Body And Soul: A Metaphysical Argument Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDCCDD EFEGGHH EFIFIIFF JKJKLJJ MNMNNMM FNFNNFF IOILLPP QNQNNQQ FNFNNFF FNGNNGNFRASAASR TIOPPLO NUNUVNN NNNNNNN GFGFFGG WXWXXWY BQBQQDLLNZNNA2A2| Man openeth the case | A |
| Body from the arrogance | B |
| Of the Soul thou seekest shield | C |
| Makest prayer the old mis chance | D |
| Of your birth bond be repealed | C |
| Since sayest thou the Soul would wield | C |
| Sovereign power and looks askance | D |
| At her partner in life's dance | D |
| - | |
| Tell me Soul why claimest thou | E |
| Of what right this sovereignty | F |
| Wherefore dost thou cloud thy brow | E |
| This thy partner standing nigh | G |
| Scorn is written in thine eye | G |
| Watching him Speak plain and show | H |
| All thy plaint that I may know | H |
| - | |
| The Soul speaketh | E |
| Judge most just Wouldst ask of me | F |
| My being's secret Ask the fire | I |
| Why he is kindled in the tree | F |
| And why his flames mount high and higher | I |
| In scorn of the poor tortured pyre | I |
| Which feedeth him Ask why the Sea | F |
| Thus frets her bed eternally | F |
| - | |
| The flames their kindred flames would reach | J |
| The waves leap up towards the Moon | K |
| And when they foam upon the beach | J |
| Grow pale like her From morn to noon | K |
| The sun flower turneth with the Sun | L |
| A power there is in all and each | J |
| Should lesson thee what I would teach | J |
| - | |
| For I am subtle as the air | M |
| Which stirs the tree tops scattering wide | N |
| The feathered seed blooms everywhere | M |
| And ordering all itself unspied | N |
| And is unchanged while all beside | N |
| Change and decay In me no share | M |
| Is of the death these others bear | M |
| - | |
| Simple in essence I to thee | F |
| Known but as one exiled by Fate | N |
| From her old home Eternity | F |
| And sunk awhile from her estate | N |
| And bound to a material mate | N |
| Through whose gross shape and quality | F |
| Alone my worth revealed may be | F |
| - | |
| Yet shall I doubt me of the power | I |
| Inborn in me to seek a throne | O |
| Although I stumble toward the hour | I |
| Which waits with death my penance done | L |
| Body to naught and I to run | L |
| Simple and unconditioned nor | P |
| On quality dependent more | P |
| - | |
| Or is faith nothing O I feel | Q |
| Pity for this poor thing of dust | N |
| And that is why I bid him kneel | Q |
| And be ennobled for he must | N |
| Kneel first before his queen in trust | N |
| Then would I strike him with my steel | Q |
| And bind my spurs upon his heel | Q |
| - | |
| But his mistrust defieth me | F |
| His striving still against the bond | N |
| Which joineth us nor will he see | F |
| Our wisdom must be straight uncrowned | N |
| And he but perish of the wound | N |
| In such divorcement were he free | F |
| This is my secret this my plea | F |
| - | |
| The Judge questioneth | F |
| Body hast thou heard aright | N |
| How Soul thus doth thee deny | G |
| She hath claimed in thy despite | N |
| Being from Eternity | N |
| Hast thou ancestry as high | G |
| Tell thy title thou sad wight | N |
| Else her claim will I requite Body replieth | F |
| Wouldst thou know my lineage | R |
| Look around thee Thou shalt trace | A |
| From form to form from age to age | S |
| Fossil records of my race | A |
| I the latest claim my place | A |
| Engrossed on Earth's ancestral page | S |
| By right inscribed of heritage | R |
| - | |
| Tell me in those days long gone | T |
| Where was Soul What then her power | I |
| If to day she claims a throne | O |
| Was she fashioned me before | P |
| Both of us old Matter bore | P |
| I the elder was Time's son | L |
| Ages vast ere Soul was known | O |
| - | |
| Soul came later My male might | N |
| Shielded her in her first cell | U |
| She a frail fair anchorite | N |
| Guarded by my valiance well | U |
| Silent sanct intangible | V |
| All my joy she was and light | N |
| A new dawning on my night | N |
| - | |
| Thus the out set Tryst we kept | N |
| In good concord I and she | N |
| Mine the strength which overstepped | N |
| Her weak life's propinquity | N |
| Or we yielded mutually | N |
| I was weary and she slept | N |
| She was wounded and I wept | N |
| - | |
| Happy days of growth Ah why | G |
| Must change come with pride of youth | F |
| She was eager slow foot I | G |
| Glorious she I all uncouth | F |
| Her new wit showed little ruth | F |
| Threw out cunning wings to fly | G |
| Made as she would pass me by | G |
| - | |
| And when she found she could not win | W |
| Alone upon the blast of Time | X |
| It irked her we were counted kin | W |
| Until she held it me a crime | X |
| I should be matched with one sublime | X |
| And noble as she fain had been | W |
| And last she claimed to be my queen | Y |
| - | |
| Therefore from her arrogance | B |
| And her pride I make appeal | Q |
| Praying this the ordinance | B |
| Of our birth bond grown unleal | Q |
| Thou wouldst cancel or make real | Q |
| Be our judge in this mis chance | D |
| Else decree deliverance Judgement is given | L |
| I am but by your union | L |
| With either Soul or Body lost | N |
| All perisheth Then work ye on | Z |
| Together friends not corpse and ghost | N |
| To live and be is a brave boast | N |
| Learn this alone ye nothing can | A2 |
| Yet both together ye make Man | A2 |
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
(1)
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