The Steamboat Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJKLKL MNMNOPOQ GRGRSTST UVUVWXWX GPGPYTYT| See how yon flaming herald treads | A |
| The ridged and rolling waves | B |
| As crashing o'er their crested heads | A |
| She bows her surly slaves | B |
| With foam before and fire behind | C |
| She rends the clinging sea | D |
| That flies before the roaring wind | C |
| Beneath her hissing lee | D |
| - | |
| The morning spray like sea born flowers | E |
| With heaped and glistening bells | F |
| Falls round her fast in ringing showers | E |
| With every wave that swells | F |
| And burning o'er the midnight deep | G |
| In lurid fringes thrown | H |
| The living gems of ocean sweep | G |
| Along her flashing zone | H |
| - | |
| With clashing wheel and lifting keel | I |
| And smoking torch on high | J |
| When winds are loud and billows reel | I |
| She thunders foaming by | J |
| When seas are silent and serene | K |
| With even beam she glides | L |
| The sunshine glimmering through the green | K |
| That skirts her gleaming sides | L |
| - | |
| Now like a wild nymph far apart | M |
| She veils her shadowy form | N |
| The beating of her restless heart | M |
| Still sounding through the storm | N |
| Now answers like a courtly dame | O |
| The reddening surges o'er | P |
| With flying scarf of spangled flame | O |
| The Pharos of the shore | Q |
| - | |
| To night yon pilot shall not sleep | G |
| Who trims his narrowed sail | R |
| To night yon frigate scarce shall keep | G |
| Her broad breast to the gale | R |
| And many a foresail scooped and strained | S |
| Shall break from yard and stay | T |
| Before this smoky wreath has stained | S |
| The rising mist of day | T |
| - | |
| Hark hark I hear yon whistling shroud | U |
| I see yon quivering mast | V |
| The black throat of the hunted cloud | U |
| Is panting forth the blast | V |
| An hour and whirled like winnowing chaff | W |
| The giant surge shall fling | X |
| His tresses o'er yon pennon staff | W |
| White as the sea bird's wing | X |
| - | |
| Yet rest ye wanderers of the deep | G |
| Nor wind nor wave shall tire | P |
| Those fleshless arms whose pulses leap | G |
| With floods of living fire | P |
| Sleep on and when the morning light | Y |
| Streams o'er the shining bay | T |
| Oh think of those for whom the night | Y |
| Shall never wake in day | T |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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About The Steamboat
The Steamboat is a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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