The Souls Of The Slain. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDDBC A EFGGEF A HIJJHI GKGGGK LGGGLG GMNNGM OPQQOP RQQQRQ Q SGRRSG Q QQTTQQ Q PQGGPQ Q QGQQQG Q UVWWUV QGNNQG QGQQQG TPGGTQ| I | A |
| - | |
| The thick lids of Night closed upon me | B |
| Alone at the Bill | C |
| Of the Isle by the Race | D |
| Many caverned bald wrinkled of face | D |
| And with darkness and silence the spirit was on me | B |
| To brood and be still | C |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| No wind fanned the flats of the ocean | E |
| Or promontory sides | F |
| Or the ooze by the strand | G |
| Or the bent bearded slope of the land | G |
| Whose base took its rest amid everlong motion | E |
| Of criss crossing tides | F |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| Soon from out of the Southward seemed nearing | H |
| A whirr as of wings | I |
| Waved by mighty vanned flies | J |
| Or by night moths of measureless size | J |
| And in softness and smoothness well nigh beyond hearing | H |
| Of corporal things | I |
| - | |
| IV | - |
| - | |
| And they bore to the bluff and alighted | G |
| A dim discerned train | K |
| Of sprites without mould | G |
| Frameless souls none might touch or might hold | G |
| On the ledge by the turreted lantern farsighted | G |
| By men of the main | K |
| - | |
| V | - |
| - | |
| And I heard them say Home and I knew them | L |
| For souls of the felled | G |
| On the earth's nether bord | G |
| Under Capricorn whither they'd warred | G |
| And I neared in my awe and gave heedfulness to them | L |
| With breathings inheld | G |
| - | |
| VI | - |
| - | |
| Then it seemed there approached from the northward | G |
| A senior soul flame | M |
| Of the like filmy hue | N |
| And he met them and spake Is it you | N |
| O my men Said they Aye We bear homeward and hearthward | G |
| To list to our fame | M |
| - | |
| VII | - |
| - | |
| I've flown there before you he said then | O |
| Your households are well | P |
| But your kin linger less | Q |
| On your glory arid war mightiness | Q |
| Than on dearer things Dearer cried these from the dead then | O |
| Of what do they tell | P |
| - | |
| VIII | - |
| - | |
| Some mothers muse sadly and murmur | R |
| Your doings as boys | Q |
| Recall the quaint ways | Q |
| Of your babyhood's innocent days | Q |
| Some pray that ere dying your faith had grown firmer | R |
| And higher your joys | Q |
| - | |
| IX | Q |
| - | |
| A father broods 'Would I had set him | S |
| To some humble trade | G |
| And so slacked his high fire | R |
| And his passionate martial desire | R |
| Had told him no stories to woo him and whet him | S |
| To this due crusade | G |
| - | |
| X | Q |
| - | |
| And General how hold out our sweethearts | Q |
| Sworn loyal as doves | Q |
| Many mourn many think | T |
| It is not unattractive to prink | T |
| Them in sables for heroes Some fickle and fleet hearts | Q |
| Have found them new loves | Q |
| - | |
| XI | Q |
| - | |
| And our wives quoth another resignedly | P |
| Dwell they on our deeds | Q |
| Deeds of home that live yet | G |
| Fresh as new deeds of fondness or fret | G |
| Ancient words that were kindly expressed or unkindly | P |
| These these have their heeds | Q |
| - | |
| XII | Q |
| - | |
| Alas then it seems that our glory | Q |
| Weighs less in their thought | G |
| Than our old homely acts | Q |
| And the long ago commonplace facts | Q |
| Of our lives held by us as scarce part of our story | Q |
| And rated as nought | G |
| - | |
| XIII | Q |
| - | |
| Then bitterly some Was it wise now | U |
| To raise the tomb door | V |
| For such knowledge Away | W |
| But the rest Fame we prized till to day | W |
| Yet that hearts keep us green for old kindness we prize now | U |
| A thousand times more | V |
| - | |
| XIV | - |
| - | |
| Thus speaking the trooped apparitions | Q |
| Began to disband | G |
| And resolve them in two | N |
| Those whose record was lovely and true | N |
| Bore to northward for home those of bitter traditions | Q |
| Again left the land | G |
| - | |
| XV | - |
| - | |
| And towering to seaward in legions | Q |
| They paused at a spot | G |
| Overbending the Race | Q |
| That engulphing ghast sinister place | Q |
| Whither headlong they plunged to the fathomless regions | Q |
| Of myriads forgot | G |
| - | |
| XVI | - |
| - | |
| And the spirits of those who were homing | T |
| Passed on rushingly | P |
| Like the Pentecost Wind | G |
| And the whirr of their wayfaring thinned | G |
| And surceased on the sky and but left in the gloaming | T |
| Sea mutterings and me | Q |
Thomas Hardy
(1)
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