Prelude Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AA BB CC DD CC EE FF GG HH II JJ KK LL MM CC NN OP KQ AA CCWhat a twitter what a tumult what a whirr of wheeling wings | A |
Birds of Passage hear the message which the Equinoctial brings | A |
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Birds of Passage hear the message and beneath the flying clouds | B |
Mid the falling leaves of autumn congregate in clamorous crowds | B |
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Shall they venture on the voyage are the nestlings fledged for flight | C |
Fit to face the fluctuant storm winds and the elemental night | C |
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What a twitter what a tumult to the wild wind's marching song | D |
Multitudinous Birds of Passage round the cliffs of England throng | D |
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And o'er tempest trodden Ocean cloud entangled day and night | C |
Birds on birds in corporate motion wing a commonwealth in flight | C |
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Waves like hollow graves beneath them hoarsely howling yawn for prey | E |
And the welkin glooms above them shifting formless grey in grey | E |
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And across the Bay of Biscay on undaunted wing they flee | F |
Where mild seas move musically murmuring of the Odyssey | F |
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Where the gurgling whirlpools glitter and by soft Circean Straits | G |
Fell Charybdis lies in ambush and the ravenous Scylla waits | G |
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Where a large Homeric laughter lingers in the echoing caves | H |
And in playful exultation Dolphins leap from dimpling waves | H |
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Where above the fair Sicilian flock browsed flower pranked meadows looms | I |
tna hoariest of Volcanoes ominously veiled in fumes | I |
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Where the seas roll blue and bluer high and higher arch the skies | J |
And as measureless as ocean new horizons meet the eyes | J |
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Where at night the ancient heavens bend above the ancient earth | K |
With the young eyed Stars enkindled fresh as at their hour of birth | K |
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Where old Egypt's desert stretching leagues on leagues of level land | L |
Gleams with threads of channelled waters green with palms on either hand | L |
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Where the Fellah strides majestic through the glimmering dourah plain | M |
And in rosy flames flamingoes rise from rustling sugar cane | M |
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On and on along old Nilus seeking still an ampler light | C |
O'er its monumental mountains Birds of Passage take their flight | C |
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Where the sacred Isle of Phil twinned within the sacred stream | N |
Floats like some rapt Opium eater's labyrinthine lotos dream | N |
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Birds on birds take up their quarters in each creviced capital | O |
In each crack of frieze and cornice in each cleft of roof and wall | P |
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And within those twilight litten holy halls of Death and Birth | K |
Even the gaily twittering swallows even the swallows hush their breath | Q |
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And they cast the passing shadows of their palpitating wings | A |
O'er the fallen gods of Egypt and the prostrate heads of Kings | A |
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Even as shadows Birds of Passage cast upon their onward flight | C |
Have men's generations vanished waned and vanished into night | C |
Mathilde Blind
(1)
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