A Dramatic Poem Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCCDEFGAHIJKLMNOPQPL RLSTULPVLLLWPPXLYZXP LA2B2IC2APD2MIE2PLUA F2G2LUMH2G2I2J2G2K2Q LL2G2LLPMLM2MH2AH2PA LN2LH2LK2AUXO2AXYPA2 LIQIP2LQ2R2F2S2ZLT2U 2H2T2PLV2W2F2X2MLAPP Y2Z2LA3B3C3F2LD3LE3L PYLPIYPLF3G3LCPPPF2L IAH3LLIQ2PPAALKLAMI3 J3F2K2LQ2LLLK3MC3L3M V2ALLG2G2LLK

e mast with a large square sail hiding a great deal of the sky and sea on that side The tiller is at the left of the stage it is a long oar coming through an opening in the bulwark The deck rises in a series of steps hehind the tiller and the stern of the ship curves overhead When the play opens there are four persons upon the deck Aibric stands by the tiller Forgael sleeps upon the raised portion of the deck towards the front of the stage Two Sailors are standing near to the mast on which a harp is hangingA
-
First Sailor Has he not led us into these waste seasB
For long enoughC
Second Sailor Aye long and long enoughC
First Sailor We have not come upon a shore or shipD
These dozen weeksE
Sccond Sailor And I had thought to makeF
A good round Sum upon this cruise and turnG
For I am getting on in life to somethingA
That has less ups and downs than robberyH
First Sailor I am so tired of being bachelorI
I could give all my heart to that Red MollJ
That had but the one eyeK
Second Sailor Can no bewitchmentL
Transform these rascal billows into womenM
That I may drown myselfN
First Sailor Better steer homeO
Whether he will or no and better stillP
To take him while he sleeps and carry himQ
And drop him from the gunnelP
Second Sailor I dare not do itL
Were't not that there is magic in his harpR
I would be of your mind but when he plays itL
Strange creatures flutter up before one's eyesS
Or cry about one's earsT
First Sailor Nothing to fearU
Second Sailor Do you remember when we sank thatL
galleyP
At the full moonV
First Sailor He played all through the nightL
Second Sailor Until the moon had set and when I lookedL
Where the dead drifted I could see a birdL
Like a grey gull upon the breast of eachW
While I was looking they rose hurriedlyP
And after circling with strange cries awhileP
Flew westward and many a time since thenX
I've heard a rustling overhead in the windL
First Sailor I saw them on that night as well as youY
But when I had eaten and drunk myself asleepZ
My courage came againX
Second Sailor But that's not allP
The other night while he was playing itL
A beautiful young man and girl came upA2
In a white breaking wave they had the lookB2
Of those that are alive for ever and everI
First Sailor I saw them too one night Forgael wasC2
playingA
And they were listening ther beyond the sailP
He could not see them but I held out my handsD2
To grasp the womanM
Second Sailor You have dared to touch herI
First Sailor O she was but a shadow and slipped fromE2
meP
Second Sailor But were you not afraidL
First Sailor Why should I fearU
Second Sailor 'Twas Aengus and Edain the wanderingA
loversF2
To whom all lovers prayG2
First Sailor But what of thatL
A shadow does not carry sword or spearU
Second Sailor My mother told me that there is not oneM
Of the Ever living half so dangerousH2
As that wild Aengus Long before her dayG2
He carried Edain off from a king's houseI2
And hid her among fruits of jewel stoneJ2
And in a tower of glass and from that dayG2
Has hated every man that's not in loveK2
And has been dangerous to himQ
First Sailor I have heardL
He does not hate seafarers as he hatesL2
Peaceable men that shut the wind awayG2
And keep to the one weary marriage bedL
Second Sailor I think that he has Forgael in his netL
And drags him through the seaP
First Sailor Well net or noneM
I'd drown him while we have the chance to do itL
Second Sailor It's certain I'd sleep easier o' nightsM2
If he were dead but who will be our captainM
Judge of the stars and find a course for usH2
First Sailor I've thought of that We must have AibricA
with usH2
For he can judge the stars as well as ForgaelP
Going towards AibricA
Become our captain Aibric I am resolvedL
To make an end of Forgael while he sleepsN2
There's not a man but will be glad of itL
When it is over nor one to grumble at usH2
Aibric You have taken pay and made your bargain for itL
First Sailor What good is there in this hard way ofK2
livingA
Unless we drain more flagons in a yearU
And kiss more lips than lasting peaceable menX
In their long lives Will you be of our troopO2
And take the captain's share of everythingA
And bring us into populous seas againX
Aibric Be of your troop Aibric be one of youY
And Forgael in the other scale kill ForgaelP
And he my master from my childhood upA2
If you will draw that sword out of its scabbardL
I'll give my answerI
First Sailor You have awakened himQ
To Second SailorI
We'd better go for we have lost this chanceP2
They go outL
Forgael Have the birds passed us I could hear yourQ2
voiceR2
But there were othersF2
Aibric I have seen nothing passS2
Forgael You're certain of it I never wake from sleepZ
But that I am afraid they may have passedL
For they're my only pilots If I lost themT2
Straying too far into the north or southU2
I'd never come upon the happinessH2
That has been promised me I have not seen themT2
These many days and yet there must be manyP
Dying at every moment in the worldL
And flying towards their peaceV2
Aibric Put by these thoughtsW2
And listen to me for a while The sailorsF2
Are plotting for your deathX2
Forgael Have I not givenM
More riches than they ever hoped to findL
And now they will not follow while I seekA
The only riches that have hit my fancyP
Aibric What riches can you find in this waste seaP
Where no ship sails where nothing that's aliveY2
Has ever come but those man headed birdsZ2
Knowing it for the world's endL
Forgael Where the world endsA3
The mind is made unchanging for it findsB3
Miracle ecstasy the impossible hopeC3
The flagstone under all the fire of firesF2
The roots of the worldL
Aibric Shadows before nowD3
Have driven travellers mad for their own sportL
Forgael Do you too doubt me Have you joined theirE3
plotL
Aibric No no do not say that You know right wellP
That I will never lift a hand against youY
Forgael Why should you be more faithful than the restL
Being as doubtfulP
Aibric I have called you masterI
Too many years to lift a hand against youY
Forgael Maybe it is but natural to doubt meP
You've never known I'd lay a wager on itL
A melancholy that a cup of wineF3
A lucky battle or a woman's kissG3
Could not amendL
Aibric I have good spirits enoughC
Forgael If you will give me all your mind awhileP
All all the very bottom of the bowlP
I'll show you that I am made differentlyP
That nothing can amend it but these watersF2
Where I am rid of life the events of the worldL
What do you call it that old promise breakerI
The cozening fortune teller that comes whisperingA
'You will have all you have wished for when you haveH3
earnedL
Land for your children or money in a potL
And when we have it we are no happierI
Because of that old draught under the doorQ2
Or creaky shoes And at the end of allP
How are we better off than Seaghan the foolP
That never did a hand's turn Aibric AibricA
We have fallen in the dreams the Ever livingA
Breathe on the burnished mirror of the worldL
And then smooth out with ivory hands and sighK
And find their laughter sweeter to the tasteL
For that brief sighingA
Aibric If you had loved some womanM
Forgael You say that also You have heard the voicesI3
For that is what they say all all the shadowsJ3
Aengus and Edain those passionate wanderersF2
And all the others but it must be loveK2
As they have known it Now the secret's outL
For it is love that I am seeking forQ2
But of a beautiful unheard of kindL
That is not in the worldL
Aibric And yet the worldL
Has beautiful women to please every manK3
Forgael But he that gets their love after the fashionM
'Loves in brief longing and deceiving hopeC3
And bodily tenderness and finds that evenL3
The bed of love that in the imaginationM
Had seemed to be the giver of all peaceV2
Is no more than a wine cup in the tastingA
And as soon finishedL
Aibric All that ever lovedL
Have loved that way there is no other wayG2
Forgael Yet never have two lovers kissed but theyG2
believed there was some other near at handL
And almost wept because they could not find itL
AiK

William Butler Yeats



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