Marmion: Introduction To Canto Iii. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIJKK LL MMNNOOPQRRSSTTUVWWXX OOYYZA2OOB2B2C2C2GGD 2D2E2E2JJF2F2ZZG2G2D 2D2H2H2C2I2J2K2L2L2M 2T N2N2O2O2P2P2Q2R2L2L2 S2T2T2T2T2T2 U2U2V2V2O2JW2W2JJX2Y 2D V2V2Z2Z2T2T2T2T2E2E2 Z2Z2EET2T2DDZZLLB2A3 A2A2T2T2V2V2C2C2MMB3 B3B3J2J2V2V2 T2T2OOEEJJV2V2LLT2T2 D2D2T2T2B3B3C3C3B2B2 T2T2JJT2T2SSC3C3B2B2 V2V2D3D3E3E2F3F3T2T2 T2T2EEO2JT2T2O2O2 HHJJT2C3

Like April morning clouds that passA
With varying shadow o'er the grassA
And imitate on field and furrowB
Life's chequered scene of joy and sorrowB
Like streamlet of the mountain NorthC
Now in a torrent racing forthC
Now winding slow its silver trainD
And almost slumbering on the plainD
Like breezes of the Autumn dayE
Whose voice inconstant dies awayE
And ever swells again as fastF
When the ear deems its murmur pastF
Thus various my romantic themeG
Flits winds or sinks a morning dreamG
Yet pleased our eye pursues the traceH
Of light and shade's inconstant raceH
Pleased views the rivulet afarI
Weaving its maze irregularJ
And pleased we listen as the breezeK
Heaves its wild sigh through Autumn treesK
Then wild as cloud or stream or galeL
Flow on flow unconfined my taleL
-
Need I to thee dear Erskine tellM
I love the license all too wellM
In sounds now lowly and now strongN
To raise the desultory songN
Oft when mid such capricious chimeO
Some transient fit of lofty rhymeO
To thy kind judgment seemed excuseP
For many an error of the museQ
Oft hast thou said 'If still misspentR
Thine hours to poetry are lentR
Go and to tame thy wandering courseS
Quaff from the fountain at the sourceS
Approach those masters o'er whose tombT
Immortal laurels ever bloomT
Instructive of the feebler bardU
Still from the grave their voice is heardV
From them and from the paths they showedW
Choose honoured guide and practised roadW
Nor ramble on through brake and mazeX
With harpers rude of barbarous daysX
-
'Or deem'st thou not our later timeO
Yields topic meet for classic rhymeO
Hast thou no elegiac verseY
For Brunswick's venerable hearseY
What not a line a tear a sighZ
When valour bleeds for libertyA2
Oh hero of that glorious timeO
When with unrivalled light sublimeO
Though martial Austria and though allB2
The might of Russia and the GaulB2
Though banded Europe stood her foesC2
The star of Brandenburg aroseC2
Thou couldst not live to see her beamG
For ever quenched in Jena's streamG
Lamented chief it was not givenD2
To thee to change the doom of HeavenD2
And crush that dragon in its birthE2
Predestined scourge of guilty earthE2
Lamented chief not thine the powerJ
To save in that presumptuous hourJ
When Prussia hurried to the fieldF2
And snatched the spear but left the shieldF2
Valour and skill 'twas thine to tryZ
And tried in vain 'twas thine to dieZ
Ill had it seemed thy silver hairG2
The last the bitterest pang to shareG2
For princedom reft and scutcheons rivenD2
And birthrights to usurpers givenD2
Thy land's thy children's wrongs to feelH2
And witness woes thou couldst not healH2
On thee relenting Heaven bestowsC2
For honoured life an honoured closeI2
And when revolves in time's sure changeJ2
The hour of Germany's revengeK2
When breathing fury for her sakeL2
Some new Arminius shall awakeL2
Her champion ere he strike shall comeM2
To whet his sword on Brunswick's tombT
-
'Or of the red cross hero teachN2
Dauntless in dungeon as on breachN2
Alike to him the sea the shoreO2
The brand the bridle or the oarO2
Alike to him the war that callsP2
Its votaries to the shattered wallsP2
Which the grim Turk besmeared with bloodQ2
Against the invincible made goodR2
Or that whose thundering voice could wakeL2
The silence of the polar lakeL2
When stubborn Russ and mettled SwedeS2
On the warped wave their death game playedT2
Or that where vengeance and affrightT2
Howled round the father of the fightT2
Who snatched on Alexandria's sandT2
The conqueror's wreath with dying handT2
-
'Or if to touch such chord be thineU2
Restore the ancient tragic lineU2
And emulate the notes that rungV2
From the wild harp which silent hungV2
By silver Avon's holy shoreO2
Till twice a hundred years rolled o'erJ
When she the bold enchantress cameW2
With fearless hand and heart on flameW2
From the pale willow snatched the treasureJ
And swept it with a kindred measureJ
Till Avon's swans while rung the groveX2
With Montfort's hate and Basil's loveY2
Awakening at the inspired strainD
Deemed their own Shakespeare lived again '-
-
Thy friendship thus thy judgment wrongingV2
With praises not to me belongingV2
In task more meet for mightiest powersZ2
Wouldst thou engage my thriftless hoursZ2
But say my Erskine hast thou weighedT2
That secret power by all obeyedT2
Which warps not less the passive mindT2
Its source concealed or undefinedT2
Whether an impulse that has birthE2
Soon as the infant wakes on earthE2
One with our feelings and our powersZ2
And rather part of us than oursZ2
Or whether fitlier termed the swayE
Of habit formed in early dayE
Howe'er derived its force confessedT2
Rules with despotic sway the breastT2
And drags us on by viewless chainD
While taste and reason plead in vainD
Look east and ask the Belgian whyZ
Beneath Batavia's sultry skyZ
He seeks not eager to inhaleL
The freshness of the mountain galeL
Content to rear his whitened wallB2
Beside the dank and dull canalA3
He'll say from youth he loved to seeA2
The white sail gliding by the treeA2
Or see yon weather beaten hindT2
Whose sluggish herds before him windT2
Whose tattered plaid and rugged cheekV2
His northern clime and kindred speakV2
Through England's laughing meads he goesC2
And England's wealth around him flowsC2
Ask if it would content him wellM
At ease in those gay plains to dwellM
Where hedgerows spread a verdant screenB3
And spires and forests interveneB3
And the neat cottage peeps betweenB3
No not for these would he exchangeJ2
His dark Lochaber's boundless rangeJ2
Nor for fair Devon's meads forsakeV2
Ben Nevis grey and Garry's lakeV2
-
Thus while I ape the measure wildT2
Of tales that charmed me yet a childT2
Rude though they be still with the chimeO
Return the thoughts of early timeO
And feelings roused in life's first dayE
Glow in the line and prompt the layE
Then rise those crags that mountain towerJ
Which charmed my fancy's wakening hourJ
Though no broad river swept alongV2
To claim perchance heroic songV2
Though sighed no groves in summer galeL
To prompt of love a softer taleL
Though scarce a puny streamlet's speedT2
Claimed homage from a shepherd's reedT2
Yet was poetic impulse givenD2
By the green hill and clear blue heavenD2
It was a barren scene and wildT2
Where naked cliffs were rudely piledT2
But ever and anon betweenB3
Lay velvet tufts of loveliest greenB3
And well the lonely infant knewC3
Recesses where the wallflower grewC3
And honeysuckle loved to crawlB2
Up the low crag and ruined wallB2
I deemed such nooks the sweetest shadeT2
The sun in all its round surveyedT2
And still I thought that shattered towerJ
The mightiest work of human powerJ
And marvelled as the aged hindT2
With some strange tale bewitched my mindT2
Of forayers who with headlong forceS
Down from that strength had spurred their horseS
Their southern rapine to renewC3
Far in the distant Cheviots blueC3
And home returning filled the hallB2
With revel wassail rout and brawlB2
Methought that still with trump and clangV2
The gateway's broken arches rangV2
Methought grim features seamed with scarsD3
Glared through the window's rusty barsD3
And ever by the winter hearthE3
Old tales I heard of woe or mirthE2
Of lovers' slights of ladies' charmsF3
Of witches' spells of warriors' armsF3
Of patriot battles won of oldT2
By Wallace wight and Bruce the boldT2
Of later fields of feud and fightT2
When pouring from their Highland heightT2
The Scottish clans in headlong swayE
Had swept the scarlet ranks awayE
While stretched at length upon the floorO2
Again I fought each combat o'erJ
Pebbles and shells in order laidT2
The mimic ranks of war displayedT2
And onward still the Scottish Lion boreO2
And still the scattered Southron fled beforeO2
-
Still with vain fondness could I traceH
Anew each kind familiar faceH
That brightened at our evening fireJ
From the thatched mansion's grey haired sireJ
Wise without learning plain and goodT2
And sprunC3

Sir Walter Scott



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