Thunder On The Downs Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEFGHHHHHHHII JJKKLMNN OOPPQQRRSSSSTTUUHHVV WWSSXXYXSSZZHHA2B2SS HHSSSSXXSSXXHH C2C2D2D2E2E2 F2F2HHHHG2G2B2H2F2F2 SSSSH SSHHSSI2I2SSS SSZG2SSSSF2F2F2F2J2J 2K2K2L2L2HHHHC2C2F2F 2B2B2UUHHF2F2D2A2SSI 2I2F2F2SSM2M2HHI2I2H HHHSSD2D2F2F2

Wide earth wide heaven and in the summer airA
Silence The summit of the Down is bareA
Between the climbing crests of wood but thoseB
Great sea winds wont when the wet South West blowsB
To rock tall beeches and strong oaks aloudC
And strew torn leaves upon the streaming cloudC
To day are idle slumbering far aloofD
Under the solemn height and gorgeous roofD
Of cloud built sky all earth is indolentE
Wandering hum of bees and thymy scentF
Of the short turf enrich pure lonelinessG
Scarcely an airy topmost twining tressH
Of bryony quivers where the thorn it wreathesH
Hot fragrance from the honeysuckle breathesH
And sweet the rose floats on the arching briar'sH
Green fountain sprayed with delicate frail firesH
For clumps of thicket dark beneath the blazeH
Of the high westering sun beset the waysH
Of smooth grass narrowing where the slope runs steepI
Down to green woods and glowing shadows keepI
A freshness round the mossy roots and coolJ
The light that sleeps as in a chequered poolJ
Of golden air O woods I love you wellK
I love the flowers you hide your ferny smellK
But here is sweeter solitude for hereL
My heart breathes heavenly space the sky is nearM
To thought with heights that fathomlessly glowN
And the eye wanders the wide land belowN
-
And this is England June's undarkened greenO
Gleams on far woods and in the vales betweenO
Gray hamlets older than the trees that shadeP
Their ripening meadows are in quiet laidP
Themselves a part of the warm fruitful groundQ
The little hills of England rise aroundQ
The little streams that wander from them shineR
And with their names remembered names entwineR
Of old renown and honour fields of bloodS
High causes fought on stubborn hardihoodS
For freedom spent and songs our noblest prideS
That in the heart of England never diedS
And burning still make splendour of our tongueT
Glories enacted spoken suffered sungT
You lie emblazoned on this land now sleepingU
And southward over leagues of forest sweepingU
White on the verge glistens the famous seaH
That English wave on which so haughtilyH
Towered her sails and one sail homeward boreV
Past capes of silently lamenting shoreV
Victory's dearest dead O shores of homeW
Since by the vanished watch fire shields of RomeW
Dinted this upland turf what hearts have achedS
To see you far away what eyes have wakedS
Ere dawn to watch those cliffs of long desireX
One after one rise in their voiceless choirX
Out of the twilight over the rough blueY
Like music But now heavy gleams imbrueX
The inland air Breathless the valleys holdS
Their colours in a veil of sultry goldS
With mingled shadows that have ceased to crawlZ
For far in heaven is thunder Over allZ
A single cloud in slow magnificenceH
Climbs like a mountain gradual and immenseH
With awful head unstirring and moved onA2
Against the zenith towers above the sunB2
And still it thickens luminous fold on foldS
Of fatal colour ominously scrolledS
And fleeced with fire above the sun it towersH
Like some vast thought quickening a world not oursH
Remote in the waste blue as if behindS
Its rim were splendour that could smite us blindS
So doom piled and intense it crests heaven's heightS
And mounting makes a menace of the lightS
A menace Yes for when light comes we fearX
Light that may touch as the pure angel spearX
Us to ourselves make visible make startS
The apparition of the very heartS
And mystery of our thoughts awaked from underX
The mask of cheating habit and to thunderX
Bare in a moment of white fire what weH
Have feared and fled our own realityH
-
And if a lightning now were loosed in flameC2
Out of the darkness of the cloud to claimC2
Thy heart O England how wouldst thou be knownD2
In that hour How to the quick core be shownD2
And seen What cry should from thy very soulE2
Answer the judgment of that thunder rollE2
-
I hear a voice arraign thee Where is nowF2
The exaltation that once lit thy browF2
Thou countest all thy ocean sundered landsH
Thou heapest up the labours of thy handsH
Thou seest all thy ships upon the seasH
But in thine own heart mean idolatriesH
Usurp devotion choke thee and annulG2
Noble excess of spirit and make dullG2
Thine eyes enfleshed with much dominionB2
Art thou so great and is the glory goneH2
Do these bespeak thy freedom who deflowerF2
Time and make barren every senseless hourF2
Who from themselves hurry like men afraidS
Lest what they are be to themselves betrayedS
Or those who in their huddled thousands sweatS
To buy the sleep that helps them to forgetS
Life lies unused life with its lovelinessH
While the cry ravens still Possess Possess ''-
And there is no possession All the lustS
Of gainful man is quieted in dustS
His faith his fear his joy his doom he ownsH
No more the rest is parcelled with his bonesH
Save what the imagination of his heartS
Can to the labour of his hands impartS
Making stones serve his spirit's desire and breatheI2
But thou what dost thou to the world bequeatheI2
Who gatherest riches in a waste of mindS
Unto what end O confidently blindS
Forgetful of the things that grow not oldS
And alone live and are not bought or sold ''-
-
Speaks that voice truth Is it for this that greatS
And tender spirits suffered scorn and hateS
Loved to the utmost poured themselves gave allZ
Nor counted cost spirits imperialG2
Where are they now they that our memory guardS
Among the nations Shall I say enstarredS
And throned aloof No not from heavens of thoughtS
Watching our muddied brief procession notS
Judges sublime above us without shareF2
In our thronged ways of struggle hope despairF2
But in our blood our dreams our deeds they stirF2
Strive on our lips for language shame and spurF2
The sluggard in us out of darkness comeJ2
Like summoned champions when the world is dumbJ2
Within our hearts they wait with all they gaveK2
Woe to us woe if we become their graveK2
It shall not be Darken thy pall and trailL2
Thunder of heaven above the valleys paleL2
Another England in my vision glowsH
And she is armed within at last she knowsH
Herself and what to her own soul belongsH
Mid the world's irremediable wrongsH
She keeps her faith and nothing of her nameC2
Or of her handiwork but doth proclaimC2
Her purpose Her own soul hath made her freeF2
Not circumstance she knows no victoryF2
Save of the mind in her is nothing doneB2
No wrong no shame no glory of any oneB2
But is the cause of all and each a thingU
Felt like a fire to kindle and to stingU
The proud blood of a nation On her browsH
Is hope her body doth her spirit houseH
Express and eloquent not dumb and froreF2
And her voice echoes over sea and shoreF2
And all the lands and isles that are her ownD2
In choric interchange and antiphonA2
Answer as fancy hears in yonder cloudS
From vale to vale repeated low and loudS
The still suspended thunder Hearts of YouthI2
High beating ardent quick in hope and ruthI2
And noble anger O wherever nowF2
You dedicate your uncorrupted vowF2
To be an energy of Light a swordS
Of the ever living Will amid abhorredS
Din of the reeking street and populous denM2
Where under the great stars blind lusts of menM2
War on each other or escaped to hillsH
Where peace the solitary evening fillsH
Or far remote on other soils of earthI2
Keeping the dearness of your fathers' hearthI2
On vast plains of the West or Austral strandsH
Of the warm under world or storied landsH
Of the orient sun or over ocean waysH
Stemming the wave through blue or stormy daysH
Wherever as the circling light slopes roundS
On human lips is heard an English soundS
O scattered silent hidden and unknownD2
Be lifted up for you are not aloneD2
High beating hearts to your deep vows be trueF2
Live out your dreams for England lives in youF2

Robert Laurence Binyon



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