The Lord Of The Isles: Canto V. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCCDCDD EDFDDGDGG AHIJJD KKKLLMM NNOOPPIIQQIIQQ Q ARRRQQIDDIQQSSAAB OOTTA ADDUUBBD QSSQQVQGGQQ BKS Q O VBBIIBBQQDDQ IIQQ AWXGGUUQQIIUUQQIIQQY YQQQUUIIQQUU ABBKKKKKQQKKKUUKZZAQ QQAA2B2QC2C2C2Q AQQQQAAQQQQKKQQ Q UQQQ Q B2UUQQKKB2B2D2D2D2B2 UI | A |
On fair Loch Ranza stream'd the early day | B |
Thin wreaths of cottage smoke are upward curl'd | C |
From the lone hamlet which her inland bay | B |
And circling mountains sever from the world | C |
And there the fisherman his sail unfurl'd | C |
The goat herd drove his kids to steep Ben Ghoil | D |
Before the hut the dame her spindle twirl'd | C |
Courting the sunbeam as she plied her toil | D |
For wake where'er he may Man wakes to care and coil | D |
- | |
But other duties call'd each convent maid | E |
Roused by the summons of the moss grown bell | D |
Sung were the matins and the mass was said | F |
And every sister sought her separate cell | D |
Such was the rule her rosary to tell | D |
And Isabel has knelt in lonely prayer | G |
The sunbeam through the narrow lattice fell | D |
Upon the snowy neck and long dark hair | G |
As stoop'd her gentle head in meek devotion there | G |
- | |
II | A |
She raised her eyes that duty done | H |
When glanced upon the pavement stone | I |
Gemm'd and enchased a golden ring | J |
Bound to a scroll with silken string | J |
With few brief words inscribed to tell | D |
'This for the Lady Isabel ' | - |
Within the writing farther bore | K |
''Twas with this ring his plight he swore | K |
With this his promise I restore | K |
To her who can the heart command | L |
Well may I yield the plighted hand | L |
And O for better fortune born | M |
Grudge not a passing sigh to mourn | M |
Her who was Edith once of Lorn ' | - |
One single flash of glad surprise | N |
Just glanced from Isabel's dark eyes | N |
But vanish'd in the blush of shame | O |
That as its penance instant came | O |
'O thought unworthy of my race | P |
Selfish ungenerous mean and base | P |
A moment's throb of joy to own | I |
That rose upon her hopes o'erthrown | I |
Thou pledge of vows too well believed | Q |
Of man ingrate and maid deceived | Q |
Think not thy lustre here shall gain | I |
Another heart to hope in vain | I |
For thou shalt rest thou tempting gaud | Q |
Where worldly thoughts are overawed | Q |
And worldly splendours sink debased ' | - |
Then by the cross the ring she placed | Q |
- | |
III | A |
Next rose the thought its owner far | R |
How came it here through bolt and bar | R |
But the dim lattice is ajar | R |
She looks abroad the morning dew | Q |
A light short step had brush'd anew | Q |
And there were footprints seen | I |
On the carved buttress rising still | D |
Till on the mossy window sill | D |
Their track effaced the green | I |
The ivy twigs were torn and fray'd | Q |
As if some climber's steps to aid | Q |
But who the hardy messenger | S |
Whose venturous path these signs infer | S |
Strange doubts are mine Mona draw nigh | A |
Nought 'scapes old Mona's curious eye | A |
What strangers gentle mother say | B |
Have sought these holy walls to day ' | - |
'None Lady none of note or name | O |
Only your brother's foot page came | O |
At peep of dawn I pray'd him pass | T |
To chapel where they said the mass | T |
But like an arrow he shot by | A |
And tears seem'd bursting from his eye ' | - |
- | |
IV | A |
The truth at once on Isabel | D |
As darted by a sunbeam fell | D |
''Tis Edith's self her speechless woe | U |
Her form her looks the secret show | U |
Instant good Mona to the bay | B |
And to my royal brother say | B |
I do conjure him seek my cell | D |
With that mute page he loves so well ' | - |
'What know'st thou not his warlike host | Q |
My old eyes saw them from the tower | S |
At eve they couch'd in greenwood bower | S |
At dawn a bugle signal made | Q |
By their bold Lord their ranks array'd | Q |
Up sprung the spears through bush and tree | V |
No time for benedicite | Q |
Like deer that rousing from their lair | G |
Just shake the dewdrops from their hair | G |
And toss their armed crests aloft | Q |
Such matins theirs ' 'Good mother soft | Q |
Where does my brother bend his way ' | - |
'As I have heard for Brodick Bay | B |
Across the isle of barks a score | K |
Lie there 'tis said to waft them o'er | S |
On sudden news to Carrick shore ' | - |
'If such their purpose deep the need ' | - |
Said anxious Isabel 'of speed | Q |
Call Father Augustine good dame ' | - |
The nun obey'd the Father came | O |
- | |
V | V |
'Kind Father hie without delay | B |
Across the hills to Brodick Bay | B |
This message to the Bruce be given | I |
I pray him by his hopes of Heaven | I |
That till he speak with me he stay | B |
Or if his haste brook no delay | B |
That he deliver on my suit | Q |
Into thy charge that stripling mute | Q |
Thus prays his sister Isabel | D |
For causes more than she may tell | D |
Away good Father and take heed | Q |
That life and death are on thy speed ' | - |
His cowl the good old priest did on | I |
Took his piked staff and sandall'd shoon | I |
And like a palmer bent by eld | Q |
O'er moss and moor his journey held | Q |
- | |
VI | A |
Heavy and dull the foot of age | W |
And rugged was the pilgrimage | X |
But none was there beside whose care | G |
Might such important message bear | G |
Through birchen copse he wander'd slow | U |
Stunted and sapless thin and low | U |
By many a mountain stream he pass'd | Q |
From the tall cliffs in tumult cast | Q |
Dashing to foam their waters dun | I |
And sparkling in the summer sun | I |
Round his grey head the wild curlew | U |
In many a fearless circle flew | U |
O'er chasms he pass'd where fractures wide | Q |
Craved wary eye and ample stride | Q |
He cross'd his brow beside the stone | I |
Where Druids erst heard victims groan | I |
And at the cairns upon the wild | Q |
O'er many a heathen hero piled | Q |
He breathed a timid prayer for those | Y |
Who died ere Shiloh's sun arose | Y |
Beside Macfarlane's Cross he staid | Q |
There told his hours within the shade | Q |
And at the stream his thirst allay'd | Q |
Thence onward journeying slowly still | U |
As evening closed he reach'd the hill | U |
Where rising through the woodland green | I |
Old Brodick's gothic towers were seen | I |
From Hastings late their English lord | Q |
Douglas had won them by the sword | Q |
The sun that sunk behind the isle | U |
Now tined them with a parting smile | U |
- | |
VII | A |
But though the beams of light decay | B |
'Twas bustle all in Brodick Bay | B |
The Bruce's followers crowd the shore | K |
And boats and barges some unmoor | K |
Some raise the sail some seize the oar | K |
Their eyes oft turn'd where glimmer'd far | K |
What might have seem'd an early star | K |
On heaven's blue arch save that its light | Q |
Was all too flickering fierce and bright | Q |
Far distant in the south the ray | K |
Shone pale amid retiring day | K |
But as on Carrick shore | K |
Dim seen in outline faintly blue | U |
The shades of evening closer drew | U |
It kindled more and more | K |
The monk's slow steps now press the sands | Z |
And now amid a scene he stands | Z |
Full strange to churchman's eye | A |
Warriors who arming for the fight | Q |
Rivet and clasp their harness light | Q |
And twinkling spears and axes bright | Q |
And helmets flashing high | A |
Oft too with unaccustom'd ears | A2 |
A language much unmeet he hears | B2 |
While hastening all on board | Q |
As stormy as the swelling surge | C2 |
That mix'd its roar the leaders urge | C2 |
Their followers to the ocean verge | C2 |
With many a haughty word | Q |
- | |
VIII | A |
Through that wild throng the Father pass'd | Q |
And reach'd the Royal Bruce at last | Q |
He leant against a stranded boat | Q |
That the approaching tide must float | Q |
And counted every rippling wave | A |
As higher yet her sides they lave | A |
And oft the distant fire he eyed | Q |
And closer yet his hauberk tied | Q |
And loosen'd in his sheath his brand | Q |
Edward and Lennox were at hand | Q |
Douglas and Ronald had the care | K |
The soldiers to the barks to share | K |
The monk approach'd and homage paid | Q |
'And art thou come ' King Robert said | Q |
'So far to bless us ere we part ' | - |
'My Liege and with a loyal heart | Q |
But other charge I have to tell ' | - |
And spoke the hest of Isabel | U |
'Now by Saint Giles ' the Monarch cried | Q |
'This moves me much this morning tide | Q |
I spent the stripling to Saint Bride | Q |
With my commandment there to bide ' | - |
'Thither he came the portress show'd | Q |
But there my Liege made brief abode ' | - |
- | |
IX | B2 |
''Twas I ' said Edward 'found employ | U |
Of nobler import for the boy | U |
Deep pondering in my anxious mind | Q |
A fitting messenger to find | Q |
To bear thy written mandate o'er | K |
To Cuthbert on the Carrick shore | K |
I chanced at early dawn to pass | B2 |
The chapel gate to snatch a mass | B2 |
I found the stripling on a tomb | D2 |
Low seated weeping for the doom | D2 |
That gave his youth to convent gloom | D2 |
I told my purpose and his eyes | B2 |
Flash'd joy | U |
Sir Walter Scott
(1)
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