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