On Recollection Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEDDFFGGHHII JJKKLLMNOOHHPPQRSSTT IIUUIIIIAA| Mneme begin Inspire ye sacred nine | A |
| Your vent'rous Afric in her great design | A |
| Mneme immortal pow'r I trace thy spring | B |
| Assist my strains while I thy glories sing | B |
| The acts of long departed years by thee | C |
| Recover'd in due order rang'd we see | C |
| Thy pow'r the long forgotten calls from night | D |
| That sweetly plays before the fancy's sight | D |
| Mneme in our nocturnal visions pours | E |
| The ample treasure of her secret stores | E |
| Swift from above the wings her silent flight | D |
| Through Phoebe's realms fair regent of the night | D |
| And in her pomp of images display'd | F |
| To the high raptur'd poet gives her aid | F |
| Through the unbounded regions of the mind | G |
| Diffusing light celestial and refin'd | G |
| The heav'nly phantom paints the actions done | H |
| By ev'ry tribe beneath the rolling sun | H |
| Mneme enthron'd within the human breast | I |
| Has vice condemn'd and ev'ry virtue blest | I |
| How sweet the sound when we her plaudit hear | J |
| Sweeter than music to the ravish'd ear | J |
| Sweeter than Maro's entertaining strains | K |
| Resounding through the groves and hills and plains | K |
| But how is Mneme dreaded by the race | L |
| Who scorn her warnings and despise her grace | L |
| By her unveil'd each horrid crime appears | M |
| Her awful hand a cup of wormwood bears | N |
| Days years mispent O what a hell of woe | O |
| Hers the worst tortures that our souls can know | O |
| Now eighteen years their destin'd course have run | H |
| In fast succession round the central sun | H |
| How did the follies of that period pass | P |
| Unnotic'd but behold them writ in brass | P |
| In Recollection see them fresh return | Q |
| And sure 'tis mine to be asham'd and mourn | R |
| O Virtue smiling in immortal green | S |
| Do thou exert thy pow'r and change the scene | S |
| Be thine employ to guide my future days | T |
| And mine to pay the tribute of my praise | T |
| Of Recollection such the pow'r enthron'd | I |
| In ev'ry breast and thus her pow'r is own'd | I |
| The wretch who dar'd the vengeance of the skies | U |
| At last awakes in horror and surprise | U |
| By her alarm'd he sees impending fate | I |
| He howls in anguish and repents too late | I |
| But O what peace what joys are hers t' impart | I |
| To ev'ry holy ev'ry upright heart | I |
| Thrice blest the man who in her sacred shrine | A |
| Feels himself shelter'd from the wrath divine | A |
Phillis Wheatley
(1)
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About On Recollection
On Recollection is a poem by Phillis Wheatley. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.