Shelley's Pyre Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDE FF GG CC CC CHICJK FF CL FM NO CO O CO NOPC CI NI GQ FR CSR NJO CM NOO FM NOTUO CC NT CVSV FWFXWF CJYZC CCA2B2A2 NC2CCD2E2 CE2 NBBF2B CG2HPP CH2 CSI2 FJ2F NK2OL2BM2N2L2J2J2I2O 2J2J2OCSPCCS| The Spirit of Earth robed in green | A |
| The Spirit of Air robed in blue | B |
| The Spirit of Water robed in silver | C |
| The Spirit of Fire robed in red | D |
| Each steps forward in turn | E |
| - | |
| Spirit of Earth | F |
| I am the Spirit of Earth | F |
| - | |
| Spirit of Air | G |
| I am the Spirit of Air | G |
| - | |
| Spirit of Water | C |
| I am the Spirit of Water | C |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| I am the Spirit of Fire | C |
| - | |
| All together | C |
| This is the shore of the sea Stillness and hot noon | H |
| Stillness after storm The sun scorches the sand | I |
| On the sand of the sea is a pyre | C |
| On the pyre a young man's body | J |
| White and naked | K |
| - | |
| Spirit of Earth | F |
| A child of Earth | F |
| - | |
| Spirit of Water | C |
| Out of the sea he is come | L |
| - | |
| Spirit of Earth | F |
| To the last shore | M |
| - | |
| All | N |
| Ringed with flames this body lies flames shining flames entwining | O |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| Vaulting | O |
| - | |
| Assaulting | O |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| Dancing | O |
| - | |
| All | N |
| Lancing | O |
| On the noon intenser light | P |
| Branding on the air a fierier fire | C |
| - | |
| Spirit of Water | C |
| The slow sea ripple sparkles up the sand | I |
| - | |
| All | N |
| Afar the mountains look down on the land | I |
| - | |
| Spirit of Air | G |
| He was swiftness | Q |
| - | |
| Spirit of Earth | F |
| He is still | R |
| - | |
| Spirit of Water | C |
| A wave breaking a wave broken | S |
| At the sea's will | R |
| - | |
| All | N |
| His eyes drank of the world's beauty | J |
| His eyes wept for the world's wrong | O |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| His eyes shine on the world no more | M |
| - | |
| All | N |
| Out of his mouth came forth song | O |
| Wondering trembling triumphing lamenting | O |
| - | |
| Spirit of Earth | F |
| His mouth will utter songs no more | M |
| - | |
| All | N |
| A Power breathed a Power filled a Power kindled and made strong | O |
| The heart this mortal throbbed with O whence came it O whence came | T |
| Power to frailty hope to anguish He was swift and he was strange | U |
| Swift as stream swift as wind strange to all he came among | O |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| Leap my flames tower and quiver | C |
| - | |
| All | N |
| So into the world he came | T |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| No wind blows the fire to bend | V |
| It springs right upward to the sun | S |
| Mount my flames ascend ascend | V |
| - | |
| Spirit of Earth | F |
| Out of me this spirit rose | W |
| His cradle green and sleepy earth | F |
| A seed sown in a chance place | X |
| Where from who knows | W |
| Yet from my womb was his birth | F |
| - | |
| Spirit of Water | C |
| He was my lover In river and sea | J |
| He plunged his body his ardour flowed | Y |
| With the flow of the streams and the rain and the cloud | Z |
| Now I have rendered up my lover | C |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| Higher higher higher | C |
| In wild dishevelled blaze | A2 |
| Single plumes of light aspire | B2 |
| To be lost in the noon's haze | A2 |
| - | |
| All | N |
| These flames are your thoughts these fires your desires O Mortal | C2 |
| Speeding before you as you the far forerunner | C |
| Outstript O spirit arrayed in the sanguine colour | C |
| Of cloud at dawn the laggard the lulled and dulled | D2 |
| Announcing a dawn too dazzling for your kind | E2 |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| You left them behind | E2 |
| - | |
| All | N |
| And winged in a radiant mist of love you flew | B |
| Onward alone not on earth was a home for you | B |
| Where men oppressed and trafficked and hope was foiled | F2 |
| Soiled despoiled Yet hope was the breath you drew | B |
| - | |
| Spirit of Air | C |
| The white body is changing it has taken the swift shape | G2 |
| Of fire and the fire passes dazzling the noon | H |
| Shedding all but swiftness and the ecstasy of flight | P |
| Of the light into light | P |
| - | |
| Spirit of Fire | C |
| Sink my flames | H2 |
| - | |
| Spirit of Water | C |
| As a falling fountain | S |
| The flames sink down | I2 |
| - | |
| Spirit of Earth | F |
| But the heart remains | J2 |
| Unconsumed it is mine in earth | F |
| - | |
| All | N |
| Out of the fire O spirit come forth | K2 |
| To us who have been from the beginning | O |
| Bond by bond chain by chain | L2 |
| Our hands are untwisting what bound you we free you | B |
| Release you from Time | M2 |
| And the harsh taste of the cold world | N2 |
| Custom calumny ignorance pain | L2 |
| Come away Noon is silent in heat that trembles | J2 |
| Silent the sea that took you and all the winds | J2 |
| Silent the shadowy mountains they look down | I2 |
| And the stars that are known but in darkness to men | O2 |
| They also the true stars | J2 |
| They are the silence you the voice | J2 |
| And the voice soars upward singing | O |
| From where the sparks expire | C |
| And the embers of fire darken | S |
| A fountain cascading in drops as of light | P |
| Flowing over invading the silence in joy to be free | C |
| It ascends in its radiance singing singing and we | C |
| We hearken | S |
Robert Laurence Binyon
(1)
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