Gnothi Seauton Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDEFEG A HIJJKLMNNOOPP A MNDQRS DT DUVUWXAYZ A2B2 C2D2E2A2OF2E2G2 A C2H2I2J2E2N A CCK2 L2M2N2O2O2O2 A K2P2Q2O2K2R2L2S2T2U2 O2V2V2OOO2O2 V2 O2 W2 O2 O2O2FOV2O2V2O2V2V2V2 V2 O2K2O2O2O2O2X2QQ O2 ADADDI | A |
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If thou canst bear | B |
Strong meat of simple truth | C |
If thou durst my words compare | B |
With what thou thinkest in my soul s free youth | C |
Then take this fact unto thy soul | D |
God dwells in thee | E |
It is no metaphor nor parable | F |
It is unknown to thousands and to thee | E |
Yet there is God | G |
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II | A |
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He is in thy world | H |
But thy world knows him not | I |
He is the mighty Heart | J |
From which life s varied pulses part | J |
Clouded and shrouded there doth sit | K |
The Infinite | L |
Embosomed in a man | M |
And thou art stranger to thy guest | N |
And know st not what thou doth invest | N |
The clouds that veil his life within | O |
Are thy thick woven webs of sin | O |
Which his glory struggling through | P |
Darkens to thine evil hue | P |
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III | A |
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Then bear thyself O man | M |
Up to the scale and compass of thy guest | N |
Soul of thy soul | D |
Be great as doth beseem | Q |
The ambassador who bears | R |
The royal presence where he goes | S |
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IV | - |
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Give up to thy soul | D |
Let it have its way | T |
It is I tell thee God himself | - |
The selfsame One that rules the Whole | D |
Tho he speaks thro thee with a stifled voice | U |
And looks through thee shorn of his beams | V |
But if thou listen to his voice | U |
If thou obey the royal thought | W |
It will grow clearer to thine ear | X |
More glorious to thine eye | A |
The clouds will burst that veil him now | Y |
And thou shalt see the Lord | Z |
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V | - |
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Therefore be great | A2 |
Not proud too great to be proud | B2 |
Let not thine eyes rove | - |
Peep not in corners let thine eyes | C2 |
Look straight before thee as befits | D2 |
The simplicity of Power | E2 |
And in thy closet carry state | A2 |
Filled with light walk therein | O |
And as a king | F2 |
Would do no treason to his own empire | E2 |
So do not thou to thine | G2 |
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VI | A |
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This is the reason why thou dost recognize | C2 |
Things now first revealed | H2 |
Because in thee resides | I2 |
The Spirit that lives in all | J2 |
And thou canst learn the laws of nature | E2 |
Because its author is latent in thy breast | N |
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VII | A |
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Therefore O happy youth | C |
Happy if thou dost know and love this truth | C |
Thou art unto thyself a law | K2 |
And since the soul of things is in thee | - |
Thou needest nothing out of thee | - |
The law the gospel and the Providence | L2 |
Heaven Hell the Judgement and the stores | M2 |
Immeasurable of Truth and Good | N2 |
All these thou must find | O2 |
Within thy single mind | O2 |
Or never find | O2 |
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VIII | A |
- | |
Thou art the law | K2 |
The gospel has no revelation | P2 |
Of peace and hope until there is response | Q2 |
From the deep chambers of thy mind thereto | O2 |
The rest is straw | K2 |
It can reveal no truth unknown before | R2 |
The Providence | L2 |
Thou art thyself that doth dispense | S2 |
Wealth to thy work want to thy sloth | T2 |
Glory to goodness to neglect the moth | U2 |
Thou sow st the wind the whirlwind reapest | O2 |
Thou payest the wages | V2 |
Of thy own work through all ages | V2 |
The almighty energy within | O |
Crowneth virtue curseth sin | O |
Virtue sees by its own light | O2 |
Stumbleth sin in self made night | O2 |
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IX | V2 |
- | |
Who approves thee doing right | O2 |
God in thee | - |
Who condemns thee doing wrong | W2 |
God in thee | - |
Who punishes thine evil deed | O2 |
God in thee | - |
What is thine evil meed | O2 |
Thy worse mind with error blind | O2 |
And more prone to evil | F |
That is the greater hiding of the God within | O |
The loss of peace | V2 |
The terrible displeasure of this inmate | O2 |
And next the consequence | V2 |
More faintly as more distant wro t | O2 |
Upon our outward fortunes | V2 |
Which decay with vice | V2 |
With Virtue rise | V2 |
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X | V2 |
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The selfsame God | O2 |
By the same law | K2 |
Makes the souls of angels glad | O2 |
And the souls of devils sad | O2 |
See | O2 |
There is nothing else but God | O2 |
Where e'er I look | X2 |
All things hasten back to him | Q |
Light is but his shadow dim | Q |
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XI | O2 |
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Shall I ask wealth or power of God who gave | A |
An image of himself to be my soul | D |
As well might swilling ocean ask a wave | A |
Or the starred firmament a dying coal | D |
For that which is in me lives in the whole | D |
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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