Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar

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Frederick Douglass Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCC DEFEGG HIHIJJ GGGGKK LMLMNN OPOPQQ RSRSBB GLGLTU GVGVGG WXWXVVGG

A hush is over all the teeming listsA
And there is pause a breath space in the strifeB
A spirit brave has passed beyond the mistsA
And vapors that obscure the sun of lifeB
And Ethiopia with bosom tornC
Laments the passing of her noblest bornC
-
She weeps for him a mother's burning tearsD
She loved him with a mother's deepest loveE
He was her champion thro' direful yearsF
And held her weal all other ends aboveE
When Bondage held her bleeding in the dustG
He raised her up and whispered Hope and TrustG
-
For her his voice a fearless clarion rungH
That broke in warning on the ears of menI
For her the strong bow of his power he strungH
And sent his arrows to the very denI
Where grim Oppression held his bloody placeJ
And gloated o'er the mis'ries of a raceJ
-
And he was no soft tongued apologistG
He spoke straightforward fearlessly uncowedG
The sunlight of his truth dispelled the mistG
And set in bold relief each dark hued cloudG
To sin and crime he gave their proper hueK
And hurled at evil what was evil's dueK
-
Through good and ill report he cleaved his wayL
Right onward with his face set toward the heightsM
Nor feared to face the foeman's dread arrayL
The lash of scorn the sting of petty spitesM
He dared the lightning in the lightning's trackN
And answered thunder with his thunder backN
-
When men maligned him and their torrent wrathO
In furious imprecations o'er him brokeP
He kept his counsel as he kept his pathO
'T was for his race not for himself he spokeP
He knew the import of his Master's callQ
And felt himself too mighty to be smallQ
-
No miser in the good he held was heR
His kindness followed his horizon's rimS
His heart his talents and his hands were freeR
To all who truly needed aught of himS
Where poverty and ignorance were rifeB
He gave his bounty as he gave his lifeB
-
The place and cause that first aroused his mightG
Still proved its power until his latest dayL
In Freedom's lists and for the aid of RightG
Still in the foremost rank he waged the frayL
Wrong lived his occupation was not goneT
He died in action with his armor onU
-
We weep for him but we have touched his handG
And felt the magic of his presence nighV
The current that he sent throughout the landG
The kindling spirit of his battle cryV
O'er all that holds us we shall triumph yetG
And place our banner where his hopes were setG
-
Oh Douglass thou hast passed beyond the shoreW
But still thy voice is ringing o'er the galeX
Thou 'st taught thy race how high her hopes may soarW
And bade her seek the heights nor faint nor failX
She will not fail she heeds thy stirring cryV
She knows thy guardian spirit will be nighV
And rising from beneath the chast'ning rodG
She stretches out her bleeding hands to GodG

Paul Laurence Dunbar



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