Caledonia: A Ballad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EFEDDGDG HDHDIDID JKJKLDLD MEMEDNDN OPOPQRRR| THERE was once a day but old Time wasythen young | A |
| That brave Caledonia the chief of her line | B |
| From some of your northern deities sprung | A |
| Who knows not that brave Caledonia's divine | B |
| From Tweed to the Orcades was her domain | C |
| To hunt or to pasture or do what she would | D |
| Her heav'nly relations there fixed her reign | C |
| And pledg'd her their godheads to warrant it good | D |
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| A lambkin in peace but a lion in war | E |
| The pride of her kindred the heroine grew | F |
| Her grandsire old Odin triumphantly swore | E |
| quot Whoe'er shall provoke thee th' encounter shall rue quot | D |
| With tillage or pasture at times she would sport | D |
| To feed her fair flocks by her green rustling corn | G |
| But chiefly the woods were her fav'rite resort | D |
| Her darling amusement the hounds and the horn | G |
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| Long quiet she reigned till thitherward steers | H |
| A flight of bold eagles from Adria's strand | D |
| Repeated successive for many long years | H |
| They darken'd the air and they plunder'd the land | D |
| Their pounces were murder and terror their cry | I |
| They'd conquer'd and ruin'd a world beside | D |
| She took to her hills and her arrows let fly | I |
| The daring invaders they fled or they died | D |
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| The Cameleon Savage disturb'd her repose | J |
| With tumult disquiet rebellion and strife | K |
| Provok'd beyond bearing at last she arose | J |
| And robb'd him at once of his hopes and his life | K |
| The Anglian lion the terror of France | L |
| Oft prowling ensanguin'd the Tweed's silver flood | D |
| But taught by the bright Caledonian lance | L |
| He learn d to fear in his own native wood | D |
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| The fell Harpy raven took wing from the north | M |
| The scourge of the seas and the dread of the shore | E |
| The wild Scandinavian boar issued forth | M |
| To wanton in carnage and wallow in gore | E |
| O'er countries and kingdoms their fury prevail'd | D |
| No arts could appease them no arms could repel | N |
| But brave Caledonia in vain they assail'd | D |
| As Largs well can witness and Loncartie tell | N |
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| Thus bold independent unconquer'd and free | O |
| Her bright course of glory for ever shall run | P |
| For brave Caledonia immortal must be | O |
| I'll prove it from Euclid as clear as the sun | P |
| Rectangle triangle the figure we'll chuse | Q |
| The upright is Chance and old Time is the base | R |
| But brave Caledonia's the hypothenuse | R |
| Then ergo she'll match them and match them always | R |
Robert Burns
(1)
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