A Dream Of Antiquity Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAAB CDCDCEE BBFGFG CHCIJJKLKLMNMNOOPPOO QRQS OOOOTTUUUUOOVV OWOWOO OOXYXY UUOO OOOOZOZOXXA2A2A2A2 A2YA2Y YYUUOO PPOO WWB2B2VVUU C2OC2O OOOO YFYF A2GA2G A2D2A2D2 E2YE2Y A2OA2O QUQU OFOFI just had turned the classic page | A |
And traced that happy period over | B |
When blest alike were youth and age | A |
And love inspired the wisest sage | A |
And wisdom graced the tenderest lover | B |
- | |
Before I laid me down to sleep | C |
Awhile I from the lattice gazed | D |
Upon that still and moonlight deep | C |
With isles like floating gardens raised | D |
For Ariel there his sports to keep | C |
While gliding 'twixt their leafy shores | E |
The lone night fisher plied his oars | E |
- | |
I felt so strongly fancy's power | B |
Came o'er me in that witching hour | B |
As if the whole bright scenery there | F |
Were lighted by a Grecian sky | G |
And I then breathed the blissful air | F |
That late had thrilled to Sappho's sigh | G |
- | |
Thus waking dreamt I and when Sleep | C |
Came o'er my sense the dream went on | H |
Nor through her curtain dim and deep | C |
Hath ever lovelier vision shone | I |
I thought that all enrapt I strayed | J |
Through that serene luxurious shade | J |
Where Epicurus taught the Loves | K |
To polish virtue's native brightness | L |
As pearls we're told that fondling doves | K |
Have played with wear a smoother whiteness | L |
'Twas one of those delicious nights | M |
So common in the climes of Greece | N |
When day withdraws but half its lights | M |
And all is moonshine balm and peace | N |
And thou wert there my own beloved | O |
And by thy side I fondly roved | O |
Through many a temple's reverend gloom | P |
And many a bower's seductive bloom | P |
Where Beauty learned what Wisdom taught | O |
And sages sighed and lovers thought | O |
Where schoolmen conned no maxims stern | Q |
But all was formed to soothe or move | R |
To make the dullest love to learn | Q |
To make the coldest learn to love | S |
- | |
And now the fairy pathway seemed | O |
To lead us through enchanted ground | O |
Where all that bard has ever dreamed | O |
Of love or luxury bloomed around | O |
Oh 'twas a bright bewildering scene | T |
Along the alley's deepening green | T |
Soft lamps that hung like burning flowers | U |
And scented and illumed the bowers | U |
Seemed as to him who darkling roves | U |
Amid the lone Hercynian groves | U |
Appear those countless birds of light | O |
That sparkle in the leaves at night | O |
And from their wings diffuse a ray | V |
Along the traveller's weary way | V |
- | |
'Twas light of that mysterious kind | O |
Through which the soul perchance may roam | W |
When it has left this world behind | O |
And gone to seek its heavenly home | W |
And Nea thou wert by my side | O |
Through all this heavenward path my guide | O |
- | |
But lo as wandering thus we ranged | O |
That upward path the vision changed | O |
And now methought we stole along | X |
Through halls of more voluptuous glory | Y |
Than ever lived in Teian song | X |
Or wantoned in Milesian story | Y |
- | |
And nymphs were there whose very eyes | U |
Seemed softened o'er with breath of sighs | U |
Whose every ringlet as it wreathed | O |
A mute appeal to passion breathed | O |
- | |
Some flew with amber cups around | O |
Pouring the flowery wines of Crete | O |
And as they passed with youthful bound | O |
The onyx shone beneath their feet | O |
While others waving arms of snow | Z |
Entwined by snakes of burnished gold | O |
And showing charms as loth to show | Z |
Through many a thin Tarentian fold | O |
Glided among the festal throng | X |
Bearing rich urns of flowers along | X |
Where roses lay in languor breathing | A2 |
And the young beegrape round them wreathing | A2 |
Hung on their blushes warm and meek | A2 |
Like curls upon a rosy cheek | A2 |
- | |
Oh Nea why did morning break | A2 |
The spell that thus divinely bound me | Y |
Why did I wake how could I wake | A2 |
With thee my own and heaven around me | Y |
- | |
- | |
- | |
Well peace to thy heart though another's it be | Y |
And health to that cheek though it bloom not for me | Y |
To morrow I sail for those cinnamon groves | U |
Where nightly the ghost of the Carribee roves | U |
And far from the light of those eyes I may yet | O |
Their allurements forgive and their splendor forget | O |
- | |
Farewell to Bermuda and long may the bloom | P |
Of the lemon and myrtle its valleys perfume | P |
May spring to eternity hallow the shade | O |
Where Ariel has warbled and Waller has strayed | O |
- | |
And thou when at dawn thou shalt happen to roam | W |
Through the lime covered alley that leads to thy home | W |
Where oft when the dance and the revel were done | B2 |
And the stars were beginning to fade in the sun | B2 |
I have led thee along and have told by the way | V |
What my heart all the night had been burning to say | V |
Oh think of the past give a sigh to those times | U |
And a blessing for me to that alley of limes | U |
- | |
- | |
- | |
If I were yonder wave my dear | C2 |
And thou the isle it clasps around | O |
I would not let a foot come near | C2 |
My land of bliss my fairy ground | O |
- | |
If I were yonder couch of gold | O |
And thou the pearl within it placed | O |
I would not let an eye behold | O |
The sacred gem my arms embraced | O |
- | |
If I were yonder orange tree | Y |
And thou the blossom blooming there | F |
I would not yield a breath of thee | Y |
To scent the most imploring air | F |
- | |
Oh bend not o'er the water's brink | A2 |
Give not the wave that odorous sigh | G |
Nor let its burning mirror drink | A2 |
The soft reflection of thine eye | G |
- | |
That glossy hair that glowing cheek | A2 |
So pictured in the waters seem | D2 |
That I could gladly plunge to seek | A2 |
Thy image in the glassy stream | D2 |
- | |
Blest fate at once my chilly grave | E2 |
And nuptial bed that stream might be | Y |
I'll wed thee in its mimic wave | E2 |
And die upon the shade of thee | Y |
- | |
Behold the leafy mangrove bending | A2 |
O'er the waters blue and bright | O |
Like Nea's silky lashes lending | A2 |
Shadow to her eyes of light | O |
- | |
Oh my beloved where'er I turn | Q |
Some trace of thee enchants mine eyes | U |
In every star thy glances burn | Q |
Thy blush on every floweret lies | U |
- | |
Nor find I in creation aught | O |
Of bright or beautiful or rare | F |
Sweet to the sense of pure to thought | O |
But thou art found reflected there | F |
Thomas Moore
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about A Dream Of Antiquity poem by Thomas Moore
Best Poems of Thomas Moore