots it with uncessant care | K |
To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade | G2 |
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse | B2 |
Were it not better done as others use | B2 |
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade | G2 |
Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair | K |
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise | B2 |
That last infirmity of noble mind | J |
To scorn delights and live laborious days | B2 |
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find | J |
And think to burst out into sudden blaze | B2 |
Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears | B2 |
And slits the thin spun life RBut not the praise | B2 |
Phoebus replied and touched my trembling ears | B2 |
RFame is no plant that grows on mortal soil | H2 |
Nor in the glistering foil | H2 |
Set off to the world nor in broad rumour lies | B2 |
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes | B2 |
And perfect witness of all judging Jove | D2 |
As he pronounces lastly on each deed | I2 |
Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed | I2 |
O fountain Arethuse and thou honoured flood | I2 |
Smooth sliding Mincius crowned with vocal reeds | B2 |
That strain I heard was of a higher mood | I2 |
But now my oat proceeds | B2 |
And listens to the Herald of the Sea | B2 |
That came in Neptune's plea | B2 |
He asked the waves and asked the felon winds | B2 |
What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain | P |
And questioned every gust of rugged wings | B2 |
That blows from off each beaked promontory | K |
They knew not of his story | K |
And sage Hippotades their answer brings | B2 |
That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed | I2 |
The air was calm and on the level brine | P |
Sleek Panope with all her sisters played | I2 |
It was that fatal and perfidious bark | J2 |
Built in the eclipse and rigged with curses dark | J2 |
That sunk so low that sacred head of thine | P |
Next Camus reverend sire went footing slow | K2 |
His mantle hairy and his bonnet sedge | L2 |
Inwrought with figures dim and on the edge | L2 |
Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe | K2 |
Ah who hath reft quoth he Rmy dearest pledge | L2 |
Last came and last did go | K2 |
The Pilot of the Galilean Lake | M2 |
Two massy keys he bore of metals twain | P |
The golden opes the iron shuts amain | P |
He shook his mitred locks and stern bespake | M2 |
RHow well could I have spared for thee young swain | P |
Enow of such as for their bellies' sake | M2 |
Creep and intrude and climb into the fold | I2 |
Of other care they little reckoning make | M2 |
Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast | I2 |
And shove away the worthy bidden guest | I2 |
Blind mouths that scarce themselves know how to hold | I2 |
A sheep hook or have learnt aught else the least | I2 |
That to the faithful herdman's art belongs | B2 |
What recks it them What need they They are sped | I2 |
And when they list their lean and flashy songs | B2 |
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw | K |
The hungry sheep look up and are not fed | I2 |
But swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw | K |
Rot inwardly and foul contagion spread | I2 |
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw | K |
Daily devours apace and nothing said | I2 |
But that two handed engine at the door | K |
Stands ready to smite once and smite no more | K |
Return Alpheus the dread voice is past | I2 |
That shrunk thy streams return Sicilian Muse | B2 |
And call the vales and bid them hither cast | I2 |
Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues | B2 |
Ye valleys low where the mild whispers use | B2 |
Of shades and wanton winds and gushing brooks | B2 |
On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks | B2 |
Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes | B2 |
That on the green turf suck the honeyed showers | B2 |
And purple all the ground with vernal flowers | B2 |
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies | B2 |
The tufted crow toe and pale jessamine | P |
The white pink and the pansy freaked with jet | I2 |
The glowing violet | I2 |
The musk rose and the well attired woodbine | P |
With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head | I2 |
And every flower that sad embroidery wears | B2 |
Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed | I2 |
And daffadillies fill their cups with tears | B2 |
To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies | B2 |
For so to interpose a little ease | B2 |
Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise | B2 |
Ay me whilst thee the shores and sounding seas | B2 |
Wash far away where'er thy bones are hurled | I2 |
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides | B2 |
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide | I2 |
Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world | I2 |
Or whether thou to our moist vows denied | I2 |
Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old | I2 |
Where the great Vision of the guarded mount | I2 |
Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold | I2 |
Look homeward Angel now and melt with ruth | N2 |
And O ye dolphins waft the hapless youth | N2 |
Weep no more woeful shepherds weep no more | K |
For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead | I2 |
Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor | K |
So sinks the day star in the ocean bed | I2 |
And yet anon repairs his drooping head | I2 |
And tricks his beams and with new spangled ore | K |
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky | M2 |
So Lycidas sunk low but mounted high | M2 |
Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves | B2 |
Where other groves and other streams along | M2 |
With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves | B2 |
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song | M2 |
In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love | D2 |
There entertain him all the Saints above | D2 |
In solemn troops and sweet societies | B2 |
That Sing and singing in their glory move | D2 |
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes | B2 |
Now Lycidas the shepherds weep no more | K |
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore | K |
In thy large recompense and shalt be good | I2 |
To all that wander in that perilous flood | I2 |
Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and rills | B2 |
While the still morn went out with sandals grey | K |
He touched the tender stops of various quills | B2 |
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay | K |
And now the sun had stretched out all the hills | B2 |
And now was dropt into the western bay | K |
At last he rose and twitched his mantle blue | G |
Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new | G |
John Milton
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