A Vision Of The Sea Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGAAHHII JKIILLMMIINNOOPPJJQQ OORRIIIIGGIIMMEEIISS IITUTVVLLJJWWXXYYLLZ ZLLA2A2B2B2SSC2C2IIX LD2D2IIIIE2E2F2MMG2G 2IITTG2G2VVIIG2G2SSH 2H2H2H2G2G2I2I2G2G2J 2J2VSVK2K2H2H2H2H2L2 L2H2H2IIVVG2G2IIIIIH 2K2VVG2G2G2G2VVG2

'Tis the terror of tempest The rags of the sailA
Are flickering in ribbons within the fierce galeA
From the stark night of vapours the dim rain is drivenB
And when lightning is loosed like a deluge from HeavenB
She sees the black trunks of the waterspouts spinC
And bend as if Heaven was ruining inC
Which they seemed to sustain with their terrible massD
As if ocean had sunk from beneath them they passD
To their graves in the deep with an earthquake of soundE
And the waves and the thunders made silent aroundE
Leave the wind to its echo The vessel now tossedF
Through the low trailing rack of the tempest is lostF
In the skirts of the thunder cloud now down the sweepG
Of the wind cloven wave to the chasm of the deepG
It sinks and the walls of the watery valeA
Whose depths of dread calm are unmoved by the galeA
Dim mirrors of ruin hang gleaming aboutH
While the surf like a chaos of stars like a routH
Of death flames like whirlpools of fire flowing ironI
With splendour and terror the black ship environI
Or like sulphur flakes hurled from a mine of pale fireJ
In fountains spout o'er it In many a spireK
The pyramid billows with white points of brineI
In the cope of the lightning inconstantly shineI
As piercing the sky from the floor of the seaL
The great ship seems splitting it cracks as a treeL
While an earthquake is splintering its root ere the blastM
Of the whirlwind that stripped it of branches has passedM
The intense thunder balls which are raining from HeavenI
Have shattered its mast and it stands black and rivenI
The chinks suck destruction The heavy dead hulkN
On the living sea rolls an inanimate bulkN
Like a corpse on the clay which is hungering to foldO
Its corruption around it Meanwhile from the holdO
One deck is burst up by the waters belowP
And it splits like the ice when the thaw breezes blowP
O'er the lakes of the desert Who sit on the otherJ
Is that all the crew that lie burying each otherJ
Like the dead in a breach round the foremast Are thoseQ
Twin tigers who burst when the waters aroseQ
In the agony of terror their chains in the holdO
What now makes them tame is what then made them boldO
Who crouch side by side and have driven like a crankR
The deep grip of their claws through the vibrating plankR
Are these all Nine weeks the tall vessel had lainI
On the windless expanse of the watery plainI
Where the death darting sun cast no shadow at noonI
And there seemed to be fire in the beams of the moonI
Till a lead coloured fog gathered up from the deepG
Whose breath was quick pestilence then the cold sleepG
Crept like blight through the ears of a thick field of cornI
O'er the populous vessel And even and mornI
With their hammocks for coffins the seamen aghastM
Like dead men the dead limbs of their comrades castM
Down the deep which closed on them above and aroundE
And the sharks and the dogfish their grave clothes unboundE
And were glutted like Jews with this manna rained downI
From God on their wilderness One after oneI
The mariners died on the eve of this dayS
When the tempest was gathering in cloudy arrayS
But seven remained Six the thunder has smittenI
And they lie black as mummies on which Time has writtenI
His scorn of the embalmer the seventh from the deckT
An oak splinter pierced through his breast and his backU
And hung out to the tempest a wreck on the wreckT
No more At the helm sits a woman more fairV
Than Heaven when unbinding its star braided hairV
It sinks with the sun on the earth and the seaL
She clasps a bright child on her upgathered kneeL
It laughs at the lightning it mocks the mixed thunderJ
Of the air and the sea with desire and with wonderJ
It is beckoning the tigers to rise and come nearW
It would play with those eyes where the radiance of fearW
Is outshining the meteors its bosom beats highX
The heart fire of pleasure has kindled its eyeX
While its mother's is lustreless 'Smile not my childY
But sleep deeply and sweetly and so be beguiledY
Of the pang that awaits us whatever that beL
So dreadful since thou must divide it with meL
Dream sleep This pale bosom thy cradle and bedZ
Will it rock thee not infant 'Tis beating with dreadZ
Alas what is life what is death what are weL
That when the ship sinks we no longer may beL
What to see thee no more and to feel thee no moreA2
To be after life what we have been beforeA2
Not to touch those sweet hands Not to look on those eyesB2
Those lips and that hair all the smiling disguiseB2
Thou yet wearest sweet Spirit which I day by dayS
Have so long called my child but which now fades awayS
Like a rainbow and I the fallen shower ' Lo the shipC2
Is settling it topples the leeward ports dipC2
The tigers leap up when they feel the slow brineI
Crawling inch by inch on them hair ears limbs and eyneI
Stand rigid with horror a loud long hoarse cryX
Bursts at once from their vitals tremendouslyL
And 'tis borne down the mountainous vale of the waveD2
Rebounding like thunder from crag to caveD2
Mixed with the clash of the lashing rainI
Hurried on by the might of the hurricaneI
The hurricane came from the west and passed onI
By the path of the gate of the eastern sunI
Transversely dividing the stream of the stormE2
As an arrowy serpent pursuing the formE2
Of an elephant bursts through the brakes of the wasteF2
Black as a cormorant the screaming blastM
Between Ocean and Heaven like an ocean passedM
Till it came to the clouds on the verge of the worldG2
Which based on the sea and to Heaven upcurledG2
Like columns and walls did surround and sustainI
The dome of the tempest it rent them in twainI
As a flood rends its barriers of mountainous cragT
And the dense clouds in many a ruin and ragT
Like the stones of a temple ere earthquake has passedG2
Like the dust of its fall on the whirlwind are castG2
They are scattered like foam on the torrent and whereV
The wind has burst out through the chasm from the airV
Of clear morning the beams of the sunrise flow inI
Unimpeded keen golden and crystallineI
Banded armies of light and of air at one gateG2
They encounter but interpenetrateG2
And that breach in the tempest is widening awayS
And the caverns of cloud are torn up by the dayS
And the fierce winds are sinking with weary wingsH2
Lulled by the motion and murmuringsH2
And the long glassy heave of the rocking seaH2
And overhead glorious but dreadful to seeH2
The wrecks of the tempest like vapours of goldG2
Are consuming in sunrise The heaped waves beholdG2
The deep calm of blue Heaven dilating aboveI2
And like passions made still by the presence of LoveI2
Beneath the clear surface reflecting it slideG2
Tremulous with soft influence extending its tideG2
From the Andes to Atlas round mountain and isleJ2
Round sea birds and wrecks paved with Heaven's azure smileJ2
The wide world of waters is vibrating WhereV
Is the ship On the verge of the wave where it layS
One tiger is mingled in ghastly affrayV
With a sea snake The foam and the smoke of the battleK2
Stain the clear air with sunbows the jar and the rattleK2
Of solid bones crushed by the infinite stressH2
Of the snake's adamantine voluminousnessH2
And the hum of the hot blood that spouts and rainsH2
Where the gripe of the tiger has wounded the veinsH2
Swollen with rage strength and effort the whirl and the splashL2
As of some hideous engine whose brazen teeth smashL2
The thin winds and soft waves into thunder the screamsH2
And hissings crawl fast o'er the smooth ocean streamsH2
Each sound like a centipede Near this commotionI
A blue shark is hanging within the blue oceanI
The fin winged tomb of the victor The otherV
Is winning his way from the fate of his brotherV
To his own with the speed of despair Lo a boatG2
Advances twelve rowers with the impulse of thoughtG2
Urge on the keen keel the brine foams At the sternI
Three marksmen stand levelling Hot bullets burnI
In the breast of the tiger which yet bears him onI
To his refuge and ruin One fragment aloneI
'Tis dwindling and sinking 'tis now almost goneI
Of the wreck of the vessel peers out of the seaH2
With her left hand she grasps it impetuouslyK2
With her right she sustains her fair infant Death FearV
Love Beauty are mixed in the atmosphereV
Which trembles and burns with the fervour of dreadG2
Around her wild eyes her bright hand and her headG2
Like a meteor of light o'er the waters her childG2
Is yet smiling and playing and murmuring so smiledG2
The false deep ere the storm Like a sister and brotherV
The child and the ocean still smile on each otherV
WhilstG2

Percy Bysshe Shelley



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