Goliath Of Gath Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIJKK LLMMNEJJOOGGPPQQRRBB SSTTUVRRRNEKKWXHHYYE EPPXZGGA2A2EEEEEEDDG GEEWB2EEEEOOEEEEEEC2 D2WWE2E2EEYYGGEEEEEE E2E2F2F2EEGGEEEEG2G2 EEGGH2I2I2J2J2RRREEK 2K2GGEEEEL2L2GGEEGGM 2N2O2P2EEERERRKKL2L2 PPQ2R2RRPPRREEEERRER EEEEEEEEGGRREEGGEEQ2 Q2EEEEAAS2S2EEEEPT2Ye martial pow'rs and all ye tuneful nine | A |
Inspire my song and aid my high design | A |
The dreadful scenes and toils of war I write | B |
The ardent warriors and the fields of fight | B |
You best remember and you best can sing | C |
The acts of heroes to the vocal string | C |
Resume the lays with which your sacred lyre | D |
Did then the poet and the sage inspire | D |
Now front to front the armies were display'd | E |
Here Israel rang'd and there the foes array'd | E |
The hosts on two opposing mountains stood | F |
Thick as the foliage of the waving wood | F |
Between them an extensive valley lay | G |
O'er which the gleaming armour pour'd the day | G |
When from the camp of the Philistine foes | H |
Dreadful to view a mighty warrior rose | H |
In the dire deeds of bleeding battle skill'd | I |
The monster stalks the terror of the field | J |
From Gath he sprung Goliath was his name | K |
Of fierce deportment and gigantic frame | K |
A brazen helmet on his head was plac'd | L |
A coat of mail his form terrific grac'd | L |
The greaves his legs the targe his shoulders prest | M |
Dreadful in arms high tow'ring o'er the rest | M |
A spear he proudly wav'd whose iron head | N |
Strange to relate six hundred shekels weigh'd | E |
He strode along and shook the ample field | J |
While Phoebus blaz'd refulgent on his shield | J |
Through Jacob's race a chilling horror ran | O |
When thus the huge enormous chief began | O |
Say what the cause that in this proud array | G |
You set your battle in the face of day | G |
One hero find in all your vaunting train | P |
Then see who loses and who wins the plain | P |
For he who wins in triumph may demand | Q |
Perpetual service from the vanquish'd land | Q |
Your armies I defy your force despise | R |
By far inferior in Philistia's eyes | R |
Produce a man and let us try the fight | B |
Decide the contest and the victor's right | B |
Thus challeng'd he all Israel stood amaz'd | S |
And ev'ry chief in consternation gaz'd | S |
But Jesse's son in youthful bloom appears | T |
And warlike courage far beyond his years | T |
He left the folds he left the flow'ry meads | U |
And soft recesses of the sylvan shades | V |
Now Israel's monarch and his troops arise | R |
With peals of shouts ascending to the skies | R |
In Elah's vale the scene of combat lies | R |
When the fair morning blush'd with orient red | N |
What David's fire enjoin'd the son obey'd | E |
And swift of foot towards the trench he came | K |
Where glow'd each bosom with the martial flame | K |
He leaves his carriage to another's care | W |
And runs to greet his brethren of the war | X |
While yet they spake the giant chief arose | H |
Repeats the challenge and insults his foes | H |
Struck with the sound and trembling at the view | Y |
Affrighted Israel from its post withdrew | Y |
Observe ye this tremendous foe they cry'd | E |
Who in proud vaunts our armies hath defy'd | E |
Whoever lays him prostrate on the plain | P |
Freedom in Israel for his house shall gain | P |
And on him wealth unknown the king will pour | X |
And give his royal daughter for his dow'r | Z |
Then Jesse's youngest hope My brethren say | G |
What shall be done for him who takes away | G |
Reproach from Jacob who destroys the chief | A2 |
And puts a period to his country's grief | A2 |
He vaunts the honours of his arms abroad | E |
And scorns the armies of the living God | E |
Thus spoke the youth th' attentive people ey'd | E |
The wond'rous hero and again reply'd | E |
Such the rewards our monarch will bestow | E |
On him who conquers and destroys his foe | E |
Eliab heard and kindled into ire | D |
To hear his shepherd brother thus inquire | D |
And thus begun What errand brought thee say | G |
Who keeps thy flock or does it go astray | G |
I know the base ambition of thine heart | E |
But back in safety from the field depart | E |
Eliab thus to Jesse's youngest heir | W |
Express'd his wrath in accents most severe | B2 |
When to his brother mildly he reply'd | E |
What have I done or what the cause to chide | E |
The words were told before the king who sent | E |
For the young hero to his royal tent | E |
Before the monarch dauntless he began | O |
For this Philistine fail no heart of man | O |
I'll take the vale and with the giant fight | E |
I dread not all his boasts nor all his might | E |
When thus the king Dar'st thou a stripling go | E |
And venture combat with so great a foe | E |
Who all his days has been inur'd to fight | E |
And made its deeds his study and delight | E |
Battles and bloodshed brought the monster forth | C2 |
And clouds and whirlwinds usher'd in his birth | D2 |
When David thus I kept the fleecy care | W |
And out there rush'd a lion and a bear | W |
A tender lamb the hungry lion took | E2 |
And with no other weapon than my crook | E2 |
Bold I pursu'd and chas d him o'er the field | E |
The prey deliver'd and the felon kill'd | E |
As thus the lion and the bear I slew | Y |
So shall Goliath fall and all his crew | Y |
The God who sav'd me from these beasts of prey | G |
By me this monster in the dust shall lay | G |
So David spoke The wond'ring king reply'd | E |
Go thou with heav'n and victory on thy side | E |
This coat of mail this sword gird on he said | E |
And plac'd a mighty helmet on his head | E |
The coat the sword the helm he laid aside | E |
Nor chose to venture with those arms untry'd | E |
Then took his staff and to the neighb'ring brook | E2 |
Instant he ran and thence five pebbles took | E2 |
Mean time descended to Philistia's son | F2 |
A radiant cherub and he thus begun | F2 |
Goliath well thou know'st thou hast defy'd | E |
Yon Hebrew armies and their God deny'd | E |
Rebellious wretch audacious worm forbear | G |
Nor tempt the vengeance of their God too far | G |
Them who with his Omnipotence contend | E |
No eye shall pity and no arm defend | E |
Proud as thou art in short liv'd glory great | E |
I come to tell thee thine approaching fate | E |
Regard my words The Judge of all the gods | G2 |
Beneath whose steps the tow'ring mountain nods | G2 |
Will give thine armies to the savage brood | E |
That cut the liquid air or range the wood | E |
Thee too a well aim'd pebble shall destroy | G |
And thou shalt perish by a beardless boy | G |
Such is the mandate from the realms above | H2 |
And should I try the vengeance to remove | I2 |
Myself a rebel to my king would prove | I2 |
Goliath say shall grace to him be shown | J2 |
Who dares heav'ns Monarch and insults his throne | J2 |
Your words are lost on me the giant cries | R |
While fear and wrath contended in his eyes | R |
When thus the messenger from heav'n replies | R |
Provoke no more Jehovah's awful hand | E |
To hurl its vengeance on thy guilty land | E |
He grasps the thunder and he wings the storm | K2 |
Servants their sov'reign's orders to perform | K2 |
The angel spoke and turn'd his eyes away | G |
Adding new radiance to the rising day | G |
Now David comes the fatal stones demand | E |
His left the staff engag'd his better hand | E |
The giant mov'd and from his tow'ring height | E |
Survey'd the stripling and disdain'd the fight | E |
And thus began Am I a dog with thee | L2 |
Bring'st thou no armour but a staff to me | L2 |
The gods on thee their vollied curses pour | G |
And beasts and birds of prey thy flesh devour | G |
David undaunted thus Thy spear and shield | E |
Shall no protection to thy body yield | E |
Jehovah's name no other arms I bear | G |
I ask no other in this glorious war | G |
To day the Lord of Hosts to me will give | M2 |
Vict'ry to day thy doom thou shalt receive | N2 |
The fate you threaten shall your own become | O2 |
And beasts shall be your animated tomb | P2 |
That all the earth's inhabitants may know | E |
That there's a God who governs all below | E |
This great assembly too shall witness stand | E |
That needs nor sword nor spear th' Almighty's | R |
hand | E |
The battle his the conquest he bestows | R |
And to our pow'r consigns our hated foes | R |
Thus David spoke Goliath heard and came | K |
To meet the hero in the field of fame | K |
Ah fatal meeting to thy troops and thee | L2 |
But thou wast deaf to the divine decree | L2 |
Young David meets thee meets thee not in vain | P |
'Tis thine to perish on th' ensanguin'd plain | P |
And now the youth the forceful pebble slung | Q2 |
Philistia trembled as it whizz'd along | R2 |
In his dread forehead where the helmet ends | R |
Just o'er the brows the well aim'd stone descends | R |
It pierc'd the skull and shatter'd all the brain | P |
Prone on his face he tumbled to the plain | P |
Goliath's fall no smaller terror yields | R |
Than riving thunders in aerial fields | R |
The soul still ling'red in its lov'd abode | E |
Till conq'ring David o'er the giant strode | E |
Goliath's sword then laid its master dead | E |
And from the body hew'd the ghastly head | E |
The blood in gushing torrents drench'd the plains | R |
The soul found passage through the spouting veins | R |
And now aloud th' illustrious victor said | E |
Where are your boastings now your champion's | R |
dead | E |
Scarce had he spoke when the Philistines fled | E |
But fled in vain the conqu'ror swift pursu'd | E |
What scenes of slaughter and what seas of blood | E |
There Saul thy thousands grasp'd th' impurpled sand | E |
In pangs of death the conquest of thine hand | E |
And David there were thy ten thousands laid | E |
Thus Israel's damsels musically play'd | E |
Near Gath and Edron many an hero lay | G |
Breath'd out their souls and curs'd the light of day | G |
Their fury quench'd by death no longer burns | R |
And David with Goliath's head returns | R |
To Salem brought but in his tent he plac'd | E |
The load of armour which the giant grac'd | E |
His monarch saw him coming from the war | G |
And thus demanded of the son of Ner | G |
Say who is this amazing youth he cry'd | E |
When thus the leader of the host reply'd | E |
As lives thy soul I know not whence he sprung | Q2 |
So great in prowess though in years so young | Q2 |
Inquire whose son is he the sov'reign said | E |
Before whose conq'ring arm Philistia fled | E |
Before the king behold the stripling stand | E |
Goliath's head depending from his hand | E |
To him the king Say of what martial line | A |
Art thou young hero and what sire was thine | A |
He humbly thus The son of Jesse I | S2 |
I came the glories of the field to try | S2 |
Small is my tribe but valiant in the fight | E |
Small is my city but thy royal right | E |
Then take the promis'd gifts the monarch cry'd | E |
Conferring riches and the royal bride | E |
Knit to my soul for ever thou remain | P |
With me nor quit my regal roof again | T2 |
Phillis Wheatley
(1)
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