The Song Of Honour Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDDCEEECFFC GGHIIH JKLMNL OOPQQP RRSTQSUUUV OOHQQH JJWXYWZZZW DDA2EEA2B2B2A2 C2C2C2FPPFD2E2D2D2D2 E2QQE2 F2EF2EG2G2E IIEIIIE FFFH2WWI2 J2K2K2L2M2M2L2 N2O2N2N2N2O2 F2F2IEEI EEEEEEEEE C2FC2C2C2FGP2GFKKKF Q2Q2R2S2S2R2 T2T2UU2U2U V2V2V2V2W2X2X2I SVSFEEEF WWUY2UWUXXXU EEO2Z2A3O2EEEEO2 A2A2A2EQQED2D2EEEEF2 F2F2F2E

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 more 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 in 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 a 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 the 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 noesX
Her million times ten million throatsY
Exalt Him loud and longW
And lips and lungs and tongues of GraceZ
From every part and every placeZ
Within the shining of His faceZ
The universal throngW
-
I heard the hymn of being soundD
From every well of honour foundD
In human sense and soulA2
The song of poets when they writeE
The testament of BeautyspriteE
Upon a flying scrollA2
The song of painters when they takeB2
A burning brush for Beauty's sakeB2
And limn her features wholeA2
-
The song of men divinely wiseC2
Who look and see in starry skiesC2
Not stars so much as robins' eyesC2
And when these pale awayF
Her flocks of shiny pleiadesP
Among the plums and apple treesP
Sing in the summer dayF
The song of all both high and lowD2
To some blest vision trueE2
The song of beggars when they throwD2
The crust of pity all men oweD2
To hungry sparrows in the snowD2
Old beggars hungry tooE2
The song of kings of kingdoms whenQ
They rise above their fortune menQ
And crown themselves anewE2
-
The song of courage heart and willF2
And gladness in a fightE
Of men who face a hopeless hillF2
With sparking and delightE
The bells and bells of song that ringG2
Round banners of a cause or kingG2
From armies bleeding whiteE
-
The song of sailors every oneI
When monstrous tide and tempest runI
At ships like bulls at redE
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 leadE
-
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 quarelling 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 stillF2
In every key from soft to shrillF2
And numbers never doneI
Dog loyalties to faith and friendE
And loves like Ruth's of old no endE
And intermission noneI
-
And burst on burst for beauty andE
For numbers not behindE
From men whose love of motherlandE
Is like a dog's for one dear handE
Sole selfless boundless blindE
And song of some with hearts besideE
For men and sorrows far and wideE
Who watch the world with pity and prideE
And warm to all mankindE
-
And endless joyous music riseC2
From children at their playF
And endless soaring lullabiesC2
From happy happy mothers' eyesC2
And answering crows and baby criesC2
How many who shall sayF
And many a song as wondrous wellG
With pangs and sweets intolerableP2
From lonely hearths too gray to tellG
God knows how utter grayF
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 the song whose singers comeQ2
With old kind tales of pity fromQ2
The Great Compassion's lipsR2
That makes the bells of Heaven to pealS2
Round pillows frosty with the feelS2
Of Death's cold finger tipsR2
-
The song of men all sorts and kindsT2
As many tempers moods and mindsT2
As leaves are on a treeU
As many faiths and castes and creedsU2
As many human bloods and breedsU2
As in the world may beU
-
The song of each and all who gazeV2
On Beauty in her naked blazeV2
Or see her dimly in a hazeV2
Or get her light in fitful raysV2
And tiniest needles evenW2
The song of all not wholly darkX2
Not wholly sunk in stupor starkX2
Too deep for groping HeavenI
-
The 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 fluteE
Of wind and sea and bird and bruteE
And lips deaf men imagine muteE
In wood 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 amongY2
Melodious greeneryU
The ruby's and the rainbow's songW
The nightingale's all threeU
The song of life that wells and flowsX
From every leopard lark and roseX
And everything that gleams or goesX
Lack lustre in the seaU
-
I heard it all each every noteE
Of every lung and tongue and throatE
Ay every rhythm and rhymeO2
Of everything that lives and lovesZ2
And upward ever upward movesA3
Form 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 wholeA2
Harmonious hymn of being rollA2
Up through the chapel of my soulA2
And at the altar dieE
And in the awful quiet thenQ
Myself I heard Amen AmenQ
Amen I heard me cryE
I heard it all and then althoughD2
I caught my flying sense ohD2
A dizzy man was IE
I stood and stared the sky was litE
The sky was stars all over itE
I stood I knew not whyE
Without a wish without a willF2
I stood upon that silent hillF2
And stared into the sky untilF2
My eyes were blind with stars and stillF2
I stared into the skyE

Ralph Hodgson



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