Alaric At Rome Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DEDFGG GHGHII J JKL LMNMO LODODPP Q RSS TUTUVV VDVDOO ODODOVV OEDVDWW OOOOO O O O OVV OVPVPOO VXAXAHH VYZA2ZOO VB2C2B2C2D2D2 VOVOVE2F2 VG2OXOPP O V VH2I2 OJ2OJ2OVV OK2OK2OVV OOL2OL2M2 VADADVV VN2 N2OO2O2 V QOQM2M2 VEVVVOO VVOVOP2P2 VQ2R2Q2R2YY OOM2OM2OO OQOQOV OS2OS2OVO OSQSQUU OT2OT2OVV VOOOOK2K2 VOU2OV2OO VW2OW2OVV VVVVOOO VOOOOF2E2Admire exult despise laugh weep for here | A |
There is such matter for all feeling | B |
Childe Harold | C |
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- | |
I | - |
Unwelcome shroud of the forgotten dead | D |
Oblivion's dreary fountain where art thou | E |
Why speed'st thou not thy deathlike wave to shed | D |
O'er humbled pride and self reproaching woe | F |
Or time's stern hand why blots it not away | G |
The saddening tale that tells of sorrow and decay | G |
- | |
II | - |
There are whose glory passeth not away | G |
Even in the grave their fragrance cannot fade | H |
Others there are as deathless full as they | G |
Who for themselves a monument have made | H |
By their own cringes a lesson to all eyes | I |
Of wonder to the fool of warning to the wise | I |
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III | - |
Yes there are stories registered on high | - |
Yes there are stains time's fingers cannot blot | J |
Deeds that shall live when they who did them die | - |
Things that may cease but never be forgot | J |
Yet some there are their very lives would give | K |
To be remembered thus and yet they cannot live | L |
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IV | L |
But thou imperial City that least stood | M |
In greatness once in sackcloth now and tears | N |
A mighty name for evil or for good | M |
Even in the loneness of thy widowed years | O |
Thou that hast gazed as the world hurried by | - |
Upon its headlong course with sad prophetic eye | - |
- | |
V | L |
Is thine the laurel crown that greatness wreathes | O |
Round the wan temples of the hallowed dead | D |
Is it the blighting taint dishonour breathes | O |
In fires undying o'er the guilty head | D |
Or the brief splendour of that meteor light | P |
Chat for a moment gleams and all again is night | P |
- | |
VI | - |
Fain would we deem that thou hast risen so high | - |
Thy dazzling light an eagle's gaze should tire | Q |
No meteor brightness to be seen and die | - |
No passing pageant born but to expire | R |
But full and deathless as the deep dark hue | S |
Of ocean's sleeping face or heaven's unbroken blue | S |
- | |
VII | - |
Yet stains there are to blot thy brightest page | T |
And wither half the laurels on thy tomb | U |
A glorious manhood yet a dim old age | T |
And years of crime and nothingness and gloom | U |
And then that mightiest crash that giant fall | V |
Ambition's boldest dream might sober and appal | V |
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VIII | - |
Thou wondrous chaos where together dwell | V |
Present and past the living and the dead | D |
Thou shattered mass whose glorious ruins tell | V |
The vanisht might of that discrown d head | D |
Where all we see or do or hear or say | O |
Seems strangely echoed back by tones of yesterday | O |
- | |
IX | O |
Thou solemn grave where every step we tread | D |
Treads on the slumbering dust of other years | O |
The while there sleeps within thy precincts dread | D |
What once had human passions hopes and fears | O |
And memory's gushing tide swells deep and full | V |
And makes thy very ruin fresh and beautiful | V |
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X | O |
Alas no common sepulchre art thou | E |
No habitation for the nameless dead | D |
Green turf above and crumbling dust below | V |
Perchance some mute memorial at their head | D |
But one vast fane where all unconscious sleep | W |
Earth's old heroic forms in peaceful slumbers deep | W |
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XI | O |
Thy dead are kings thy dust are palaces | O |
Relics of nations thy memorial stones | O |
And the dim glories of departed days | O |
Fold like a shroud around thy withered bones | O |
And o'er thy towers the wind's half uttered sigh | - |
Whispers in mournful tones thy silent elegy | O |
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XII | O |
Yes in such eloquent silence didst thou lie | - |
When the Goth stooped upon his stricken prey | O |
And the deep hues of an Italian sky | - |
Flasht on the rude barbarian's wild array | O |
While full and ceaseless as the ocean roll | V |
Horde after horde streamed up thy frowning Capitol | V |
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XIII | O |
Twice ere that day of shame the embattled foe | V |
Had gazed in wonder on that glorious sight | P |
Twice had the eternal city bowed her low | V |
In sullen homage to the invader's might | P |
Twice had the pageant of that vast array | O |
Swept from thy walls O Rome on its triumphant way | O |
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XIV | V |
Twice from without thy bulwarks hath the din | X |
Of Gothic clarion smote thy startled ear | A |
Anger and strife and sickness are within | X |
Famine and sorrow are no strangers here | A |
Twice hath the cloud hung o'er thee twice been stayed | H |
Even in the act to burst twice threatened twice delayed | H |
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XV | V |
Yet once again stern Chief yet once again | Y |
Pour forth the foaming vials of thy wrath | Z |
There lies thy goal to miss or to attain | A2 |
Gird thee and on upon thy fateful path | Z |
The world hath bowed to Rome oh cold were he | O |
Who would not burst his bonds and in his turn be free | O |
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XVI | V |
Therefore arise and arm thee lo the world | B2 |
Looks on in fear and when the seal is set | C2 |
The doom pronounced the battle flag unfurled | B2 |
Scourge of the nations wouldst thou linger yet | C2 |
Arise and arm thee spread thy banners forth | D2 |
Pour from a thousand hills thy warriors of the north | D2 |
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XVII | V |
Hast thou not marked on a wild autumn day | O |
When the wind slumbereth in a sudden lull | V |
What deathlike stillness o'er the landscape lay | O |
How calmly sad how sadly beautiful | V |
How each bright tint of tree and flower and heath | E2 |
Were mingling with the sere and withered hues of death | F2 |
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XVIII | V |
And thus beneath the clear calm vault of heaven | G2 |
In mournful loveliness that city lay | O |
And thus amid the glorious hues of even | X |
That city told of languor and decay | O |
Till what at morning's hour lookt warm and bright | P |
Was cold and sad beneath that breathless voiceless night | P |
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XIX | O |
Soon was that stillness broken like the cry | - |
Of the hoarse onset of the surging wave | V |
Or louder rush of whirlwinds sweeping by | - |
Was the wild shout those Gothic myriads gave | V |
As towered on high above their moonlit road | H2 |
Scenes where a Caesar triumpht or a Scipio trod | I2 |
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XX | O |
Think ye it strikes too slow the sword of fate | J2 |
Think ye the avenger loiters on his way | O |
That your own hands must open wide the gate | J2 |
And your own voice s guide him to his prey | O |
Alas it needs not is it hard to know | V |
Fate's threat'nings are not vain the spoiler comes not slow | V |
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XXI | O |
And were there none to stand and weep alone | K2 |
And as the pageant swept before their eyes | O |
To hear a dins and long forgotten tone | K2 |
Tell of old times and holiest memories | O |
Till fanciful regret and dreamy woe | V |
Peopled night's voiceless shades with forms of long Ago | V |
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XXII | O |
Oh yes if fancy feels beyond to day | O |
Thoughts of the past and of the future time | L2 |
How should that mightiest city pass away | O |
And not bethink her of her glorious prime | L2 |
Whilst every chord that thrills at thoughts of home | M2 |
Jarr'd with the bursting shout 'they come the Goth they come ' | - |
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XVIII | V |
The trumpet swells yet louder they are here | A |
Yea on your fathers' bones the avengers tread | D |
Not this the time to weep upon the bier | A |
That holds the ashes of your hero dead | D |
If wreaths may twine for you or laurels wave | V |
They shall not deck your life but sanctify your grave | V |
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XXIV | V |
Alas no wreaths are here Despair may teach | N2 |
Cowards to conquer and the weak to die | - |
Nor tongue of man nor fear nor shame can preach | N2 |
So stern a lesson as necessity | O |
Yet here it speaks not Yea though all around | O2 |
Unhallowed feet are trampling on this haunted ground | O2 |
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XXV | V |
Though every holiest feeling every tie | - |
That binds the heart of man with mightiest power | Q |
All natural love all human sympathy | O |
Be crusht and outraged in this bitter hour | Q |
Here is no echo to the sound of home | M2 |
No shame that suns should rise to light a conquer'd Rome | M2 |
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XXVI | V |
That troublous night is over on the brow | E |
Of thy stern hill thou mighty Capitol | V |
One form stands gazing silently below | V |
The morning mists from tower and temple roll | V |
And lo the eternal city as they rise | O |
Bursts in majestic beauty on her conqueror's eyes | O |
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XXVII | V |
Yes there he stood upon that silent hill | V |
And there beneath his feet his conquest lay | O |
Unlike that ocean city gazing still | V |
Smilingly forth upon her sunny bay | O |
But o'er her vanisht might and humbled pride | P2 |
Mourning as widowed Venice o'er her Adrian tide | P2 |
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XXVIII | V |
Breathe there not spirits on the peopled air | Q2 |
Float there not voices on the murmuring wind | R2 |
Oh sound there not some strains of sadness there | Q2 |
To touch with sorrow even a victor's mind | R2 |
And wrest one tear from joy Oh who shall pen | Y |
The thoughts that toucht thy breast thou lonely conqueror then | Y |
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XXIX | O |
Perchance his wandering heart was far away | O |
Lost in dim memories of his early home | M2 |
And his young dreams of conquest how to day | O |
Beheld him master of Imperial Rome | M2 |
Crowning his wildest hopes perchance his eyes | O |
As they looked sternly on beheld new victories | O |
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XXX | O |
New dreams of wide dominion mightier higher | Q |
Come floating up from the abyss of years | O |
Perchance that solemn sight might quench the fire | Q |
Even of that ardent spirit hopes and fears | O |
Might well be mingling at that murmured sigh | V |
Whispering from all around 'All earthly things must die ' | - |
- | |
XXXI | O |
Perchance that wondrous city was to him | S2 |
But as one voiceless blank a place of graves | O |
And recollections indistinct and dim | S2 |
Whose sons were conquerors once and now were slaves | O |
It may be in that desolate sight his eye | V |
Saw but another step to climb to victory | O |
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XXXII | O |
Alas that fiery spirit little knew | S |
The change of life the nothingness of power | Q |
How both were hastening as they flowered and grew | S |
Nearer and nearer to their closing hour | Q |
How every birth of time's miraculous womb | U |
Swept off the withered leaves that hide the naked tomb | U |
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XXXIII | O |
One little year that restless soul shall rest | T2 |
That frame of vigour shall be crumbling clay | O |
And tranquilly above that troubled breast | T2 |
The sunny waters hold their joyous way | O |
And gently shall the murmuring ripples flow | V |
Nor wake the weary soul that slumbers on below | V |
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XXXIV | V |
Alas far other thoughts might well be ours | O |
And dash our holiest raptures while we gaze | O |
Energies wasted unimproved hours | O |
The saddening visions of departed days | O |
And while they rise here might we stand alone | K2 |
And mingle with thy ruins somewhat of our own | K2 |
- | |
XXXV | V |
Beautiful city If departed things | O |
Ever again put earthly likeness on | U2 |
Here should a thousand forms on fancy's wings | O |
Float up to tell of ages that are gone | V2 |
Yea though hand touch thee not nor eye should see | O |
Still should the spirit hold communion Rome with thee | O |
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XXXVI | V |
O it is bitter that each fairest dream | W2 |
Should fleet before us but to melt away | O |
That wildest visions still should loveliest seem | W2 |
And soonest fade in the broad glare of day | O |
That while we feel the world is dull and low | V |
Gazing on thee we wake to find it is not so | V |
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XXXVII | V |
A little while alas a little while | V |
And the same world has tongue and ear and eye | V |
The careless glance the cold unmeaning smile | V |
The thoughtless word the lack of sympathy | O |
Who would not turn him from the barren sea | O |
And rest his weary eyes on the green land and thee | O |
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XXXVIII | V |
So pass we on But oh to harp aright | O |
The vanisht glories of thine early day | O |
There needs a minstrel of diviner might | O |
A holier incense than this feeble lay | O |
To chant thy requiem with more passionate breath | F2 |
And twine with bolder hand thy last memorial wreath | E2 |
Matthew Arnold
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