The Land's End Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBACDDCEFFEGHIGJKKJ LMMLNOONPQQPRSSTLUUL VNNVWXXWCYYCZA2A2ZFA AFB2C2C2B2| I stood on the Land's End alone and still | A |
| Man might have been unmade for no frail trace | B |
| Of mortal labour startled the wild place | B |
| And only sea mews with their wailing shrill | A |
| Circled beneath me over the dark sea | C |
| Flashing the waves with pinions snowy white | D |
| That glimmer'd faintly in the gloomy light | D |
| Betwixt the foaming furrows constantly | C |
| It was a mighty cape that proudly rose | E |
| Above the world of waters high and steep | F |
| With many a scar and fissure fathoms deep | F |
| Upon whose ledges lodged the endless snows | E |
| A noble brow to a firm founded world | G |
| That at the limits of its empire stood | H |
| Fronting the ocean in its roughest mood | I |
| And all its fury calmly backward hurl'd | G |
| The Midnight Sun rose like an angry god | J |
| Girt round with clouds through which a lurid glow | K |
| Fev'rously trembled to the waves below | K |
| And smote the waters with a fiery rod | J |
| Above the glory circled up the sky | L |
| Fainter and fainter to the sullen grey | M |
| Till the black under drift of clouds away | M |
| Went with the gathering wind and let it die | L |
| A moaning sound swept o'er the heaving ocean | N |
| Toss'd hoarsely on from angry crest to crest | O |
| Like groans from a great soul in its unrest | O |
| Stirring the ranks of men to fierce commotion | N |
| My longing vision measured the wide waste | P |
| This cannot be the end of things that man | Q |
| Should see his path lead on so short a span | Q |
| And then the unstable ocean mock his haste | P |
| Better have stay'd where I could still look on | R |
| And see a sturdy world to bear my feet | S |
| Than thus outstrip the multitude to cheat | S |
| Earth of its knowledge and here find it gone | T |
| A Shadow rose betwixt me and the sky | L |
| Out of the Ocean as it seem'd that set | U |
| A perfect shape before mine eyes and yet | U |
| Hid not the sky that did behind it lie | L |
| But through its misty substance all things grew | V |
| Faint pale and ghostly and the risen sun | N |
| Gleam'd like a fiery globe half quench'd and dun | N |
| Through the sere shadow which the spectre threw | V |
| It answer'd me Man this is not the end | W |
| Progression ceaseth not until the goal | X |
| Of all perfection stop the running soul | X |
| Whither through life its aspirations tend | W |
| Spring from thy height then for till thou art free | C |
| From earth thy course is narrow and restrain'd | Y |
| I said No Spirit nought were thus attain'd | Y |
| Better pause here than perish in the sea | C |
| Man can but do his utmost there's a length | Z |
| He cannot overleap The spectre smiled | A2 |
| Then trust to me for though the sea be wild | A2 |
| It cannot shake the sinews of my strength | Z |
| Within my breast the fearful fall asleep | F |
| And wake out of their terrors calm and still | A |
| Having outstripp'd the speed of time and ill | A |
| And pass'd unconsciously the stormy deep | F |
| Quicker and quicker drew I in my breath | B2 |
| If there be land beyond receive me now | C2 |
| I'll trust in thee but Spirit who art thou | C2 |
| The winds bore on a murmur I am Death | B2 |
Walter R. Cassels
(1)
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About The Land's End
The Land's End is a poem by Walter R. Cassels. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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