The Sensitive Plant Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABBCC DDEE FGHI JKLM NNOO PPQQ BBOO EEDD RRSS OOTT TTBB USOO OOOO OOBBB OOVJ TTWW JJXX JJYY YZA2B2 OOC2C2 UUOO SSOO JJTT YDSS D2D2E2E2 JJOO PPJJ JJJJJ J OOTT JJWW F2WG2H2 OOOO I2I2YY JJJJ JJE2E2 JJTT TTOO OOUU OOJ2J2 A2A2JJ OOUU TTK2K2 L2L2JJ J DYOO

PARTA
A Sensitive Plant in a garden grewB
And the young winds fed it with silver dewB
And it opened its fan like leaves to the lightC
And closed them beneath the kisses of NightC
-
And the Spring arose on the garden fairD
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhereD
And each flower and herb on Earth s dark breastE
Rose from the dreams of its wintry restE
-
But none ever trembled and panted with blissF
In the garden the field or the wildernessG
Like a doe in the noontide with love s sweet wantH
As the companionless Sensitive PlantI
-
The snowdrop and then the violetJ
Arose from the ground with warm rain wetK
And their breath was mixed with fresh odour sentL
From the turf like the voice and the instrumentM
-
Then the pied wind flowers and the tulip tallN
And narcissi the fairest among them allN
Who gaze on their eyes in the stream s recessO
Till they die of their own dear lovelinessO
-
And the Naiad like lily of the valeP
Whom youth makes so fair and passion so paleP
That the light of its tremulous bells is seenQ
Through their pavilions of tender greenQ
-
And the hyacinth purple and white and blueB
Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anewB
Of music so delicate soft and intenseO
It was felt like an odour within the senseO
-
And the rose like a nymph to the bath addressedE
Which unveiled the depth of her glowing breastE
Till fold after fold to the fainting airD
The soul of her beauty and love lay bareD
-
And the wand like lily which lifted upR
As a Maenad its moonlight coloured cupR
Till the fiery star which is its eyeS
Gazed through clear dew on the tender skyS
-
And the jessamine faint and the sweet tuberoseO
The sweetest flower for scent that blowsO
And all rare blossoms from every climeT
Grew in that garden in perfect primeT
-
And on the stream whose inconstant bosomT
Was pranked under boughs of embowering blossomT
With golden and green light slanting throughB
Their heaven of many a tangled hueB
-
Broad water lilies lay tremulouslyU
And starry river buds glimmered byS
And around them the soft stream did glide and danceO
With a motion of sweet sound and radianceO
-
And the sinuous paths of lawn and of mossO
Which led through the garden along and acrossO
Some open at once to the sun and the breezeO
Some lost among bowers of blossoming treesO
-
Were all paved with daisies and delicate bellsO
As fair as the fabulous asphodelsO
And flow rets which drooping as day drooped tooB
Fell into pavilions white purple and blueB
To roof the glow worm from the evening dewB
-
And from this undefiled ParadiseO
The flowers as an infant s awakening eyesO
Smile on its mother whose singing sweetV
Can first lull and at last must awaken itJ
-
When Heaven s blithe winds had unfolded themT
As mine lamps enkindle a hidden gemT
Shone smiling to Heaven and every oneW
Shared joy in the light of the gentle sunW
-
For each one was interpenetratedJ
With the light and the odour its neighbour shedJ
Like young lovers whom youth and love make dearX
Wrapped and filled by their mutual atmosphereX
-
But the Sensitive Plant which could give small fruitJ
Of the love which it felt from the leaf to the rootJ
Received more than all it loved more than everY
Where none wanted but it could belong to the giverY
-
For the Sensitive Plant has no bright flowerY
Radiance and odour are not its dowerZ
It loves even like Love its deep heart is fullA2
It desires what it has not the BeautifulB2
-
The light winds which from unsustaining wingsO
Shed the music of many murmuringsO
The beams which dart from many a starC2
Of the flowers whose hues they bear afarC2
-
The plumed insects swift and freeU
Like golden boats on a sunny seaU
Laden with light and odour which passO
Over the gleam of the living grassO
-
The unseen clouds of the dew which lieS
Like fire in the flowers till the sun rides highS
Then wander like spirits among the spheresO
Each cloud faint with the fragrance it bearsO
-
The quivering vapours of dim noontideJ
Which like a sea o er the warm earth glideJ
In which every sound and odour and beamT
Move as reeds in a single streamT
-
Each and all like ministering angels wereY
For the Sensitive Plant sweet joy to bearD
Whilst the lagging hours of the day went byS
Like windless clouds o er a tender skyS
-
And when evening descended from Heaven aboveD2
And the Earth was all rest and the air was all loveD2
And delight though less bright was far more deepE2
And the day s veil fell from the world of sleepE2
-
And the beasts and the birds and the insects were drownedJ
In an ocean of dreams without a soundJ
Whose waves never mark though they ever impressO
The light sand which paves it consciousnessO
-
Only overhead the sweet nightingaleP
Ever sang more sweet as the day might failP
And snatches of its Elysian chantJ
Were mixed with the dreams of the Sensitive PlantJ
-
The Sensitive Plant was the earliestJ
Upgathered into the bosom of restJ
A sweet child weary of its delightJ
The feeblest and yet the favouriteJ
Cradled within the embrace of NightJ
-
PARTJ
-
There was a Power in this sweet placeO
An Eve in this Eden a ruling GraceO
Which to the flowers did they waken or dreamT
Was as God is to the starry schemeT
-
A Lady the wonder of her kindJ
Whose form was upborne by a lovely mindJ
Which dilating had moulded her mien and motionW
Like a sea flower unfolded beneath the oceanW
-
Tended the garden from morn to evenF2
And the meteors of that sublunar HeavenW
Like the lamps of the air when Night walks forthG2
Laughed round her footsteps up from the EarthH2
-
She had no companion of mortal raceO
But her tremulous breath and her flushing faceO
Told whilst the morn kissed the sleep from her eyesO
That her dreams were less slumber than ParadiseO
-
As if some bright Spirit for her sweet sakeI2
Had deserted Heaven while the stars were awakeI2
As if yet around her he lingering wereY
Though the veil of daylight concealed him from herY
-
Her step seemed to pity the grass it pressedJ
You might hear by the heaving of her breastJ
That the coming and going of the windJ
Brought pleasure there and left passion behindJ
-
And wherever her aery footstep trodJ
Her trailing hair from the grassy sodJ
Erased its light vestige with shadowy sweepE2
Like a sunny storm o er the dark green deepE2
-
I doubt not the flowers of that garden sweetJ
Rejoiced in the sound of her gentle feetJ
I doubt not they felt the spirit that cameT
From her glowing fingers through all their frameT
-
She sprinkled bright water from the streamT
On those that were faint with the sunny beamT
And out of the cups of the heavy flowersO
She emptied the rain of the thunder showersO
-
She lifted their heads with her tender handsO
And sustained them with rods and osier bandsO
If the flowers had been her own infants sheU
Could never have nursed them more tenderlyU
-
And all killing insects and gnawing wormsO
And things of obscene and unlovely formsO
She bore in a basket of Indian woofJ2
Into the rough woods far aloofJ2
-
In a basket of grasses and wild flowers fullA2
The freshest her gentle hands could pullA2
For the poor banished insects whose intentJ
Although they did ill was innocentJ
-
But the bee and the beamlike ephemerisO
Whose path is the lightning's and soft moths that kissO
The sweet lips of the flowers and harm not did sheU
Make her attendant angels beU
-
And many an antenatal tombT
Where butterflies dream of the life to comeT
She left clinging round the smooth and darkK2
Edge of the odorous cedar barkK2
-
This fairest creature from earliest SpringL2
Thus moved through the garden ministeringL2
Mi the sweet season of SummertideJ
And ere the first leaf looked brown she diedJ
-
PARTJ
-
Three days the flowers of the garden fairD
Like stars when the moon is awakened wereY
Or the waves of Baiae ere luminousO
She floats up through the smoke of VesuviusO
-
An-

Percy Bysshe Shelley



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