Thebais - Book Two Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDEEFGHHIJKKLLAA MMNNOODDPPQQRSAAHHTU VWXXYYBBOOWWZZA2A2B2 B2WWWAC2C2AWOOPPBBBB WWAAAD2E2F2WWWWBBG2G 2E2E2WWG2G2WWNow Jove s Command fulfill d the Son of May | A |
Quits the black Shades and slowly mounts to Day | A |
For lazy Clouds in gloomy Barriers rise | B |
Obstruct the God and intercept the Skies | B |
No Zephyrs here their airy pinions move | C |
To spread his progress to the Realms above | D |
Scarce can he steer his dark laborious Flight | E |
Lost and encumber d in the Damps of Night | E |
There roaring Tides of Fire his Course withstood | F |
Here Styx in nine wide Circles roll d his Flood | G |
Behind old Laius trod th infernal Ground | H |
Trembling with Age and tardy from his Wound | H |
For all his Force his furious Son apply d | I |
And plung d the guilty Faulchion in his Side | J |
Propt and supported by the healing Rod | K |
The Shade pursued the Footsteps of the God | K |
The Groves that never bloom the Stygian Coasts | L |
The House of Woe the Mansions of Ghosts | L |
Earth too admires to see the Ground give way | A |
And gild Hell s Horrors with the Gleams of Day | A |
But not with Life repining Envy fled | M |
She still reigns there and lives among the Dead | M |
One from this Crowd exclaim d whose lawless Will | N |
Inur d to Crimes and exercis d in Ill | N |
Taught his prepost rous Joys from Pains to flow | O |
And never triumph d but in Scenes of Woe | O |
Go to thy Province in the Realms above | D |
Call d by the Furies or the Will of Jove | D |
Or drawn by Magick Force or Mystick Spell | P |
Rise and purge off the sooty Gloom of Hell | P |
Go see the Sun and whiten in his Beams | Q |
Or haunt the flow ry Fields and limpid Streams | Q |
With Woes redoubled to return again | R |
When thy past pleasures shall enhance thy Pain | S |
Now by the Stygian Dog they bent their Way | A |
Stretch d in his Den the dreadful Monster lay | A |
But lay not long for startling at the Sound | H |
Head above Head he rises from the Ground | H |
from their close Folds his startling Serpents break | T |
And curlin horrid Circles round his Neck | U |
This saw the God and stretching forth his Hand | V |
Lull d the grim Monster with his potent Want | W |
Thro his vast Bulk the gliding Slumbers creep | X |
And sent down all his glaring Eyes in Sleep | X |
There lies a Place in Greece well known to Fame | Y |
Thro all her Realms and T narus the Name | Y |
Where from the Sea the Tops of Malea rise | B |
Beyond the Ken of Mortals to the Skies | B |
Proud in his Height he calmly hears below | O |
The distant Winds in hollow Murmurs blow | O |
Here sleep the Storms when weary d and opprest | W |
And on his Head the drowsy Planets rest | W |
There in blue Mists his rocky Sides he shrouds | Z |
Ane here the tow ring Mountain props the Clouds | Z |
Above his awfu Brow no Bird can fly | A2 |
And far beneath the mutt rung Thunders die | A2 |
When down the Steep of Heav n the Day descends | B2 |
The Sun so wide his floating Bound extends | B2 |
That o er the Deeps the Mountain hangs display d | W |
And covers half the Ocean with his Shade | W |
Where the T narian Shores oppose the Sea | W |
The Land retreats and winds into a Bay | A |
Here for Repose Inperian Neptune leads | C2 |
Tir d from th gean Floods his smoaking Steeds | C2 |
With their broad Hoofs they scoop the Beach away | A |
Their finny Train rolls back and floats along the Sea | W |
Here Fame reports th unbody d Shades to go | O |
Thro this wide Passage to the Realms below | O |
From hence the peasants As th Arcadians tell | P |
Hear all the Cries and Groans and Din of Hell | P |
Oft as her Scourge of Snakes and Fury plies | B |
The piercing Echoes mount the distant Skies | B |
Scar d at the Porter s triple Roar the Swains | B |
Have fled astonish d and forsook the Plains | B |
From hence emergent in a mantling Cloud | W |
Sprung to his native Skies the winged God | W |
Swift from his Face before th Ethereal Ray | A |
Flew all the black Tartarean Strains away | A |
And the dark Stygian Gloom refin d to Day | A |
O er the Towns and Realms he held his Progress on | D2 |
Now wing d the Skies where bright Arcturus shone | E2 |
And now the silent Empire of the Moon | F2 |
The Pow r of Sleep who met his radiant Flight | W |
And drove the solemn Chariot of the Night | W |
Rode with respect and from th empyreal Road | W |
Turned his pale Steeds in reverence to the God | W |
The Shade beneath pursues his Course and spies | B |
The well known Planets and congenial Skies | B |
His Eyes from far tall Cyrrha s Heights explore | G2 |
And Phocian Fields polluted with his Gore | G2 |
At length to Thebes he came and with a Groan | E2 |
Survey d the guilty Palace on his own | E2 |
With awful Silence stalk d before the Gate | W |
But when he saw the Trophies of his fate | W |
High on a Column rais d against the Door | G2 |
And his rich Chariot still deform d with Gore | G2 |
He starts with horror back ev n Jove s Command | W |
could scarce controul him nor the vital Wand | W |
Pablius Papinius Statius
(1)
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