Rokeby: Canto Vi. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCCDDAAEEDDBBCCFFG GHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOO APPQQRRSSTTUUAAVVWWX XSSYYGG ADDZZA2A2B2C2RRD2D2E 2E2WWGGF2F2G2G2FFH2H 2I2I2 XYYJ2J2K2JL2L2M2M2A2 A2RRN2N2I2I2K2K2O2O2 O2O2E2E2MM XP2P2XP2 O2P2P2O2O2I2BN2Q2O2O 2R2R2VVRRPPO2O2O2O2O 2O2 XS2T2E2E2O2O2CCO2O2Q 2N2U2 O2O2O2P2P2O2O2XXE2E2 XXV2V2W2W2X2V2BBB O2O2 XBE2O2O2P2P2 PP2P2XXO2 Y2WP2P2O2O2XXX XO2CI | A |
The summer sun whose early power | B |
Was wont to gild Matilda's bower | B |
And rouse her with his matin ray | C |
Her duteous orisons to pay | C |
That morning sun has three times seen | D |
The flowers unfold on Rokeby green | D |
But sees no more the slumbers fly | A |
From fair Matilda's hazel eye | A |
That morning sun has three times broke | E |
On Rokeby's glades of elm and oak | E |
But rising from their sylvan screen | D |
Marks no grey turrets' glance between | D |
A shapeless mass lie keep and tower | B |
That hissing to the morning shower | B |
Can but with smouldering vapour pay | C |
The early smile of summer day | C |
The peasant to his labour bound | F |
Pauses to view the blacken'd mound | F |
Striving amid the ruin'd space | G |
Each well remember'd spot to trace | G |
That length of frail and fire scorch'd wall | H |
Once screen'd the hospitable hall | H |
When yonder broken arch was whole | I |
Twas there was dealt the weekly dole | I |
And where yon tottering columns nod | J |
The chapel sent the hymn to God | J |
So flits the world's uncertain span | K |
Nor zeal for God nor love for man | K |
Gives mortal monuments a date | L |
Beyond the power of Time and Fate | L |
The towers must share the builder's doom | M |
Ruin is theirs and his a tomb | M |
But better boon benignant Heaven | N |
To Faith and Charity has given | N |
And bids the Christian hope sublime | O |
Transcend the bounds of Fate and Time | O |
- | |
II | A |
Now the third night of summer came | P |
Since that which witness'd Rokeby's flame | P |
On Brignall cliffs and Scargill brake | Q |
The owlet's homilies awake | Q |
The bittern scream'd from rush and flag | R |
The raven slumber'd on his crag | R |
Forth from his den the otter drew | S |
Grayling and trout their tyrant knew | S |
As between reed and sedge he peers | T |
With fierce round snout and sharpen'd ears | T |
Or prowling by the moonbeam cool | U |
Watches the stream or swims the pool | U |
Perch'd on his wonted eyrie high | A |
Sleep seal'd the tercelet's wearied eye | A |
That all the day had watch'd so well | V |
The cushat dart across the dell | V |
In dubious beam reflected shone | W |
That lofty cliff of pale grey stone | W |
Beside whose base the secret cave | X |
To rapine late a refuge gave | X |
The crag's wild crest of copse and yew | S |
On Greta's breast dark shadows threw | S |
Shadows that met or shunn'd the sight | Y |
With every change of fitful light | Y |
As hope and fear alternate chase | G |
Our course through life's uncertain race | G |
- | |
III | A |
Gliding by crag and copsewood green | D |
A solitary form was seen | D |
To trace with stealthy pace the wold | Z |
Like fox that seeks the midnight fold | Z |
And pauses oft and cowers dismay'd | A2 |
At every breath that stirs the shade | A2 |
He passes now the ivy bush | B2 |
The owl has seen him and is hush | C2 |
He passes now the dodder'd oak | R |
Ye heard the startled raven croak | R |
Lower and lower he descends | D2 |
Rustle the leaves the brushwood bends | D2 |
The otter hears him tread the shore | E2 |
And dives and is beheld no more | E2 |
And by the cliff of pale grey stone | W |
The midnight wanderer stands alone | W |
Methinks that by the moon we trace | G |
A well remember'd form and face | G |
That stripling shape that cheek so pale | F2 |
Combine to tell a rueful tale | F2 |
Of powers misused of passion's force | G2 |
Of guilt of grief and of remorse | G2 |
'Tis Edmund's eye at every sound | F |
That flings that guilty glance around | F |
'Tis Edmund's trembling haste divides | H2 |
The brushwood that the cavern hides | H2 |
And when its narrow porch lies bare | I2 |
'Tis Edmund's form that enters there | I2 |
- | |
IV | X |
His flint and steel have sparkled bright | Y |
A lamp hath lent the cavern light | Y |
Fearful and quick his eye surveys | J2 |
Each angle of the gloomy maze | J2 |
Since last he left that stern abode | K2 |
It seem'd as none its floor had trod | J |
Untouch'd appeared the various spoil | L2 |
The purchase of his comrades' toil | L2 |
Masks and disguises grimed with mud | M2 |
Arms broken and defiled with blood | M2 |
And all the nameless tools that aid | A2 |
Night felons in their lawless trade | A2 |
Upon the gloomy walls were hung | R |
Or lay in nooks obscurely flung | R |
Still on the sordid board appear | N2 |
The relics of the noontide cheer | N2 |
Flagons and emptied flasks were there | I2 |
And bench o'erthrown and shatter'd chair | I2 |
And all around the semblance show'd | K2 |
As when the final revel glow'd | K2 |
When the red sun was setting fast | O2 |
And parting pledge Guy Denzil past | O2 |
'To Rokeby treasure vaults ' they quaff'd | O2 |
And shouted loud and wildly laugh'd | O2 |
Pour'd maddening from the rocky door | E2 |
And parted to return no more | E2 |
They found in Rokeby vaults their doom | M |
A bloody death a burning tomb | M |
- | |
V | X |
There his own peasant dress he spies | P2 |
Doff'd to assume that quaint disguise | P2 |
And shuddering thought upon his glee | X |
When prank'd in garb of minstrelsy | P2 |
' be the fatal art accurst ' | - |
He cried 'that moved my folly first | O2 |
Till bribed by bandits' base applause | P2 |
I burst through God's and Nature's laws | P2 |
Three summer days are scantly past | O2 |
Since I have trod this cavern last | O2 |
A thoughtless wretch and prompt to err | I2 |
But as yet no murderer | B |
Even now I list my comrades' cheer | N2 |
That general laugh is in mine ear | Q2 |
Which raised my pulse and steel'd my heart | O2 |
As I rehearsed my treacherous part | O2 |
And would that all since then could seem | R2 |
The phantom of a fever's dream | R2 |
But fatal Memory notes too well | V |
The horrors of the dying yell | V |
From my despairing mates that broke | R |
When flash'd the fire and roll'd the smoke | R |
When the avengers shouting came | P |
And hemm'd us 'twixt the sword and flame | P |
My frantic flight the lifted brand | O2 |
That angel's interposing hand | O2 |
If for my life from slaughter freed | O2 |
I yet could pay some grateful meed | O2 |
Perchance this object of my quest | O2 |
May aid' he turn'd nor spoke the rest | O2 |
- | |
VI | X |
Due northward from the rugged hearth | S2 |
With paces five he metes the earth | T2 |
Then toil'd with mattock to explore | E2 |
The entrails of the cavern floor | E2 |
Nor paused till deep beneath the ground | O2 |
His search a small steel casket found | O2 |
Just as he stoop'd to loose its hasp | C |
His shoulder felt a giant grasp | C |
He started and look'd up aghast | O2 |
Then shriek'd 'Twas Bertram held him fast | O2 |
'Fear not ' he said but who could hear | Q2 |
That deep stern voice and cease to fear | N2 |
'Fear not By heaven he shakes as much | U2 |
As partridge in the falcon's clutch ' | - |
He raised him and unloosed his hold | O2 |
While from the opening casket roll'd | O2 |
A chain and reliquaire of gold | O2 |
Bertram beheld it with surprise | P2 |
Gazed on its fashion and device | P2 |
Then cheering Edmund as he could | O2 |
Somewhat he smooth'd his rugged mood | O2 |
For still the youth's half lifted eye | X |
Quiver'd with terror's agony | X |
And sidelong glanced as to explore | E2 |
In meditated flight the door | E2 |
'Sit ' Bertram said 'from danger free | X |
Thou canst not and thou shalt not flee | X |
Chance brings me hither hill and plain | V2 |
I've sought for refuge place in vain | V2 |
And tell me now thou aguish boy | W2 |
What makest thou here what means this toy | W2 |
Denzil and thou I mark'd were ta'en | X2 |
What lucky chance unbound your chain | V2 |
I deem'd long since on Baliol's tower | B |
Your heads were warp'd with sun and shower | B |
Tell me the whole and mark nought e'er | B |
Chafes me like falsehood or like fear ' | - |
Gathering his courage to his aid | O2 |
But trembling still the youth obey'd | O2 |
- | |
VII | X |
'Denzil and I two nights pass'd o'er | B |
In fetters on the dungeon floor | E2 |
A guest the third sad morrow brought | O2 |
Our hold dark Oswald Wycliffe sought | O2 |
And eyed my comrade long askance | P2 |
With fix'd and penetrating glance | P2 |
'Guy Denzil art thou call'd ' 'The same ' | - |
'At Court who served wild Buckinghame | P |
Thence banish'd won a keeper's place | P2 |
So Villiers will'd in Marwood chase | P2 |
That lost I need not tell thee why | X |
Thou madest thy wit thy wants supply | X |
Then fought for Rokeby Have I guess'd | O2 |
My prisoner right ' 'At thy behest ' | - |
He paused awhile and then went on | Y2 |
With low and confidential tone | W |
Me as I judge not then he saw | P2 |
Close nestled in my couch of straw | P2 |
List to me Guy Thou know'st the great | O2 |
Have frequent need of what they hate | O2 |
Hence in their favour oft we see | X |
Unscrupled useful men like thee | X |
Were I disposed to bid thee live | X |
What pledge of faith hast thou to give ' | - |
- | |
VIII | X |
'The ready Fiend who never yet | O2 |
Hath failed to sharpe | C |
Sir Walter Scott
(1)
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