The Two Shades. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDEF EFGHGHIJIJKLKLHMHMNO NODPDPQRQRLSLSETET UBURVWVWXYXYSZSZA2KB 2KUMUMJC2JC2TMTMD2XD 2XB2TA2TE2F2E2F2G2ZG 2ZH2KH2KI2J2I2J2K2L2 K2L2RM2RM2NZNZN2ZN2ZAlong that gloomy river's brim | A |
Where Charon plies the ceaseless oar | B |
Two mighty Shadows dusk and dim | A |
Stood lingering on the dismal shore | B |
Hoarse came the rugged Boatman's call | C |
While echoing caves enforced the cry | D |
And as they severed life's last thrall | C |
Each Spirit spoke one parting sigh | D |
Farewell to earth I leave a name | E |
Written in fire on field and flood | F |
- | |
Wide as the wind the voice of fame | E |
Hath borne my fearful tale of blood | F |
And though across this leaden wave | G |
Returnless now my spirit haste | H |
Napoleon's name shall know no grave | G |
His mighty deeds be ne'er erased | H |
The rocky Alp where once was set | I |
My courser's hoof shall keep the seal | J |
And ne'er the echo there forget | I |
The clangor of my glorious steel | J |
Marengo's hill sides flow with wine | K |
And summer there the olive weaves | L |
But busy memory e'er will twine | K |
The blood stained laurel with its leaves | L |
The Danube's rushing billows haste | H |
With the black ocean wave to hide | M |
Yet is my startling story traced | H |
In every murmur of its tide | M |
The pyramid on Giseh's plain | N |
Its founder's fame hath long forgot | O |
But from its memory time in vain | N |
Shall strive Napoleon's name to blot | O |
The bannered storm that floats the sky | D |
With God's red quiver in its fold | P |
O'er startled realms shall lowering fly | D |
A type of me till time is told | P |
The storm a thing of weal and woe | Q |
Of life and death of peace and power | R |
That lays the giant forest low | Q |
Yet cheers the bent grass with its shower | R |
That in its trampled pathway leaves | L |
The uptorn roots to bud anew | S |
And where the past o'er ruin grieves | L |
Bids fresher beauty spring to view | S |
The storm an emblem of my name | E |
Shall keep my memory in the skies | T |
Its flash wreathed wing a flag of flame | E |
Shall spread my glory as it flies | T |
- | |
The Spirit passed and now alone | U |
The darker Shadow trod the shore | B |
Deep from his breast the parting tone | U |
Swept with the wind the landscape o'er | R |
Farewell I will not speak of deeds | V |
For these are written but in sand | W |
And as the furrow choked with weeds | V |
Fade from the memory of the land | W |
The war plumed chieftain cannot stay | X |
To guard the gore his blade hath shed | Y |
Time sweeps the purple stain away | X |
And throws a veil o'er glory's bed | Y |
But though my form must fade from view | S |
And Byron bow to fate resigned | Z |
Undying as the fabled Jew | S |
Harold's dark spirit stays behind | Z |
And he who yet in after years | A2 |
Shall tread the vine clad shores of Rhine | K |
In Chillon's gloom shall pour his tears | B2 |
Or raptured see blue Leman shine | K |
He shall not cannot go alone | U |
Harold unseen shall seek his side | M |
Shall whisper in his ear a tone | U |
So seeming sweet he cannot chide | M |
He cannot chide although he feel | J |
While listening to the magic verse | C2 |
A serpent round his bosom steal | J |
He still shall hug the coiling curse | C2 |
Or if beneath Italian skies | T |
The wanderer's feet delighted glide | M |
Harold in merry Juan's guise | T |
Shall be his tutor and his guide | M |
One living essence God hath poured | D2 |
In every heart the love of sway | X |
And though he may not wield the sword | D2 |
Each is a despot in his way | X |
The infant rules by cries and tears | B2 |
The maiden with her sunny eyes | T |
The miser with the hoard of years | A2 |
The monarch with his clanking ties | T |
To me the will the power were given | E2 |
O'er plaything man to weave my spell | F2 |
And if I bore him up to heaven | E2 |
'Twas but to hurl him down to hell | F2 |
And if I chose upon the rack | G2 |
Of doubt to stretch the tortured mind | Z |
To turn Faith's heavenward footstep back | G2 |
Her hope despoiled her vision blind | Z |
Or if on Virtue's holy brow | H2 |
A wreath of scorn I sought to twine | K |
And bade her minions mocking bow | H2 |
With sweeter vows at pleasure's shrine | K |
Or if I mirrored to the thought | I2 |
With glorious truth the charms of earth | J2 |
While yet the trusting fool I taught | I2 |
To scoff at Him who gave it birth | J2 |
Or if I filled the soul with light | K2 |
And bore its buoyant wing in air | L2 |
To plunge it down in deeper night | K2 |
And mock its maniac wanderings there | L2 |
I did but wield the wand of power | R |
That God intrusted to my clasp | M2 |
And not the tyrant of an hour | R |
Will I resign it to Death's grasp | M2 |
The despot with his iron chain | N |
In idle bonds the limbs may bind | Z |
He who would hold a sterner reign | N |
Must twine the links around the mind | Z |
Thus I have thrown upon my race | N2 |
A chain that ages cannot rend | Z |
And mocking Harold stays to trace | N2 |
The slaves that to my sceptre bend | Z |
Samuel Griswold Goodrich
(1)
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