The Cemetary Of Eylau Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDEEEEFFEEG GHHIIA EEJ E EEEEE KLLM C NN EOPAAQQR SSEE EEEEEEEETUVVEEWWEEXX YYEEGGEEZOAAEEFJKKAA N KKEEEE WJA2IIVVB2B2C2C2EEXX D2D2C2 E2F FF2F2G2G2EEH2H2I2I2J 2K2L2L2FFQQM2M2EEEEM 2GE2E2GGN2N2EE EEMMO2O2P2P2Q2VR2

This to my elder brothers schoolboys gayA
Was told by Uncle Louis on a dayA
He bid me play with tender voice and blandB
Thinking me still too young to understandB
Howe'er I listened and his tale was thisC
'A battle Bah and know you what it isD
A deal of smoke You rise at dawn and lateE
You go to bed Here's one that I'll relateE
The battle is called Eylau As I wotE
I then was captain and the Cross had gotE
Yes I was captain after all in warF
Man but a shadow is and does not scoreF
But ne'er mind me Eylau you understandE
Is part of Prussia water wood and landE
Ice winter everywhere and rain and snowG
-
'Well we were camped a ruined wall belowG
And round the ancient belfry tombs appearH
B nigssens' tactics were first to come nearH
Then fly The Emperor such arts disdainsI
And the snow whitened over all the plainsI
Spy glass in hand Napoleon passed our wayA
The guard declared 'To morrow is the day '-
Old men and women fled in troops confusedE
With children I looked on the graves and musedE
The night fires lit and colonel bending o'erJ
Cried 'Hugo ' Here ' 'How many men ' 'Six score '-
'Well your entire company take roundE
And there get killed ' 'Where ' 'In the burial ground '-
I answered 'Apter place you could not find '-
I had my flask we drank an icy windE
Blew He said 'Captain death is close at handE
Life's pleasant 'tis a thing you understandE
But none dies better than your jolly bladeE
I give my heart but sell my skin ' he saidE
'Let's woman toast your post's the worst of all '-
Our colonel oft a merry jest let fallK
He adds 'The foe from ditch and wall keep backL
Stay there 'tis rather open to attackL
This graveyard of the battle is the keyM
Keep it ' 'We will ' 'Some straw will handy be '-
'We've none ' 'Sleep on the ground Now tell me thisC
Your drummer is he brave ' 'As Barra is '-
'Good Let him blindly madly sound the chargeN
Noise must be great when numbers are not largeN
D'ye hear you little scamp what you are bid '-
'Yes Captain ' said the grinning child half hidE
In snow and rime The colonel then went onO
'The battle will be fought with guns aloneP
I myself like cold steel and hate the wayA
In which the dastard shells are made to slayA
Valiant the sword the shell's a traitor WellQ
The emperor sees to that Naught more to tellQ
And so good bye The post you will not leaveR
Nor budge a foot till six to morrow eve '-
The colonel left I cried 'Right turn ' and thenceS
We soon all entered in that narrow fenceS
Grass walled around a church amid the sodE
In gloom and o'er the graves the Blessed GodE
-
'A sombre yard with many a snowy plateE
Looked somewhat like the sea We crenolateE
The wall I order all things and decideE
The ambulance shall 'neath the cross abideE
'We'll sup then rest ' I said Snow lay aboutE
Our clothes mere rags 'Tis very fine no doubtE
But still unpleasant when the weather's badE
I made my pillow of a grave and hadE
My feet benumbed my boots had lost their soleT
And captain soon and soldier cheek by jowlU
No longer stirred each sleeping o'er a corseV
So soldiers sleep they neither know remorseV
Pity nor fear not being in commandE
And frozen by the snow or burnt by sandE
They sleep Besides fighting keen joy suppliesW
I said 'Good night ' and then I shut my eyesW
War has no time for pantomimes ineptE
It snowed the sky was sullen and we sleptE
Some tools we found and made a mighty flameX
My drummer poked it up and to me cameX
To cast the reckoning as best he canY
Sons a great soldier was the little manY
The crucifix looked like a gibbet vastE
The snow still fell the fire died out at lastE
For how long time it was we slumbered soG
I say the devil take me if I knowG
Soundly we slept In sleep is death rehears'dE
'Tis good in war I was right cold at firstE
Then dreamt and fancied many a skeletonZ
And spectre that great epaulets had onO
Slowly though I upon my pillow layA
I had a feeling as of coming dayA
My lids though closed a sense of radiance foundE
Sudden through sleep a deep and sullen soundE
Roused me 'twas like a cannon's distant roarF
I woke and something white was gathered o'erJ
My eyes The snow with soft and gentle fallK
During the silent night had wrapped us allK
In shrouds I start and shake the snow awayA
A bullet coming whence I cannot sayA
Awoke me quite I bid it pass at largeN
And cried 'Drummer get up and sound the charge '-
-
'Then six score heads as isles from ocean allK
Rose from the snow the sergeant sounds the callK
The dawn then rose red and with joyance gladE
As 'twere a bloody mouth with smiling cladE
My thoughts ran to my mother and the windE
Seemed whispering to me 'Oft in war we findE
That with the rise of day death too doth rise '-
I mused at first around all quiet liesW
Those cannon shots only as signals wereJ
Before the ball at times some bars we hearA2
Some prelude dancing with unmeaning strainsI
The night had clogged the blood within our veinsI
But coming battle made it hotly courseV
The army 'gainst us came in all its forceV
We held the key A handful were my menB2
On whom the shells like woodman's axe were thenB2
About to rage I wished myself elsewhereC2
My men to skirmish by the wall with careC2
I placed who confidence and solace foundE
In hoped promotion bought by grievous woundE
In war you confront death to clutch at fameX
My young lieutenant from St Cyr who cameX
Said to me 'Morn how sweet a thing I thinkD2
How charming the sun's rays The snow is pinkD2
Captain all laughs and shines How fresh the airC2
How white the fields how peaceful pure and fair '-
I answered 'Soon 'twill all to horror change '-
My thought were of the Rhine the Alpine rangeE2
The Adige and our dreadful wars of yoreF
-
'The battle burst six hundred throats and moreF
Enormous belching forth the fire that fillsF2
Their mouths together clamoured from the hillsF2
All the whole plain one smoking gulf was seenG2
My drummer beat the charge with fury keenG2
With cannons mixed the trumpets proudly soundE
And the shells rained upon our burial groundE
As if they wished to kill the very graveH2
The rooks desert the tower theirs lives to saveH2
I recollect a shell burst in the earthI2
And the corpse started rose form out his berthI2
As if man's racket woke him in the tombJ2
Then the fog hid the sunshine Ball and bombK2
Produced a noise dread inconceivableL2
Berthier Prince of the Empire Vice ConstableL2
Charged on our right a Hanoverian corpsF
With thirty squadrons These you saw no moreF
Save the thickest darkest mist starred o'er by shellQ
So wholly had the strife and battle fellQ
Within that tragic mist been lost to viewM2
A cloud fallen on the earth spread round and grewM2
From smoke which myriad cannons vomitedE
Children 'twas under this the armies bledE
Soft as the down floated the snow that nightE
Good faith we killed each other as we mightE
We did our best The dark and ruins throughM2
I saw my men like shadows come and goG
Ghosts like espaliers which on walls you rangeE2
The field brought to me musings deep and strangeE2
Phantoms above and the still dead belowG
Some blazing cottages at distance glowG
The fog through which was heard the mountain hornN2
E'en thicker than before was towards us borneN2
We now saw nothing but our burial groundE
We had the wall at mid day for our boundE
-
As by a great black hand so by the nightE
We were enclosed and all things fade from sightE
Our church some seagirt rock appeared to beM
The bullets through the fog too closely seeM
They keep us company crushed the church roofO2
And shattered the stone cross and gave us proofO2
That we were not alone on that dread plainP2
We hungered but no soup at hand 'tis vainP2
To look for food in such a place And worseQ2
The hail of balls fell with redoubled forceV
Bullets are aR2

Victor Marie Hugo



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