The Melbourne International Exhibition Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B C D E FFGGHHIIJJJJKK LLIIJJ IIMM IIEEJJ IIJJ NNMM OOJJ PP QQJJ IIRR SSJJTTHHJJUUEE IIVVWW XXJJYB V ZZA2A2DDB2B2C2C2D2D2

ArgumentA
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I The House being ready Victoria prepares to receive the nations whom she has invited They approach the various countries of Europe Asia Africa of the American continent the Australian colonies and those of Polynesia some of them greater than any which ever paid tribute to Rome or did homage to a mediaeval monarch and their products superior to those which in olden times were fit gifts from one king to anotherB
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II Victoria salutes the other Australian colonies and asks them to unite with her in greeting her other guests They then welcome the various countries of Asia Africa Egypt to Caffraria c America the South American Republics Empire of Brazil Dominion of Canada and the United States of North America then France Spain and Portugal Italy Greece Russia Switzerland then Holland and Belgium Denmark Austria Germany Norway and Sweden then BritainC
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III The triumphs of Peace and of ToilD
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IV Aspirations for the future of Australia that she may be happy a generous friend but if need be a formidable enemyE
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I-
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Ceased is the sound of the chisel and hushed is the hammer's ringF
And the echoes that haunted the empty halls for a while have taken wingF
And the doors are open and overhead are a thousand flags unfurledG
While with music and song to the House she has built Victoria welcomes the worldG
For the nations she bade with friendly voice have hearkened to her behestH
And treasure laden o'er land and sea comes many an honoured guestH
Daughters of cultured Europe deigning her day to graceI
Children of antique Asia Africa's dusky raceI
America's mighty offspring and they of Australia's lineJ
And they of the Thousands Islands set where Pacific waters shineJ
Oh never a Roman triumph nor court of mightiest SuzerainJ
Hath gathered such as have sailed to her Nor gifts like to theirs have lainJ
At the feet of Wisdom's favoured one when the Princes came from farK
And the swarthy Queen to the Great Sea steered by the light of the still pole starK
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II-
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Welcome O fair five Sisters unto your Sister's sideL
Greet we this day together them who come from far and wideL
Come ye aflame with jewels and each with veil d faceI
Whence bright eyes beam upon us like stars from cloud swept spaceI
We wonder o'er the labours your slender hands have doneJ
In ancient Asian cities brown daughters of the sunJ
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And thou who once wast Pharoah's and thou whose palm thatched kraalsI
For centuries made marvel of bold De Gama's sailsI
And all that dwell betwixt you whate'er your race and nameM
Who seek our shores in kindness we thank you that you cameM
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And them who claim the treasures erewhile Pizarro's prizeI
And her who crowned Braganza the worthy and the wiseI
And Canada we welcome the loyal and the freeE
And thee O great republic with rule from sea to seaE
Who bravedst for our lost ones the fatal frozen mainJ
Thou who hast fed our famished and wept above our slainJ
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Fair France we greet thee fondly as our Crusader siresI
Thy knightly sons saluted by Acre's stubborn spiresI
O brave in war none brighter in peaceful arts doth shineJ
Arachne's fairy fingers are not more deft than thineJ
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And ye the Goth's twin daughters of stately mien and speechN
Spain and her queenly neighbour a loving hand to eachN
Long may thy sons be worthy the Cid's illustrious nameM
And thine another Lusiad write on the rolls of fameM
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Italia as we greet thee our hearts are all aglowO
What centuries of glory thou knowst and shalt knowO
Thine are the Roman eagles the lilies FlorentineJ
The sea wed city's lion the Church's Conquering SignJ
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And Greece we do thee reverence who on Olympian seatP
Art goddess yet earth's greatest but learners at thy feetP
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Now gladly we receive thee within unguarded gateQ
O upward toiling Russia whose lamp though lit but lateQ
Already cheered thy children What berg blocked sea is thineJ
God grant thee open water beyond its Arctic lineJ
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And welcome here Helvetia from heights where peace abidesI
Beyond the wreck strewn floodmark of battle's crimson tidesI
Thou pliest busy fingered each harmless handicraftR
Yet ready in thy quiver there rests the patriot shaftR
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And ye whom frugal Flanders has dowered with all her storeS
Her old cathedral cities her freedom won of yoreS
When by the hands that raised them her dykes asunder tornJ
Swift poured the burghers' vengeance for Egmont and for HornJ
And thou whose peerless Princess pure as thy Baltic foamT
Is dear in ancient Windsor as in her Danish homeT
For where thy raven reached not thy dove hath found her restH
And in the heart of England hath made herself a nestH
Thou dweller by the Danube thou keeper of the RhineJ
Thou blue eyed Scandinavia with fragrant crown of pineJ
All all who followed Odin the leader and the priestU
From bondage and from darkness in some forgotten EastU
And tilled the trackless forest and tamed the wild North SeaE
Account us as your kindred for kin in truth are weE
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And now to her we hasten with daughterly embraceI
To whom young isles do homage and empires old give placeI
And every zone pays tribute of wealth and earth and waveV
The refuge of the alien the champion of the slaveV
On triple throne unshaken as adamantine wallW
Long may'st thou sit Britannia dear mother of us allW
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III-
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Mighty ones who have hither borne your trophies manifoldX
We honour them who have earned you these as we honour your great of oldX
Every worker with brain or hand the artist the artisanJ
Whether he ride at an army's head or march in the nameless vanJ
For bright is the ruddy shield of Mars and sweet is the Sungod's lyreY
But Labour beareth the world aloft on shoulders that will not tireB
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IVV
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Thou who givest the eye to see and the ready hand to doZ
And a nation's place in the earth's fair space give us Thy blessing tooZ
We hear the cool Antarctic winds in the golden wheatfields pipeA2
And the chant the swart Kanaka sings where the rustling cane grows ripeA2
And we ask of Thee who hast dowered our land with the kindly sun and soilD
Which fill with fruitage of farthest climes the hopeful hands of toilD
That ever in love we may nurture too the people which dwelt apartB2
When they seek new life from our Younger World and a home within her heartB2
And if perchance from the eaves of peace and the sheltering olive boughC2
Our sons shall sail to a stormy sea and the shock of the mail clad prowC2
May they show that not in vain they have borne the stress of the tropic dayD2
Or lain toil spent in the miner's tent or made in the wilds a wayD2

Mary Hannay Foott



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