Alciphron: A Fragment. Letter I Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Thomas Moore

Alciphron: A Fragment. Letter I Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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FROM ALCIPHRON AT ALEXANDRIA TO CLEON AT ATHENS	A
	-
	-
Well may you wonder at my flight	B
From those fair Gardens in whose bowers	C
Lingers whate'er of wise and bright	B
Of Beauty's smile or Wisdom's light	B
Is left to grace this world of ours	C
Well may my comrades as they roam	D
On such sweet eyes as this inquire	E
Why I have left that happy home	D
Where all is found that all desire	F
And Time hath wings that never tire	F
Where bliss in all the countless shapes	G
That Fancy's self to bliss hath given	H
Comes clustering round like roadside grapes	G
That woo the traveller's lip at even	I
Where Wisdom flings not joy away	J
As Pallas in the stream they say	J
Once flung her flute but smiling owns	K
That woman's lip can send forth tones	K
Worth all the music of those spheres	L
So many dream of but none hears	M
Where Virtue's self puts on so well	N
Her sister Pleasure's smile that loath	O
From either nymph apart to dwell	N
We finish by embracing both	O
Yes such the place of bliss I own	P
From all whose charms I just have flown	P
And even while thus to thee I write	B
And by the Nile's dark flood recline	Q
Fondly in thought I wing my flight	B
Back to those groves and gardens bright	B
And often think by this sweet light	B
How lovelily they all must shine	Q
Can see that graceful temple throw	R
Down the green slope its lengthened shade	S
While on the marble steps below	R
There sits some fair Athenian maid	S
Over some favorite volume bending	T
And by her side a youthful sage	U
Holds back the ringlets that descending	T
Would else o'ershadow all the page	U
But hence such thoughts nor let me grieve	V
O'er scenes of joy that I but leave	V
As the bird quits awhile its nest	W
To come again with livelier zest	W
	-
And now to tell thee what I fear	X
Thou'lt gravely smile at why I'm here	Y
Tho' thro' my life's short sunny dream	Z
I've floated without pain or care	A2
Like a light leaf down pleasure's stream	Z
Caught in each sparkling eddy there	A2
Tho' never Mirth awaked a strain	B2
That my heart echoed not again	C2
Yet have I felt when even most gay	J
Sad thoughts I knew not whence or why	D2
Suddenly o'er my spirit fly	D2
Like clouds that ere we've time to say	J
How bright the sky is shade the sky	D2
Sometimes so vague so undefined	E2
Were these strange darkenings of my mind	E2
While naught but joy around me beamed	F2
So causelessly they've come and flown	P
That not of life or earth they seemed	F2
But shadows from some world unknown	P
More oft however 'twas the thought	G2
How soon that scene with all its play	J
Of life and gladness must decay	J
Those lips I prest the hands I caught	H2
Myself the crowd that mirth had brought	G2
Around me swept like weeds away	J
	-
This thought it was that came to shed	I2
O'er rapture's hour its worst alloys	J2
And close as shade with sunshine wed	I2
Its sadness with my happiest joys	J2
Oh but for this disheartening voice	K2
Stealing amid our mirth to say	J
That all in which we most rejoice	K2
Ere night may be the earthworm's prey	J
But for this bitter only this	L2
Full as the world is brimmed with bliss	L2
And capable as feels my soul	M2
Of draining to its dregs the whole	M2
I should turn earth to heaven and be	N2
If bliss made Gods a Deity	N2
	-
Thou know'st that night the very last	O2
That 'mong my Garden friends I past	O2
When the School held its feast of mirth	P2
To celebrate our founder's birth	P2
And all that He in dreams but saw	Q2
When he set Pleasure on the throne	P
Of this bright world and wrote her law	Q2
In human hearts was felt and known	P
Not in unreal dreams but true	R2
Substantial joy as pulse e'er knew	R2
By hearts and bosoms that each felt	S2
Itself the realm where Pleasure dwelt	S2
	-
That night when all our mirth was o'er	F
The minstrels silent and the feet	T2
Of the young maidens heard no more	U2
So stilly was the time so sweet	T2
And such a calm came o'er that scene	V2
Where life and revel late had been	I
Lone as the quiet of some bay	J
From which the sea hath ebbed away	J
That still I lingered lost in thought	G2
Gazing upon the stars of night	B
Sad and intent as if I sought	G2
Some mournful secret in their light	B
And asked them mid that silence why	D2
Man glorious man alone must die	D2
While they less wonderful than he	N2
Shine on thro' all eternity	N2
	-
That night thou haply may'st forget	W2
Its loveliness but 'twas a night	B
To make earth's meanest slave regret	W2
Leaving a world so soft and bright	B
On one side in the dark blue sky	D2
Lonely and radiant was the eye	D2
Of Jove himself while on the other	F
'Mong stars that came out one by one	H
The young moon like the Roman mother	F
Among her living jewels shone	P
Oh that from yonder orbs I thought	G2
Pure and eternal as they are	X2
There could to earth some power be brought	G2
Some charm with their own essence fraught	G2
To make man deathless as a star	X2
And open to his vast desires	C
A course as boundless and sublime	Y2
As that which waits those comet fires	C
That burn and roam throughout all time	Y2
	-
While thoughts like these absorbed my mind	E2
That weariness which earthly bliss	L2
However sweet still leaves behind	E2
As if to show how earthly 'tis	Z2
Came lulling o'er me and I laid	S
My limbs at that fair statue's base	A3
That miracle which Art hath made	S
Of all the choice of Nature's grace	A3
To which so oft I've knelt and sworn	B3
That could a living maid like her	F
Unto this wondering world be born	B3
I would myself turn worshipper	F
	-
Sleep came then o'er me and I seemed	F2
To be transported far away	J
To a bleak desert plain where gleamed	F2
One single melancholy ray	J
Throughout that darkness dimly shed	I2
From a small taper in the hand	C3
Of one who pale as are the dead	I2
Before me took his spectral stand	C3
And said while awfully a smile	D3
Came o'er the wanness of his cheek	E3
Go and beside the sacred Nile	D3
You'll find the Eternal Life you seek	E3
	-
Soon as he spoke these words the hue	R2
Of death o'er all his features grew	R2
Like the pale morning when o'er night	B
She gains the victory full of light	B
While the small torch he held became	F3
A glory in his hand whose flame	F3
Brightened the desert suddenly	N2
Even to the far horizon's line	Q
Along whose level I could see	N2
Gardens and groves that seemed to shine	Q
As if then o'er them freshly played	S
A vernal rainbow's rich cascade	S
And music floated every where	F
Circling as 'twere itself the air	F
And spirits on whose wings the hue	R2
Of heaven still lingered round me flew	R2
Till from all sides such splendors broke	G3
That with the excess of light I woke	G3
	-
Such was my dream and I confess	H3
Tho' none of all our creedless school	I3
E'er conned believed or reverenced less	H3
The fables of the priest led fool	I3
Who tells us of a soul a mind	E2
Separate and pure within us shrined	E2
Which is to live ah hope too bright	E2
For ever in yon fields of light	E2
Who fondly thinks the guardian eyes	J3
Of Gods are on him as if blest	E2
And blooming in their own blue skies	J3
The eternal Gods were not too wise	J3
To let weak man disturb their rest	E2
Tho' thinking of such creeds as thou	K3
And all our Garden sages think	L3
Yet is there something I allow	K3
In dreams like this a sort of link	L3
With worlds unseen which from the hour	F
I first could lisp my thoughts till now	K3
Hath mastered me with spell like power	F
	-
And who can tell as we're combined	E2
Of various atoms some refined	E2
Like those that scintillate and play	J
In the fixt stars some gross as they	J
That frown in clouds or sleep in clay	J
Who can be sure but 'tis the best	E2
And brightest atoms of our frame	F3
Those most akin to stellar flame	F3
That shine out thus when we're at rest	E2
Even as the stars themselves whose light	E2
Comes out but in the silent night	E2
Or is it that there lurks indeed	E2
Some truth in Man's prevailing creed	E2
And that our Guardians from on high	D2
Come in that pause from toil and sin	I
To put the senses' curtain by	D2
And on the wakeful soul look in	I
	-
Vain thought but yet howe'er it be	N2
Dreams more than once have proved to me	N2
Oracles truer far than Oak	G3
Or Dove or Tripod ever spoke	G3
And 'twas the words thou'lt hear and smile	D3
The words that phantom seemed to speak	E3
Go and beside the sacred Nile	D3
You'll find the Eternal Life you seek	E3
That haunting me by night by day	J
At length as with the unseen hand	E2
Of Fate itself urged me away	J
From Athens to this Holy Land	E2
Where 'mong the secrets still untaught	E2
The mysteries that as yet nor sun	H
Nor eye hath reached oh blessed thought	E2
May sleep this everlasting one	H
	-
Farewell when to our Garden friends	M3
Thou talk'st of the wild dream that sends	M3
The gayest of their school thus far	F
Wandering beneath Canopus' star	F
Tell them that wander where he will	N3
Or howsoe'er they now condemn	O3
His vague and vain pursuit he still	N3
Is worthy of the School and them	O3
Still all their own nor e'er forgets	P3
Even while his heart and soul pursue	R2
The Eternal Light which never sets	P3
The many meteor joys that do	R2
But seeks them hails them with delight	E2
Where'er they meet his longing sight	E2
And if his life must wane away	J
Like other lives at least the day	J
The hour it lasts shall like a fire	F
With incense fed in sweets expire	F