The Dance Of Death Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCDEFFGGHHIIFJKF AGGGKLMMKFFFNOOONPPP POQRPO ASSTTUUPPVVNWWWNXYNZ ZNA2A2B2C2C2B2OPB2 T D2 WWE2TTE2 F2F2ATTANNPG2G2PWWE2 TTE2 TWWH2I2I2H2PPOJ2J2O AWWE2TTE2 PPK2AAK2HHL2HHL2 TWWE2TTE2 M2M2NN2N2N2N2N TQO2PP2P2PQ2R2OHHO

IA
Night and morning were at meetingB
Over WaterlooC
Cocks had sung their earliest greetingB
Faint and low they crewC
For no paly beam yet shoneD
On the heights of Mount Saint JohnE
Tempest clouds prolonged the swayF
Of timeless darkness over dayF
Whirlwind thunder clap and showerG
Marked it a predestined hourG
Broad and frequent through the nightH
Flashed the sheets of levin lightH
Muskets glancing lightnings backI
Showed the dreary bivouacI
Where the soldier layF
Chill and stiff and drenched with rainJ
Wishing dawn of morn againK
Though death should come with dayF
-
IIA
'Tis at such a tide and hourG
Wizard witch and fiend have powerG
And ghastly forms through mist and showerG
Gleam on the gifted kenK
And then the affrighted prophet's earL
Drinks whispers strange of fate and fearM
Presaging death and ruin nearM
Among the sons of menK
Apart from Albyn's war arrayF
'Twas then grey Allan sleepless layF
Grey Allan who for many a dayF
Had followed stout and sternN
Where through battle's rout and reelO
Storm of shot and edge of steelO
Led the grandson of LochielO
Valiant FassiefernN
Through steel and shot he leads no moreP
Low laid 'mid friends' and foemen's goreP
But long his native lake's wild shoreP
And Sunart rough and high ArdgowerP
And Morven long shall tellO
And proud Bennevis hear with aweQ
How upon bloody Quatre BrasR
Brave Cameron heard the wild hurraP
Of conquest as he fellO
-
IIIA
Lone on the outskirts of the hostS
The weary sentinel held postS
And heard through darkness far aloofT
The frequent clang of courser's hoofT
Where held the cloaked patrol their courseU
And spurred 'gainst storm the swerving horseU
But there are sounds in Allan's earP
Patrol nor sentinel may hearP
And sights before his eye aghastV
Invisible to them have passedV
When down the destined plainN
'Twixt Britain and the bands of FranceW
Wild as marsh borne meteor's glanceW
Strange phantoms wheeled a revel danceW
And doomed the future slainN
Such forms were seen such sounds were heardX
When Scotland's James his march preparedY
For Flodden's fatal plainN
Such when he drew his ruthless swordZ
As Choosers of the Slain adoredZ
The yet unchristened DaneN
An indistinct and phantom bandA2
They wheeled their ring dance hand in handA2
With gestures wild and dreadB2
The Seer who watched them ride the stormC2
Saw through their faint and shadowy formC2
The lightning's flash more redB2
And still their ghastly roundelayO
Was of the coming battle frayP
And of the destined deadB2
-
IVT
-
SongD2
-
Wheel the wild danceW
While lightnings glanceW
And thunders rattle loudE2
And call the braveT
To bloody graveT
To sleep without a shroudE2
-
Our airy feetF2
So light and fleetF2
They do not bend the ryeA
That sinks its head when whirlwinds raveT
And swells again in eddying waveT
As each wild gust blows byA
But still the cornN
At dawn of mornN
Our fatal steps that boreP
At eve lies wasteG2
A trampled pasteG2
Of blackening mud and goreP
Wheel the wild danceW
While lightnings glanceW
And thunders rattle loudE2
And call the braveT
To bloody graveT
To sleep without a shroudE2
-
VT
Wheel the wild danceW
Brave sons of FranceW
For you our ring makes roomH2
Make space full wideI2
For martial prideI2
For banner spear and plumeH2
Approach draw nearP
Proud cuirassierP
Room for the men of steelO
Through crest and plateJ2
The broadsword's weightJ2
Both head and heart shall feelO
-
VIA
Wheel the wild danceW
While lightnings glanceW
And thunders rattle loudE2
And call the braveT
To bloody graveT
To sleep without a shroudE2
-
Sons of the spearP
You feel us nearP
In many a ghastly dreamK2
With fancy's eyeA
Our forms you spyA
And hear our fatal screamK2
With clearer sightH
Ere falls the nightH
Just when to weal or woeL2
Your disembodied souls take flightH
On trembling wing each startled spriteH
Our choir of death shall knowL2
-
VIIT
Wheel the wild danceW
While lightnings glanceW
And thunders rattle loudE2
And call the braveT
To bloody graveT
To sleep without a shroudE2
-
Burst ye clouds in tempest showersM2
Redder rain shall soon be oursM2
See the east grows wanN
Yield we place to sterner gameN2
Ere deadlier bolts and direr flameN2
Shall the welkin's thunders shameN2
Elemental rage is tameN2
To the wrath of manN
-
VIIIT
At morn grey Allan's mates with aweQ
Heard of the visioned sights he sawO2
The legend heard him sayP
But the Seer's gifted eye was dimP2
Deafened his ear and stark his limbP2
Ere closed that bloody dayP
He sleeps far from his Highland heathQ2
But often of the Dance of DeathR2
His comrades tell the taleO
On picquet post when ebbs the nightH
And waning watch fires glow less brightH
And dawn is glimmering paleO

Sir Walter Scott



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