An Ode - In Commemoration Of The Founding, Of The Massachusetts Bay Colony In The Year 1623. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEBCDEFGHIJGKIELCB ELMBNOPQNOPR A STSUTVUVUWXWYXYZZA2A 2 A NB2NB2C2D2B2E2E2NC2D 2ND2NF2G2G2H2H2F2NI2 I2I2J2J2CJ2MXXK2K2 K K2G2K2J2L2G2J2L2J2K2 G2K2XXXM2XK2M2M2K2K2 J2N2N2J2O2TP2Q2R2R2S 2S2 X K2T2A2K2T2J2A2K2B2J2 U2B2V2XXV2K2K2K2K2K2 K2K2K2K2K2M2M2K2K2K2 W2K2X2Y2K2K2Y2J2J2 K Z2Z2QA3RA3A3K2K2K2QR K2B3C3C3D3D3J2J2OOE3 E3F3F3G3H3H3G3 K E3K2K2E3J2K2K2J2K2K2 I3K2I3K2H3K2H3X2Y2E3 P2KKP2E3E3E3E3K2J3J3 J3K2K2K2K2K2K2UUIK2K 2UIK2E3E3E3E3UK2K2E3 J2J2 K K2K2E3K2E3K2K2K2K2K3 Z2Z2K3K2K2K2K2K2K2K2 K2K2J2L3L3K2J2K3M3J2 J2N3M3N3K3O3O3K2K2O3 M3K2M3K2I | A |
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They who maintained their rights | B |
Through storm and stress | C |
And walked in all the ways | D |
That God made known | E |
Led by no wandering lights | B |
And by no guess | C |
Through dark and desolate days | D |
Of trial and moan | E |
Here let their monument | F |
Rise like a word | G |
In rock commemorative | H |
Of our Land's youth | I |
Of ways the Puritan went | J |
With soul love spurred | G |
To suffer die and live | K |
For faith and truth | I |
Here they the corner stone | E |
Of Freedom laid | L |
Here in their hearts' distress | C |
They lit the lights | B |
Of Liberty alone | E |
Here with God's aid | L |
Conquered the wilderness | M |
Secured their rights | B |
Not men but giants they | N |
Who wrought with toil | O |
And sweat of brawn and brain | P |
Their freehold here | Q |
Who with their blood each day | N |
Hallowed the soil | O |
And left it without stain | P |
And without fear | R |
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II | A |
- | |
Yea here from men like these | S |
Our country had its stanch beginning | T |
Hence sprang she with the ocean breeze | S |
And pine scent in her hair | U |
Deep in her eyes the winning | T |
The far off winning of the unmeasured West | V |
And in her heart the care | U |
The young unrest | V |
Of all that she must dare | U |
Ere as a mighty Nation she should stand | W |
Towering from sea to sea | X |
From land to moantained land | W |
One with the imperishable beauty of the stars | Y |
In absolute destiny | X |
Part of that cosmic law no shadow mars | Y |
To which all freedom runs | Z |
That wheels the circles of the worlds and suns | Z |
Along their courses through the vasty night | A2 |
Irrevocable and eternal as is Light | A2 |
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III | A |
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What people has to day | N |
Such faith as launched and sped | B2 |
With psalm and prayer the Mayflower on its way | N |
Such faith as led | B2 |
The Dorchester fishers to this sea washed point | C2 |
This granite headland of Cape Ann | D2 |
Where first they made their bed | B2 |
Salt blown and wet with brine | E2 |
In cold and hunger where the storm wrenched pine | E2 |
Clung to the rock with desperate footing They | N |
With hearts courageous whom hope did anoint | C2 |
Despite their tar and tan | D2 |
Worn of the wind and spray | N |
Seem more to me than man | D2 |
With their unconquerable spirits Mountains may | N |
Succumb to men like these to wills like theirs | F2 |
The Puritan's tenacity to do | G2 |
The stubbornness of genius holding to | G2 |
Their purpose to the end | H2 |
No New World hardship could deflect or bend | H2 |
That never doubted in their worst despairs | F2 |
But steadily on their way | N |
Held to the last trusting in God who filled | I2 |
Their souls with fire of faith that helped them build | I2 |
A country greater than had ever thrilled | I2 |
Man's wildest dreams or entered in | J2 |
His highest hopes 'Twas thins that helped them win | J2 |
In spite of danger and distress | C |
Through darkness and the din | J2 |
Of winds and waves unto a wilderness | M |
Savage unbounded pathless as the sea | X |
That said Behold me I am free | X |
Giving itself to them for greater things | K2 |
Than filled their souls with dim imaginings | K2 |
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IV | K |
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Let History record their stalwart names | K2 |
And catalogue their fortitude whence grew | G2 |
Swiftly as running flames | K2 |
Cities and civilazation | J2 |
How from a meeting house and school | L2 |
A few log huddled cabins Freedom drew | G2 |
Her rude beginnings Every pioneer station | J2 |
Each settlemeat though primitive of tool | L2 |
Had in it then the making of a Nation | J2 |
Had in it then the roofing of the plains | K2 |
With tragic and the piercing through and through | G2 |
Of forests with the iron veins | K2 |
Of industry | X |
Would I could make you see | X |
How these laboriously | X |
These founders of New England every hour | M2 |
Faced danger death and misery | X |
Conquering the wilderness | K2 |
With supernatural power | M2 |
Changing its features all its savage glower | M2 |
Of wild barbarity fierce hate duress | K2 |
To something human something that could bless | K2 |
Mankind with peace and lift its heart's elation | J2 |
Something at last that stood | N2 |
For universal brotherhood | N2 |
Astonishing the world a mighty Nation | J2 |
Hewn from the solitude | O2 |
Iron of purpose as of faith and daring | T |
And of indomitable will | P2 |
With axe and hymn book still I see them faring | Q2 |
The Saxon Spirit of Conquest at their side | R2 |
With sword and flintlock still I see them stride | R2 |
As to some Roundhead rhyme | S2 |
Adown the aisles of Time | S2 |
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V | X |
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Can praise be simply said of such as these | K2 |
Such men as Standish Winthrop Endicott | T2 |
Such souls as Roger Conant and John White | A2 |
Rugged and great as trees | K2 |
The oaks of that New World with which their lot | T2 |
Was cast forever proudly to remain | J2 |
That world in which each name still stands a light | A2 |
To beacon the Ship of State through stormy seas | K2 |
Can praise be simply said | B2 |
Of him the younger Vane | J2 |
Puritan and patriot | U2 |
Whose dedicated head | B2 |
Was laid upon the block | V2 |
In thy name Liberty | X |
Can praise be simply said of such as he | X |
Needs must the soul unlock | V2 |
All gates of eloquence to sing of these | K2 |
Such periods | K2 |
Such epic melodies | K2 |
As holds the utterance of the earlier gods | K2 |
The lords of song one needs | K2 |
To sing the praise of these | K2 |
No feeble music tinklings frail of glass | K2 |
No penny trumpetings twitterings of brass | K2 |
The moment's effort shak'n from pigmy bells | K2 |
Ephemeral drops from small Pierian wells | K2 |
With which the Age relieves a barren hour | M2 |
But such large music such melodious power | M2 |
As have our cataracts | K2 |
Pouring the iron facts | K2 |
The giant acts | K2 |
Of these such song as have our rock ridged deep | W2 |
And mountain steeps | K2 |
When winds like clanging eagles sweep the storm | X2 |
On tossing wood and farm | Y2 |
Such eloquence as in the torrent leaps | K2 |
Where the hoarse canyon sleeps | K2 |
Holding the heart with its terrific charm | Y2 |
Carrying its roaring message to the town | J2 |
To voice their high achievement and renown | J2 |
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VI | K |
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Long long ago beneath heaven's stormy slope | Z2 |
In deeds of faith and hope | Z2 |
Our fathers laid Freedom's foundations here | Q |
And raised invisible vast | A3 |
Embodying naught of doubt or fear | R |
A monument whose greatness shall outlast | A3 |
The future as the past | A3 |
Of all the Old World's dynasties and kings | K2 |
A symbol of all things | K2 |
That we would speak but cannot say in words | K2 |
Of those who first began our Nation here | Q |
Behold we now would rear | R |
A different monument a thought that girds | K2 |
Itself with granite dream made visible | B3 |
In rock and bronze to tell | C3 |
To all the Future what here once befell | C3 |
Here where unknown to them | D3 |
A tree took root a tree of wondrous stem | D3 |
The tree of high ideals which has grown | J2 |
And has not withered since its seed was sown | J2 |
Was planted here by them in this new soil | O |
Who watered it with tears and blood and toil | O |
An heritage we mean to hold | E3 |
Keeping it stanch and beautiful as of old | E3 |
For never a State | F3 |
Or People yet was great | F3 |
Without its great ideals branch and root | G3 |
Of the deep tree of life where bud and blow | H3 |
The dreams the thoughts that grow | H3 |
To deeds the glowing fruit | G3 |
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VII | K |
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The morn that breaks its heart of gold | E3 |
Above the purple hills | K2 |
The eve that spills | K2 |
Its nautilus splendor where the sea is rolled | E3 |
The night that leads the vast procession in | J2 |
Of stars and dreams | K2 |
The beauty that shall never die or pass | K2 |
The winds that spin | J2 |
Of rain the misty mantles of the grass | K2 |
And thunder raiment of the mountain streams | K2 |
The sunbeams needling with gold the dusk | I3 |
Green cowls of ancient woods | K2 |
The shadows thridding veiled with musk | I3 |
The moon pathed solitudes | K2 |
Call to my Fancy saying Follow follow | H3 |
Till following I see | K2 |
Fair as a cascade in a rainbowed hollow | H3 |
A dream a shape take form | X2 |
Clad on with every charm | Y2 |
The vision of that Ideality | E3 |
Which lured the pioneer in wood and hill | P2 |
And beckoned him from earth and sky | K |
The dream that cannot die | K |
Their children's children did fulfill | P2 |
In stone and iron and wood | E3 |
Out of the solitude | E3 |
And by a forthright act | E3 |
Create a mighty fact | E3 |
A Nation now that stands | K2 |
Clad on with hope and beauty strength and song | J3 |
Eternal young and strong | J3 |
Planting her heel on Wrong | J3 |
Her starry banner in triumphant hands | K2 |
Within her face the rose | K2 |
Of Alleghany dawns | K2 |
Limbed with Alaskan snows | K2 |
Floridian starlight in her eyes | K2 |
Eyes stern as steel yet tender as a fawn's | K2 |
And in her hair | U |
The rapture of her river and the dare | U |
As perishless as truth | I |
That o'er the crags of her Sierras flies | K2 |
Urging the eagle ardor through her veins | K2 |
Behold her where | U |
Around her radiant youth | I |
The spirits of the cataracts and plains | K2 |
The genii of the floods and forests meet | E3 |
In rainbow mists circling her brow and feet | E3 |
The forces vast that sit | E3 |
In session round her powers paraclete | E3 |
That guard her presence awful forms and fair | U |
Making secure her place | K2 |
Guiding her surely as the worlds through space | K2 |
Do laws sidereal edicts thunder lit | E3 |
Of skyed eternity in splendor borne | J2 |
On planetary wings of night and morn | J2 |
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VIII | K |
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Behold her this is she | K2 |
Beautiful as morning on the summer sea | K2 |
Yet terrible as is the elemental gold | E3 |
That cleaves the tempest and in angles clings | K2 |
About its cloudy temples Manifold | E3 |
The dreams of daring in her fearless gaze | K2 |
Fixed on the future's days | K2 |
And round her brow a strand of astral beads | K2 |
Her soul's resplendent deeds | K2 |
And at her front one star | K3 |
Refulgent hope | Z2 |
Like that on morning's slope | Z2 |
Beaconing the world afar | K3 |
From her high place she sees | K2 |
Her long procession of accomplished acts | K2 |
Cloud wing'd refulgences | K2 |
Of thoughts in steel and stone of marble dreams | K2 |
Lift up tremendous battlements | K2 |
Sun blinding built of facts | K2 |
While in her soul she seems | K2 |
Listening to hear as from innumerable tents | K2 |
onian thunder wonder and applause | K2 |
Of all the heroic ages that are gone | J2 |
Feeling secure | L3 |
That as her Past her Future shall endure | L3 |
As did her Cause | K2 |
When redly broke the dawn | J2 |
Of fierce rebellion and beneath its star | K3 |
The firmaments of war | M3 |
Poured down infernal rain | J2 |
And North and South lay bleeding 'mid their slain | J2 |
And now no less shall her Cause still prevail | N3 |
More so in peace than war | M3 |
Through the thrilled wire and electric rail | N3 |
Carrying her message far | K3 |
Shaping her dream | O3 |
Within the brain of steam | O3 |
That with a myriad hands | K2 |
Labors unceasingly and knits her lands | K2 |
In firmer union joining plain and stream | O3 |
With steel and binding shore to shore | M3 |
With bands of iron nerves and arteries | K2 |
Along whose adamant forever pour | M3 |
Her concrete thoughts her tireless energies | K2 |
Madison Julius Cawein
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