Saint Brandan Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK LMLN OPOP LQLQ RSRS LTLT LLLL LLLL LLLL USUS LVLV WXWS YZYZ LAL A2B2A2B2| Saint Brandan sails the northern main | A |
| The brotherhood of saints are glad | B |
| He greets them once he sails again | C |
| So late such storms The Saint is mad | B |
| - | |
| He heard across the howling seas | D |
| Chime convent bells on wintry nights | E |
| He saw on spray swept Hebrides | D |
| Twinkle the monastery lights | E |
| - | |
| But north still north Saint Brandan steer'd | F |
| And now no bells no convents more | G |
| The hurtling Polar lights are near'd | F |
| The sea without a human shore | G |
| - | |
| At last it was the Christmas night | H |
| Stars shone after a day of storm | I |
| He sees float past an iceberg white | H |
| And on it Christ a living form | I |
| - | |
| That furtive mien that scowling eye | J |
| Of hair that red and tufted fell | K |
| It is Oh where shall Brandan fly | J |
| The traitor Judas out of hell | K |
| - | |
| Palsied with terror Brandan sate | L |
| The moon was bright the iceberg near | M |
| He hears a voice sigh humbly 'Wait | L |
| By high permission I am here | N |
| - | |
| 'One moment wait thou holy man | O |
| On earth my crime my death they knew | P |
| My name is under all men's ban | O |
| Ah tell them of my respite too | P |
| - | |
| 'Tell them one blessed Christmas night | L |
| It was the first after I came | Q |
| Breathing self murder frenzy spite | L |
| To rue my guilt in endless flame | Q |
| - | |
| 'I felt as I in torment lay | R |
| 'Mid the souls plagued by heavenly power | S |
| An angel touch my arm and say | R |
| Go hence and cool thyself an hour | S |
| - | |
| ''Ah whence this mercy Lord ' I said | L |
| The Leper recollect said he | T |
| Who ask'd the passers by for aid | L |
| In Joppa and thy charity | T |
| - | |
| 'Then I remember'd how I went | L |
| In Joppa through the public street | L |
| One morn when the sirocco spent | L |
| Its storms of dust with burning heat | L |
| - | |
| 'And in the street a leper sate | L |
| Shivering with fever naked old | L |
| Sand raked his sores from heel to pate | L |
| The hot wind fever'd him five fold | L |
| - | |
| 'He gazed upon me as I pass'd | L |
| And murmur'd Help me or I die | L |
| To the poor wretch my cloak I cast | L |
| Saw him look eased and hurried by | L |
| - | |
| 'Oh Brandan think what grace divine | U |
| What blessing must full goodness shower | S |
| When fragment of it small like mine | U |
| Hath such inestimable power | S |
| - | |
| 'Well fed well clothed well friended I | L |
| Did that chance act of good that one | V |
| Then went my way to kill and lie | L |
| Forgot my good as soon as done | V |
| - | |
| 'That germ of kindness in the womb | W |
| Of mercy caught did not expire | X |
| Outlives my guilt outlives my doom | W |
| And friends me in the pit of fire | S |
| - | |
| 'Once every year when carols wake | Y |
| On earth the Christmas night's repose | Z |
| Arising from the sinner's lake | Y |
| I journey to these healing snows | Z |
| - | |
| 'I stanch with ice my burning breast | L |
| With silence balm my whirling brain | A |
| Oh Brandan to this hour of rest | L |
| That Joppan leper's ease was pain ' | - |
| - | |
| Tears started to Saint Brandan's eyes | A2 |
| He bow'd his head he breathed a prayer | B2 |
| Then look'd and lo the frosty skies | A2 |
| The iceberg and no Judas there | B2 |
Matthew Arnold
(2)
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