Epipsychidion (excerpt) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABBCCDDAAEFGGAAHIJKL LMMNNCCOOPQPRRSSTTTT TTUUVVWXYYTPZLPPA2A2 B2C2PPPD2PPPPTTTAAE2 E2TTBF2PPG2G2G2TTPPW WD2PPPTTD2PE2E2TTYYP P PPPPF2F2AAPPD2PPPAAP PTTPPUUA2A2AAPPPPPPP PTTH2H2UUUTTVI2PD2PP PPTTTTPPXXPPJ2J2AAPJ 2

EmilyA
A ship is floating in the harbour nowB
A wind is hovering o'er the mountain's browB
There is a path on the sea's azure floorC
No keel has ever plough'd that path beforeC
The halcyons brood around the foamless islesD
The treacherous Ocean has forsworn its wilesD
The merry mariners are bold and freeA
Say my heart's sister wilt thou sail with meA
Our bark is as an albatross whose nestE
Is a far Eden of the purple EastF
And we between her wings will sit while NightG
And Day and Storm and Calm pursue their flightG
Our ministers along the boundless SeaA
Treading each other's heels unheededlyA
It is an isle under Ionian skiesH
Beautiful as a wreck of ParadiseI
And for the harbours are not safe and goodJ
This land would have remain'd a solitudeK
But for some pastoral people native thereL
Who from the Elysian clear and golden airL
Draw the last spirit of the age of goldM
Simple and spirited innocent and boldM
The blue Aegean girds this chosen homeN
With ever changing sound and light and foamN
Kissing the sifted sands and caverns hoarC
And all the winds wandering along the shoreC
Undulate with the undulating tideO
There are thick woods where sylvan forms abideO
And many a fountain rivulet and pondP
As clear as elemental diamondQ
Or serene morning air and far beyondP
The mossy tracks made by the goats and deerR
Which the rough shepherd treads but once a yearR
Pierce into glades caverns and bowers and hallsS
Built round with ivy which the waterfallsS
Illumining with sound that never failsT
Accompany the noonday nightingalesT
And all the place is peopled with sweet airsT
The light clear element which the isle wearsT
Is heavy with the scent of lemon flowersT
Which floats like mist laden with unseen showersT
And falls upon the eyelids like faint sleepU
And from the moss violets and jonquils peepU
And dart their arrowy odour through the brainV
Till you might faint with that delicious painV
And every motion odour beam and toneW
With that deep music is in unisonX
Which is a soul within the soul they seemY
Like echoes of an antenatal dreamY
It is an isle 'twixt Heaven Air Earth and SeaT
Cradled and hung in clear tranquillityP
Bright as that wandering Eden LuciferZ
Wash'd by the soft blue Oceans of young airL
It is a favour'd place Famine or BlightP
Pestilence War and Earthquake never lightP
Upon its mountain peaks blind vultures theyA2
Sail onward far upon their fatal wayA2
The wing egrave d storms chanting their thunder psalmB2
To other lands leave azure chasms of calmC2
Over this isle or weep themselves in dewP
From which its fields and woods ever renewP
Their green and golden immortalityP
And from the sea there rise and from the skyD2
There fall clear exhalations soft and brightP
Veil after veil each hiding some delightP
Which Sun or Moon or zephyr draw asideP
Till the isle's beauty like a naked brideP
Glowing at once with love and lovelinessT
Blushes and trembles at its own excessT
Yet like a buried lamp a Soul no lessT
Burns in the heart of this delicious isleA
An atom of th' Eternal whose own smileA
Unfolds itself and may be felt not seenE2
O'er the gray rocks blue waves and forests greenE2
Filling their bare and void intersticesT
But the chief marvel of the wildernessT
Is a lone dwelling built by whom or howB
None of the rustic island people knowF2
'Tis not a tower of strength though with its heightP
It overtops the woods but for delightP
Some wise and tender Ocean King ere crimeG2
Had been invented in the world's young primeG2
Rear'd it a wonder of that simple timeG2
An envy of the isles a pleasure houseT
Made sacred to his sister and his spouseT
It scarce seems now a wreck of human artP
But as it were Titanic in the heartP
Of Earth having assum'd its form then grownW
Out of the mountains from the living stoneW
Lifting itself in caverns light and highD2
For all the antique and learned imageryP
Has been eras'd and in the place of itP
The ivy and the wild vine interknitP
The volumes of their many twining stemsT
Parasite flowers illume with dewy gemsT
The lampless halls and when they fade the skyD2
Peeps through their winter woof of traceryP
With moonlight patches or star atoms keenE2
Or fragments of the day's intense sereneE2
Working mosaic on their Parian floorsT
And day and night aloof from the high towersT
And terraces the Earth and Ocean seemY
To sleep in one another's arms and dreamY
Of waves flowers clouds woods rocks and all that weP
Read in their smiles and call realityP
-
This isle and house are mine and I have vow'dP
Thee to be lady of the solitudeP
And I have fitted up some chambers thereP
Looking towards the golden Eastern airP
And level with the living winds which flowF2
Like waves above the living waves belowF2
I have sent books and music there and allA
Those instruments with which high Spirits callA
The future from its cradle and the pastP
Out of its grave and make the present lastP
In thoughts and joys which sleep but cannot dieD2
Folded within their own eternityP
Our simple life wants little and true tasteP
Hires not the pale drudge Luxury to wasteP
The scene it would adorn and therefore stillA
Nature with all her children haunts the hillA
The ring dove in the embowering ivy yetP
Keeps up her love lament and the owls flitP
Round the evening tower and the young stars glanceT
Between the quick bats in their twilight danceT
The spotted deer bask in the fresh moonlightP
Before our gate and the slow silent nightP
Is measur'd by the pants of their calm sleepU
Be this our home in life and when years heapU
Their wither'd hours like leaves on our decayA2
Let us become the overhanging dayA2
The living soul of this Elysian isleA
Conscious inseparable one MeanwhileA
We two will rise and sit and walk togetherP
Under the roof of blue Ionian weatherP
And wander in the meadows or ascendP
The mossy mountains where the blue heavens bendP
With lightest winds to touch their paramourP
Or linger where the pebble paven shoreP
Under the quick faint kisses of the seaP
Trembles and sparkles as with ecstasyP
Possessing and possess'd by all that isT
Within that calm circumference of blissT
And by each other till to love and liveH2
Be one or at the noontide hour arriveH2
Where some old cavern hoar seems yet to keepU
The moonlight of the expir'd night asleepU
Through which the awaken'd day can never peepU
A veil for our seclusion close as night'sT
Where secure sleep may kill thine innocent lightsT
Sleep the fresh dew of languid love the rainV
Whose drops quench kisses till they burn againI2
And we will talk until thought's melodyP
Become too sweet for utterance and it dieD2
In words to live again in looks which dartP
With thrilling tone into the voiceless heartP
Harmonizing silence without a soundP
Our breath shall intermix our bosoms boundP
And our veins beat together and our lipsT
With other eloquence than words eclipseT
The soul that burns between them and the wellsT
Which boil under our being's inmost cellsT
The fountains of our deepest life shall beP
Confus'd in Passion's golden purityP
As mountain springs under the morning sunX
We shall become the same we shall be oneX
Spirit within two frames oh wherefore twoP
One passion in twin hearts which grows and grewP
Till like two meteors of expanding flameJ2
Those spheres instinct with it become the sameJ2
Touch mingle are transfigur'd ever stillA
Burning yet ever inconsumableA
In one another's substance finding foodP
Like flames too pure and light and unimbuJ2

Percy Bysshe Shelley



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