Queen Mab: Part I. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGH IJKLDJMNOAPQRJIQSJTU VW TJJJXIYZA2YYYYB2 YC2JD2SE2JJBYF2JYG2 H2NF2YI2YJ2F2Y JC2YJJF2K2YNJB CLF2J2ZYYF2CH2L2YYJS YI2JYJ2EF2LH2QF2 J2YYM2LNJN2O2 F2YYJC2IYINP2CJF2JQ2 R2S2 JYF2T2JJYYQ S2IJNYYF2T2NQU2F2SYV 2F2H2J F2BE2YY YSIF2F2 F2QBYTYJSJW2X2Y2S2F2 S2S2YS2S2NF2 S2S2Z2A3B3S2S2C3JS2S 2S2S2S2S2NH2JS2 V2JS2FEV2JF2JD3SE3G2 P2S2 F3G3S2S2JH3EJI3 S2FS2IW2

HOW wonderful is DeathA
Death and his brother SleepB
One pale as yonder waning moonC
With lips of lurid blueD
The other rosy as the mornE
When throned on ocean's waveF
It blushes o'er the worldG
Yet both so passing wonderfulH
-
Hath then the gloomy PowerI
Whose reign is in the tainted sepulchresJ
Seized on her sinless soulK
Must then that peerless formL
Which love and admiration cannot viewD
Without a beating heart those azure veinsJ
Which steal like streams along a field of snowM
That lovely outline which is fairN
As breathing marble perishO
Must putrefaction's breathA
Leave nothing of this heavenly sightP
But loathsomeness and ruinQ
Spare nothing but a gloomy themeR
On which the lightest heart might moralizeJ
Or is it only a sweet slumberI
Stealing o'er sensationQ
Which the breath of roseate morningS
Chaseth into darknessJ
Will Ianthe wake againT
And give that faithful bosom joyU
Whose sleepless spirit waits to catchV
Light life and rapture from her smileW
-
Yes she will wake againT
Although her glowing limbs are motionlessJ
And silent those sweet lipsJ
Once breathing eloquenceJ
That might have soothed a tiger's rageX
Or thawed the cold heart of a conquerorI
Her dewy eyes are closedY
And on their lids whose texture fineZ
Scarce hides the dark blue orbs beneathA2
The baby Sleep is pillowedY
Her golden tresses shadeY
The bosom's stainless prideY
Curling like tendrils of the parasiteY
Around a marble columnB2
-
Hark whence that rushing soundY
'T is like the wondrous strainC2
That round a lonely ruin swellsJ
Which wandering on the echoing shoreD2
The enthusiast hears at eveningS
'T is softer than the west wind's sighE2
'T is wilder than the unmeasured notesJ
Of that strange lyre whose stringsJ
The genii of the breezes sweepB
Those lines of rainbow lightY
Are like the moonbeams when they fallF2
Through some cathedral window but the tintsJ
Are such as may not findY
Comparison on earthG2
-
Behold the chariot of the Fairy QueenH2
Celestial coursers paw the unyielding airN
Their filmy pennons at her word they furlF2
And stop obedient to the reins of lightY
These the Queen of Spells drew inI2
She spread a charm around the spotY
And leaning graceful from the ethereal carJ2
Long did she gaze and silentlyF2
Upon the slumbering maidY
-
Oh not the visioned poet in his dreamsJ
When silvery clouds float through the wildered brainC2
When every sight of lovely wild and grandY
Astonishes enraptures elevatesJ
When fancy at a glance combinesJ
The wondrous and the beautifulF2
So bright so fair so wild a shapeK2
Hath ever yet beheldY
As that which reined the coursers of the airN
And poured the magic of her gazeJ
Upon the maiden's sleepB
-
The broad and yellow moonC
Shone dimly through her formL
That form of faultless symmetryF2
The pearly and pellucid carJ2
Moved not the moonlight's lineZ
'T was not an earthly pageantY
Those who had looked upon the sightY
Passing all human gloryF2
Saw not the yellow moonC
Saw not the mortal sceneH2
Heard not the night wind's rushL2
Heard not an earthly soundY
Saw but the fairy pageantY
Heard but the heavenly strainsJ
That filled the lonely dwellingS
-
The Fairy's frame was slight yon fibrous cloudY
That catches but the palest tinge of evenI2
And which the straining eye can hardly seizeJ
When melting into eastern twilight's shadowY
Were scarce so thin so slight but the fair starJ2
That gems the glittering coronet of mornE
Sheds not a light so mild so powerfulF2
As that which bursting from the Fairy's formL
Spread a purpureal halo round the sceneH2
Yet with an undulating motionQ
Swayed to her outline gracefullyF2
-
From her celestial carJ2
The Fairy Queen descendedY
And thrice she waved her wandY
Circled with wreaths of amaranthM2
Her thin and misty formL
Moved with the moving airN
And the clear silver tonesJ
As thus she spoke were suchN2
As are unheard by all but gifted earO2
-
FAIRYF2
'Stars your balmiest influence shedY
Elements your wrath suspendY
Sleep Ocean in the rocky boundsJ
That circle thy domainC2
Let not a breath be seen to stirI
Around yon grass grown ruin's heightY
Let even the restless gossamerI
Sleep on the moveless airN
Soul of Ianthe thouP2
Judged alone worthy of the envied boonC
That waits the good and the sincere that waitsJ
Those who have struggled and with resolute willF2
Vanquished earth's pride and meanness burst the chainsJ
The icy chains of custom and have shoneQ2
The day stars of their age Soul ofR2
IantheS2
Awake arise '-
-
Sudden aroseJ
Ianthe's Soul it stoodY
All beautiful in naked purityF2
The perfect semblance of its bodily frameT2
Instinct with inexpressible beauty and graceJ
Each stain of earthlinessJ
Had passed away it reassumedY
Its native dignity and stoodY
Immortal amid ruinQ
-
Upon the couch the body layS2
Wrapt in the depth of slumberI
Its features were fixed and meaninglessJ
Yet animal life was thereN
And every organ yet performedY
Its natural functions 'twas a sightY
Of wonder to behold the body and the soulF2
The self same lineaments the sameT2
Marks of identity were thereN
Yet oh how different One aspires to HeavenQ
Pants for its sempiternal heritageU2
And ever changing ever rising stillF2
Wantons in endless beingS
The other for a time the unwilling sportY
Of circumstance and passion struggles onV2
Fleets through its sad duration rapidlyF2
Then like an useless and worn out machineH2
Rots perishes and passesJ
-
FAIRYF2
'Spirit who hast dived so deepB
Spirit who hast soared so highE2
Thou the fearless thou the mildY
Accept the boon thy worth hath earnedY
Ascend the car with me '-
-
SPIRITY
'Do I dream Is this new feelingS
But a visioned ghost of slumberI
If indeed I am a soulF2
A free a disembodied soulF2
Speak again to me '-
-
FAIRYF2
'I am the Fairy MAB to me 'tis givenQ
The wonders of the human world to keepB
The secrets of the immeasurable pastY
In the unfailing consciences of menT
Those stern unflattering chroniclers I findY
The future from the causes which ariseJ
In each event I gather not the stingS
Which retributive memory implantsJ
In the hard bosom of the selfish manW2
Nor that ecstatic and exulting throbX2
Which virtue's votary feels when he sums upY2
The thoughts and actions of a well spent dayS2
Are unforeseen unregistered by meF2
And it is yet permitted me to rendS2
The veil of mortal frailty that the spiritS2
Clothed in its changeless purity may knowY
How soonest to accomplish the great endS2
For which it hath its being and may tasteS2
That peace which in the end all life will shareN
This is the meed of virtue happy SoulF2
Ascend the car with me '-
-
The chains of earth's immurementS2
Fell from Ianthe's spiritS2
They shrank and brake like bandages of strawZ2
Beneath a wakened giant's strengthA3
She knew her glorious changeB3
And felt in apprehension uncontrolledS2
New raptures opening roundS2
Each day dream of her mortal lifeC3
Each frenzied vision of the slumbersJ
That closed each well spent dayS2
Seemed now to meet realityS2
The Fairy and the Soul proceededS2
The silver clouds dispartedS2
And as the car of magic they ascendedS2
Again the speechless music swelledS2
Again the coursers of the airN
Unfurled their azure pennons and the QueenH2
Shaking the beamy reinsJ
Bade them pursue their wayS2
-
The magic car moved onV2
The night was fair and countless starsJ
Studded heaven's dark blue vaultS2
Just o'er the eastern waveF
Peeped the first faint smile of mornE
The magic car moved onV2
From the celestial hoofsJ
The atmosphere in flaming sparkles flewF2
And where the burning wheelsJ
Eddied above the mountain's loftiest peakD3
Was traced a line of lightningS
Now it flew far above a rockE3
The utmost verge of earthG2
The rival of the Andes whose dark browP2
Lowered o'er the silver seaS2
-
Far far below the chariot's pathF3
Calm as a slumbering babeG3
Tremendous Ocean layS2
The mirror of its stillness showedS2
The pale and waning starsJ
The chariot's fiery trackH3
And the gray light of mornE
Tinging those fleecy cloudsJ
That canopied the dawnI3
-
Seemed it that the chariot's wayS2
Lay through the midst of an immense concaveF
Radiant with million constellations tingedS2
With shades of infinite colorI
AnW2

Percy Bysshe Shelley



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