The Land Of Illusion Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCA A DEED A FGGF HIIH JKKJ LMML II NOPN Q Q RR S IIII TIIU V V W W XX II YY IZZI IA2A2I

So we had come at last my soul and IA
Into that land of shadowy plain and peakB
On which the dawn seemed ever about to breakC
On which the day seemed ever about to dieA
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IIA
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Long had we sought fulfillment of our dreamsD
The everlasting wells of Joy and YouthE
Long had we sought the snow white flow'r of TruthE
That blooms eternal by eternal streamsD
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IIIA
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And fonder still we hoped to find the sweetF
Immortal presence Love the bird DelightG
Beside her and eyed with sidereal nightG
Faith like a lion fawning at her feetF
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IV-
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But scorched and barren in its arid wellH
We found our dreams' forgotten fountain headI
And by black bitter waters crushed and deadI
Among wild weeds Truth's trampled asphodelH
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V-
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And side by side with pallid Doubt and PainJ
Not Love but Grief did meet us there afarK
We saw her like a melancholy starK
Or pensive moon move towards us o'er the plainJ
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VI-
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Sweet was her face as song that sings of homeL
And filled our hearts with vague suggestive spellsM
Of pathos as sad ocean fills its shellsM
With sympathetic moanings of its foamL
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VII-
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She raised one hand and pointed silently-
Then passed her eyes gaunt with a thirst unslakedI
Were worlds of woe where tears in torrents achedI
Yet never fell And like a winter sea-
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VIII-
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Whose caverned crags are haunts of wreck and wrathN
That house the condor pinions of the stormO
My soul replied and weeping arm in armP
To'ards those dim hills by that appointed pathN
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IX-
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We turned and went Arrived we did discernQ
How Beauty beckoned white 'mid miles of flowers-
Through which behold the amaranthine Hours-
Like maidens went each holding up an urnQ
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X-
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Wherein it seemed drained from long chalices-
Of those slim flow'rs they bore mysterious wineR
A poppied vintage full of sleep divineR
And pale forgetting of all miseries-
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XI-
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Then to my soul I said 'No longer weepS
Come let us drink for hateful is the sky-
And earth is full of care and life's a lie-
So let us drink yea let us drink and sleep '-
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XII-
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Then from their brimming urns we drank sweet mustI
While all around us rose crowned faces laughedI
Into our eyes but hardly had we quaffedI
When one by one these crumbled into dustI
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XIII-
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And league on league the eminence of blooms-
That flashed and billowed like a summer sea-
Rolled out a waste of thorns and tombs where bee-
And butterfly and bird hung dead in looms-
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XIV-
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Of worm and spider And through tomb and brierT
A thin wind parched with thirsty dust and sandI
Went wailing as if mourning some lost landI
Of perished empire Babylon or TyreU
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XV-
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Long long with blistered feet we wandered inV
That land of ruins through whose sky of brass-
Hate's Harpy shrieked and in whose iron grass-
The Hydra hissed of undestroyable SinV
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XVI-
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And there at last behold the House of DoomW
Red as if Hell had glared it into life-
Blood red and howling with incessant strife-
With burning battlements towered in the gloomW
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XVII-
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And throned within sat Darkness Who might gaze-
Upon that form that threatening presence thereX
Crowned with the flickering corpse lights of DespairX
And yet escape sans madness and amaze-
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XVIII-
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And we had hoped to find among these hills-
The House of Beauty Curst yea thrice accurstI
The hope that lures one on from last to firstI
With vain illusions that no time fulfills-
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XIX-
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Why will we struggle to attain and strive-
When all we gain is but an empty dreamY
Better unto my thinking doth it seemY
To end it all and let who will survive-
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XX-
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To find at last all beauty is but dustI
That love and sorrow are the very sameZ
That joy is only suffering's sweeter nameZ
And sense is but the synonym of lustI
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XXI-
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Far better yea to me it seems to dieI
To set glad lips against the lips of DeathA2
The only thing God gives that comfortethA2
The only thing we do not find a lieI

Madison Julius Cawein



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