Song Of The Redwood-tree Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDE FGH IJKLAMNEC OOPQR SDTUV KWVFXDYZKA2B2H GC2D2E2F2 AC2G2G2H2KI2 QJ2K2L2 G2G2M2BM2G2N2PM2 G2O2P2M2Q2R2S2M2G2VM 2KG2G2G2G2VN2P G2PVN2T2U2V2C2M2W2 M2X2G2X2Y2G2CCCP2CX2 Z2M2 X2G2A3FG2B3KCC3FBX2M 2G2B3G2KM2 N2M2G2M2G2 VG2D3D3B M2E3X2M2V

A CALIFORNIA songA
A prophecy and indirection a thought impalpable to breathe as airB
A chorus of dryads fading departing or hamadryads departingC
A murmuring fateful giant voice out of the earth and skyD
Voice of a mighty dying tree in the Redwood forest denseE
-
Farewell my brethrenF
Farewell O earth and sky farewell ye neighboring watersG
My time has ended my term has comeH
-
-
Along the northern coastI
Just back from the rock bound shore and the cavesJ
In the saline air from the sea in the Mendocino countryK
With the surge for bass and accompaniment low and hoarseL
With crackling blows of axes sounding musically driven by strongA
armsM
Riven deep by the sharp tongues of the axes there in the RedwoodN
forest denseE
I heard the mighty tree its death chant chantingC
-
The choppers heard not the camp shanties echoed notO
The quick ear'd teamsters and chain and jack screw men heard notO
As the wood spirits came from their haunts of a thousand years toP
join the refrainQ
But in my soul I plainly heardR
-
Murmuring out of its myriad leavesS
Down from its lofty top rising two hundred feet highD
Out of its stalwart trunk and limbs out of its foot thick barkT
That chant of the seasons and time chant not of the past only butU
the futureV
-
-
You untold life of meK
And all you venerable and innocent joysW
Perennial hardy life of me with joys 'mid rain and many a summerV
sunF
And the white snows and night and the wild windsX
O the great patient rugged joys my soul's strong joys unreck'd byD
manY
For know I bear the soul befitting me I too have consciousnessZ
identityK
And all the rocks and mountains have and all the earthA2
Joys of the life befitting me and brothers mineB2
Our time our term has comeH
-
Nor yield we mournfully majestic brothersG
We who have grandly fill'd our timeC2
With Nature's calm content and tacit huge delightD2
We welcome what we wrought for through the pastE2
And leave the field for themF2
-
For them predicted longA
For a superber Race they too to grandly fill their timeC2
For them we abdicate in them ourselves ye forest kingsG2
In them these skies and airs these mountain peaks Shasta NevadasG2
These huge precipitous cliffs this amplitude these valleys grandH2
YosemiteK
To be in them absorb'd assimilatedI2
-
-
Then to a loftier strainQ
Still prouder more ecstatic rose the chantJ2
As if the heirs the Deities of the WestK2
Joining with master tongue bore partL2
-
Not wan from Asia's fetishesG2
Nor red from Europe's old dynastic slaughter houseG2
Area of murder plots of thrones with scent left yet of wars andM2
scaffolds every whereB
But come from Nature's long and harmless throes peacefully buildedM2
thenceG2
These virgin lands Lands of the Western ShoreN2
To the new Culminating Man to you the Empire NewP
You promis'd long we pledge we dedicateM2
-
You occult deep volitionsG2
You average Spiritual Manhood purpose of all pois'd on yourselfO2
giving not taking lawP2
You Womanhood divine mistress and source of all whence life andM2
love and aught that comes from life and loveQ2
You unseen Moral Essence of all the vast materials of America ageR2
upon age working in Death the same as LifeS2
You that sometimes known oftener unknown really shape and mouldM2
the New World adjusting it to Time and SpaceG2
You hidden National Will lying in your abysms conceal'd but everV
alertM2
You past and present purposes tenaciously pursued may beK
unconscious of yourselvesG2
Unswerv'd by all the passing errors perturbations of the surfaceG2
You vital universal deathless germs beneath all creeds artsG2
statutes literaturesG2
Here build your homes for good establish here These areas entireV
Lands of the Western ShoreN2
We pledge we dedicate to youP
-
For man of you your characteristic RaceG2
Here may be hardy sweet gigantic grow here tower proportionate toP
NatureV
Here climb the vast pure spaces unconfined uncheck'd by wall orN2
roofT2
Here laugh with storm or sun here joy here patiently inureU2
Here heed himself unfold himself not others' formulas heed hereV2
fill his timeC2
To duly fall to aid unreck'd at lastM2
To disappear to serveW2
-
Thus on the northern coastM2
In the echo of teamsters' calls and the clinking chains and theX2
music of choppers' axesG2
The falling trunk and limbs the crash the muffled shriek theX2
groanY2
Such words combined from the Redwood tree as of wood spirits' voicesG2
ecstatic ancient and rustlingC
The century lasting unseen dryads singing withdrawingC
All their recesses of forests and mountains leavingC
From the Cascade range to the Wasatch or Idaho far or UtahP2
To the deities of the Modern henceforth yieldingC
The chorus and indications the vistas of coming humanity theX2
settlements features allZ2
In the Mendocino woods I caughtM2
-
-
The flashing and golden pageant of CaliforniaX2
The sudden and gorgeous drama the sunny and ample landsG2
The long and varied stretch from Puget Sound to Colorado southA3
Lands bathed in sweeter rarer healthier air valleys and mountainF
cliffsG2
The fields of Nature long prepared and fallow the silent cyclicB3
chemistryK
The slow and steady ages plodding the unoccupied surface ripeningC
the rich ores forming beneathC3
At last the New arriving assuming taking possessionF
A swarming and busy race settling and organizing every whereB
Ships coming in from the whole round world and going out to theX2
whole worldM2
To India and China and Australia and the thousand island paradisesG2
of the PacificB3
Populous cities the latest inventions the steamers on the riversG2
the railroads with many a thrifty farm with machineryK
And wool and wheat and the grape and diggings of yellow goldM2
-
-
But more in you than these Lands of the Western ShoreN2
These but the means the implements the standing groundM2
I see in you certain to come the promise of thousands of yearsG2
till now deferr'dM2
Promis'd to be fulfill'd our common kind the RaceG2
-
The New Society at last proportionate to NatureV
In Man of you more than your mountain peaks or stalwart treesG2
imperialD3
In Woman more far more than all your gold or vines or even vitalD3
airB
-
Fresh come to a New World indeed yet long preparedM2
I see the Genius of the Modern child of the Real and IdealE3
Clearing the ground for broad humanity the true America heir of theX2
past so grandM2
To build a grander futureV

Walt Whitman



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