A Song Of Honour Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDDCEEECFFCGGHII HJKLMNLOOPQQPRRSTQSU UUVOOHQQHJJWXXWYYYWD DZEEZA2A2ZB2B2B2FPPF C2D2C2C2C2D2QQD2E2EE 2EF2F2EIIG2IIIG2FFFH 2WWI2J2K2K2L2M2M2L2N 2O2N2N2N2O2E2E2IP2P2 IQ2R2S2S2R2T2T2T2R2B 2FB2B2B2FGU2GFKKKFV2 V2W2X2X2W2Y2Y2UZ2Z2U A3A3A3A3B3C3C3ISVSFD 3D3D3FWWUE3UWUF3F3F3 UG3G3O2H3I3O2EEEEO2Z ZZHQQHC2C2HJ3J3HE2E2 E2E2H

I climbed a hill as light fell shortA
And rooks came home in scramble sortA
And filled the trees and flapped and foughtB
And sang themselves to sleepC
An owl from nowhere with no soundD
Swung by and soon was nowhere foundD
I heard him calling half way roundD
Holloing loud and deepC
A pair of stars faint pins of lightE
Then many a star sailed into sightE
And all the stars the flower of nightE
Were round me at a leapC
To tell how still the valleys layF
I heard a watchdog miles awayF
And bells of distant sheepC
I heard no sound of bird or bellG
The mastiff in a slumber fellG
I stared into the skyH
As wondering men have always doneI
Since beauty and the stars were oneI
Though none so hard as IH
It seemed so still the valleys wereJ
As if the whole world knelt at prayerK
Save me and me aloneL
So pure and wide that silence wasM
I feared to bend a blade of grassN
And there I stood like stoneL
There sharp and sudden there I heardO
Ah some wild lovesick singing birdO
Woke singing in the treesP
The nightingale and babble wrenQ
Were in the English greenwood thenQ
And you heard one of theseP
The babble wren and nightingaleR
Sang in the Abyssinian valeR
That season of the yearS
Yet true enough I heard them plainT
I heard them both again againQ
As sharp and sweet and clearS
As if the Abyssinian treeU
Had thrust a bough across the seaU
Had thrust a bough across to meU
With music for my earV
I heard them both and oh I heardO
The song of every singing birdO
That sings beneath the skyH
And with the song of lark and wrenQ
The song of mountains moths and menQ
And seas and rainbows vieH
I heard the universal choirJ
The Sons of Light exalt their SireJ
With universal songW
Earth's lowliest and loudest notesX
Her million times ten million throatsX
Exalt Him loud and longW
And lips and lungs and tongues of GraceY
From every part and every placeY
Within the shining of His faceY
The universal throngW
I heard the hymn of being soundD
From every well of honour foundD
In human sense and soulZ
The song of poets when they writeE
The testament of Beauty spriteE
Upon a flying scrollZ
The song of painters when they takeA2
A burning brush for Beauty's sakeA2
And limn her features wholeZ
The song of men divinely wiseB2
Who look and see in starry skiesB2
Not stars so much as robins' eyesB2
And when these pale awayF
Hear flocks of shiny pleiadesP
Among the plums and apple treesP
Sing in the summer dayF
The song of all both high and lowC2
To some blest vision trueD2
The song of beggars when they throwC2
The crust of pity all men oweC2
To hungry sparrows in the snowC2
Old beggars hungry tooD2
The song of kings of kingdoms whenQ
They rise about their fortune MenQ
And crown themselves anewD2
The song of courage heart and willE2
And gladness in a fightE
Of men who face a hopeless hillE2
With sparking and delightE
The bells and bells of song that ringF2
Round banners of a cause or kingF2
From armies bleeding whiteE
The song of sailors every oneI
When monstrous tide and tempest runI
At ships like bulls at redG2
When stately ships are twirled and spunI
Like whipping tops and help there's noneI
And mighty ships ten thousand tonI
Go down like lumps of leadG2
And song of fighters stern as theyF
At odds with fortune night and dayF
Crammed up in cities grim and greyF
As thick as bees in hivesH2
Hosannas of a lowly throngW
Who sing unconscious of their songW
Whose lips are in their livesI2
And song of some at holy warJ2
With spells and ghouls more dread by farK2
Than deadly seas and cities areK2
Or hordes of quarrelling kingsL2
The song of fighters great and smallM2
The song of pretty fighters allM2
And high heroic thingsL2
The song of lovers who knows howN2
Twitched up from place and timeO2
Upon a sigh a blush a vowN2
A curve or hue of cheek or browN2
Borne up and off from here and nowN2
Into the void sublimeO2
And crying loves and passions stillE2
In every key from soft to shrillE2
And numbers never doneI
Dog loyalties to faith and friendP2
And loves like Ruth's of old no endP2
And intermission noneI
And burst on burst for beauty andQ2
For numbers not behindR2
From men whose love of motherlandS2
Is like a dog's for one dear handS2
Sole selfless boundless blindR2
And song of some with hearts besideT2
For men and sorrows far and wideT2
Who watch the world with pity and prideT2
And warm to all mankindR2
And endless joyous music riseB2
From children at their playF
And endless soaring lullabiesB2
From happy happy mothers' eyesB2
And answering crows and baby criesB2
How many who shall sayF
And many a song as wondrous wellG
With pangs and sweets intolerableU2
From lonely hearths too grey to tellG
God knows how utter greyF
And song from many a house of careK
When pain has forced a footing thereK
And there's a Darkness on the stairK
Will not be turned awayF
And song that song whose singers comeV2
With old kind tales of pity fromV2
The Great Compassion's lipsW2
That makes the bells of Heaven to pealX2
Round pillows frosty with the feelX2
Of Death's cold finger tipsW2
The song of men all sorts and kindsY2
As many tempers moods and mindsY2
As leaves are on a treeU
As many faiths and castes and creedsZ2
As many human bloods and breedsZ2
As in the world may beU
The song of each and all who gazeA3
On Beauty in her naked blazeA3
Or see her dimly in a hazeA3
Or get her light in fitful raysA3
And tiniest needles evenB3
The song of all not wholly darkC3
Not wholly sink in stupor starkC3
Too deep for groping HeavenI
And alleluias sweet and clearS
And wild with beauty men mishearV
From choirs of song as near and dearS
To Paradise as theyF
The everlasting pipe and fluteD3
Of wind and sea and bird and bruteD3
And lips deaf men imagine muteD3
In woods and stone and clayF
The music of a lion strongW
That shakes a hill a whole night longW
A hill as loud as heU
The twitter of a mouse amongE3
Melodious greeneryU
The ruby's and the rainbow's songW
The nightingale's all threeU
The song of life that wells and flowsF3
From every leopard lark and roseF3
And everything that gleams or goesF3
Lack lustre in the seaU
I heard it all each every noteG3
Of every lung and tongue and throatG3
Ay every rhythm and rhymeO2
Of everything that lives and lovesH3
And upward ever upward movesI3
From lowly to sublimeO2
Earth's multitudinous Sons of LightE
I heard them lift their lyric mightE
With each and every chanting spriteE
That lit the sky that wondrous nightE
As far as eye could climbO2
I heard it all I heard the wholeZ
Harmonious hymn of being rollZ
Up through the chapel of my soulZ
And at the altar dieH
And in the awful quiet thenQ
Myself I heard Amen AmenQ
Amen I heard me cryH
I heard it all and then althoughC2
I caught my flying senses OhC2
A dizzy man was IH
I stood and stared the sky was litJ3
The sky was stars all over itJ3
I stood I knew not whyH
Without a wish without a willE2
I stood upon that silent hillE2
And stared into the sky untilE2
My eyes were blind with stars and stillE2
I stared into the skyH

Ralph Hodgson



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