Shall The Harp Then Be Silent Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EDED FGFG HIHI JKJK ALAL DDDD MNMN ODOD| Shall the Harp then be silent when he who first gave | A |
| To our country a name is withdrawn from all eyes | B |
| Shall a Minstrel of Erin stand mute by the grave | A |
| Where the first where the last of her Patriots lies | B |
| - | |
| No faint though the death song may fall from his lips | C |
| Though his Harp like his soul may with shadows be crost | D |
| Yet yet shall it sound 'mid a nation's eclipse | C |
| And proclaim to the world what a star hath been lost | D |
| - | |
| What a union of all the affections and powers | E |
| By which life is exalted embellish'd refined | D |
| Was embraced in that spirit whose centre was ours | E |
| While its mighty circumference circled mankind | D |
| - | |
| Oh who that loves Erin or who that can see | F |
| Through the waste of her annals that epoch sublime | G |
| Like a pyramid raised in the desert where he | F |
| And his glory stand out to the eyes of all time | G |
| - | |
| That one lucid interval snatch'd from the gloom | H |
| And the madness of ages when fill'd with his soul | I |
| A Nation o'erleap'd the dark bounds of her doom | H |
| And for one sacred instant touch'd Liberty's goal | I |
| - | |
| Who that ever hath heard him hath drunk at the source | J |
| Of that wonderful eloquence all Erin's own | K |
| In whose high thoughted daring the fire and the force | J |
| And the yet untamed spring of her spirit are shown | K |
| - | |
| An eloquence rich wheresoever its wave | A |
| Wander'd free and triumphant with thoughts that shone through | L |
| As clear as the brook's stone of lustre and gave | A |
| With the flash of the gem its solidity too | L |
| - | |
| Who what ever approach'd him when free from the crowd | D |
| In a home full of love he delighted to read | D |
| 'Mong the trees which a nation had given and which bow'd | D |
| As if each brought a new civic crown for his head | D |
| - | |
| Is there one who hath thus through his orbit of life | M |
| But at distance observed him through glory through blame | N |
| In the calm of retreat in the grandeur of strife | M |
| Whether shining or clouded still high and the same | N |
| - | |
| Oh no not a heart that e'er knew him but mourns | O |
| Deep deep o'er the grave where such glory is shrined | D |
| O'er a monument Fame will preserve 'mong the urns | O |
| Of the wisest the bravest the best of mankind | D |
Thomas Moore
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Shall The Harp Then Be Silent poem by Thomas Moore
Best Poems of Thomas Moore