A Rhymed Lesson (urania) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH IIJJCCKKLLMMNNKKCCOO PP QQMMAARRBBSSTT UUVVFFWWXXYYZA2B2B2C C C2C2MMD2D2FF E2F2XXZA2KK D2D2G2G2 IIH2H2XXI2I2 FFJ2J2A2ZK2K2L2L2 XXG2G2XXXXM2M2FFXXH2 H2 N2N2O2O2P2P2Q2Q2XXCC HH R2R2G2G2S2S2XXXXXXT2 T2U2U2G2G2G2G2 XXFFV2V2W2W2XXS2S2X2 X2Y2

Yes dear Enchantress wandering far and longA
In realms unperfumed by the breath of songA
Where flowers ill flavored shed their sweets aroundB
And bitterest roots invade the ungenial groundB
Whose gems are crystals from the Epsom mineC
Whose vineyards flow with antimonial wineC
Whose gates admit no mirthful feature inD
Save one gaunt mocker the Sardonic grinD
Whose pangs are real not the woes of rhymeE
That blue eyed misses warble out of timeE
Truant not recreant to thy sacred claimF
Older by reckoning but in heart the sameF
Freed for a moment from the chains of toilG
I tread once more thy consecrated soilG
Here at thy feet my old allegiance ownH
Thy subject still and loyal to thy throneH
-
My dazzled glance explores the crowded hallI
Alas how vain to hope the smiles of allI
I know my audience All the gay and youngJ
Love the light antics of a playful tongueJ
And these remembering some expansive lineC
My lips let loose among the nuts and wineC
Are all impatience till the opening punK
Proclaims the witty shamfight is begunK
Two fifths at least if not the total halfL
Have come infuriate for an earthquake laughL
I know full well what alderman has tiedM
His red bandanna tight about his sideM
I see the mother who aware that boysN
Perform their laughter with superfluous noiseN
Beside her kerchief brought an extra oneK
To stop the explosions of her bursting sonK
I know a tailor once a friend of mineC
Expects great doings in the button lineC
For mirth s concussions rip the outward caseO
And plant the stitches in a tenderer placeO
I know my audience these shall have their dueP
A smile awaits them ere my song is throughP
-
I know myself Not servile for applauseQ
My Muse permits no deprecating clauseQ
Modest or vain she will not be deniedM
One bold confession due to honest prideM
And well she knows the drooping veil of songA
Shall save her boldness from the caviller s wrongA
Her sweeter voice the Heavenly Maid impartsR
To tell the secrets of our aching heartsR
For this a suppliant captive prostrate boundB
She kneels imploring at the feet of soundB
For this convulsed in thought s maternal painsS
She loads her arms with rhyme s resounding chainsS
Faint though the music of her fetters beT
It lends one charm her lips are ever freeT
-
Think not I come in manhood s fiery noonU
To steal his laurels from the stage buffoonU
His sword of lath the harlequin may wieldV
Behold the star upon my lifted shieldV
Though the just critic pass my humble nameF
And sweeter lips have drained the cup of fameF
While my gay stanza pleased the banquet s lordsW
The soul within was tuned to deeper chordsW
Say shall my arms in other conflicts taughtX
To swing aloft the ponderous mace of thoughtX
Lift in obedience to a school girl s lawY
Mirth s tinsel wand or laughter s tickling strawY
Say shall I wound with satire s rankling spearZ
The pure warm hearts that bid me welcome hereA2
No while I wander through the land of dreamsB2
To strive with great and play with trifling themesB2
Let some kind meaning fill the varied lineC
You have your judgment will you trust to mineC
-
Between two breaths what crowded mysteries lieC2
The first short gasp the last and long drawn sighC2
Like phantoms painted on the magic slideM
Forth from the darkness of the past we glideM
As living shadows for a moment seenD2
In airy pageant on the eternal screenD2
Traced by a ray from one unchanging flameF
Then seek the dust and stillness whence we cameF
-
But whence and why our trembling souls inquireE2
Caught these dim visions their awakening fireF2
Oh who forgets when first the piercing thoughtX
Through childhood s musings found its way unsoughtX
I am I live The mystery and the fearZ
When the dread question what has brought me hereA2
Burst through life s twilight as before the sunK
Roll the deep thunders of the morning gunK
-
Are angel faces silent and sereneD2
Bent on the conflicts of this little sceneD2
Whose dream like efforts whose unreal strifeG2
Are but the preludes to a larger lifeG2
-
Or does life s summer see the end of allI
These leaves of being mouldering as they fallI
As the old poet vaguely used to deemH2
As WESLEY questioned in his youthful dreamH2
Oh could such mockery reach our souls indeedX
Give back the Pharaohs or the Athenian s creedX
Better than this a Heaven of man s deviceI2
The Indian s sports the Moslem s paradiseI2
-
Or is our being s only end and aimF
To add new glories to our Maker s nameF
As the poor insect shrivelling in the blazeJ2
Lends a faint sparkle to its streaming raysJ2
Does earth send upward to the Eternal s earA2
The mingled discords of her jarring sphereZ
To swell his anthem while creation ringsK2
With notes of anguish from its shattered stringsK2
Is it for this the immortal Artist meansL2
These conscious throbbing agonized machinesL2
-
Dark is the soul whose sullen creed can bindX
In chains like these the all embracing MindX
No two faced bigot thou dost ill reproveG2
The sensual selfish yet benignant JoveG2
And praise a tyrant throned in lonely prideX
Who loves himself and cares for naught besideX
Who gave thee summoned from primeval nightX
A thousand laws and not a single rightX
A heart to feel and quivering nerves to thrillM2
The sense of wrong the death defying willM2
Who girt thy senses with this goodly frameF
Its earthly glories and its orbs of flameF
Not for thyself unworthy of a thoughtX
Poor helpless victim of a life unsoughtX
But all for him unchanging and supremeH2
The heartless centre of thy frozen schemeH2
-
Trust not the teacher with his lying scrollN2
Who tears the charter of thy shuddering soulN2
The God of love who gave the breath that warmsO2
All living dust in all its varied formsO2
Asks not the tribute of a world like thisP2
To fill the measure of his perfect blissP2
Though winged with life through all its radiant shoresQ2
Creation flowed with unexhausted storesQ2
Cherub and seraph had not yet enjoyedX
For this he called thee from the quickening voidX
Nor this alone a larger gift was thineC
A mightier purpose swelled his vast designC
Thought conscience will to make them all thine ownH
He rent a pillar from the eternal throneH
-
Made in his image thou must nobly dareR2
The thorny crown of sovereignty to shareR2
With eye uplifted it is thine to viewG2
From thine own centre Heaven s o erarching blueG2
So round thy heart a beaming circle liesS2
No fiend can blot no hypocrite disguiseS2
From all its orbs one cheering voice is heardX
Full to thine ear it bears the Father s wordX
Now as in Eden where his first born trodX
Seek thine own welfare true to man and GodX
Think not too meanly of thy low estateX
Thou hast a choice to choose is to createX
Remember whose the sacred lips that tellT2
Angels approve thee when thy choice is wellT2
Remember One a judge of righteous menU2
Swore to spare Sodom if she held but tenU2
Use well the freedom which thy Master gaveG2
Think st thou that Heaven can tolerate a slaveG2
And He who made thee to be just and trueG2
Will bless thee love thee ay respect thee tooG2
-
Nature has placed thee on a changeful tideX
To breast its waves but not without a guideX
Yet as the needle will forget its aimF
Jarred by the fury of the electric flameF
As the true current it will falsely feelV2
Warped from its axis by a freight of steelV2
So will thy conscience lose its balanced truthW2
If passion s lightning fall upon thy youthW2
So the pure effluence quit its sacred holdX
Girt round too deeply with magnetic goldX
Go to yon tower where busy science pliesS2
Her vast antennae feeling through the skiesS2
That little vernier on whose slender linesX2
The midnight taper trembles as it shinesX2
A silent indexY2

Oliver Wendell Holmes



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