The Wanderings Of Oisin: Book I Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDEFEDF DGDGHHGIFGGD IIGJGJ G KKLLGGF FFFFF DMD MNO NBFNG F NNMNMGGG JJPNGPGF NNGFFFGFQRGGQRSTGDGS D NNG GGGGDGDGQUFFGGDDVVDD GG NND GGGGNNNDNDNNNDN NNWW FQQXXGGFJGGGGMGMGNNG GGYFYFFGFGNNNNNNGGGG GNZGZFNNFNNDQQDDDGGG GFFGGXFGF GXDDQQQGGGNQQA2GNA2N NONGQQN DFFFNFNDDSSGGB2FB2FF C2C2FFD2D2QQQGG MMJJGGE2E2F2F2 A2FF GGXXGGFFQNNND NG2G2NGGNGGGGGGGD GGHHNNGDDGGNNNDDNNNE 2E2D GDDGGGGGGGGGGGTTNG F GNNNNGNGGNNGGMNMNDSD SFFFGNGNGNNDGGGGGNGN GDGDPNPN GGGGFGFGGQGQNGNGNQQS Patrick You who are bent and bald and blind | A |
With a heavy heart and a wandering mind | A |
Have known three centuries poets sing | B |
Of dalliance with a demon thing | B |
- | |
Oisin Sad to remember sick with years | C |
The swift innumerable spears | C |
The horsemen with their floating hair | D |
And bowls of barley honey and wine | E |
Those merry couples dancing in tune | F |
And the white body that lay by mine | E |
But the tale though words be lighter than air | D |
Must live to be old like the wandering moon | F |
- | |
Caoilte and Conan and Finn were there | D |
When we followed a deer with our baying hounds | G |
With Bran Sceolan and Lomair | D |
And passing the Firbolgs' burial motmds | G |
Came to the cairn heaped grassy hill | H |
Where passionate Maeve is stony still | H |
And found On the dove grey edge of the sea | G |
A pearl pale high born lady who rode | I |
On a horse with bridle of findrinny | F |
And like a sunset were her lips | G |
A stormy sunset on doomed ships | G |
A citron colour gloomed in her hair | D |
- | |
But down to her feet white vesture flowed | I |
And with the glimmering crimson glowed | I |
Of many a figured embroidery | G |
And it was bound with a pearl pale shell | J |
That wavered like the summer streams | G |
As her soft bosom rose and fell | J |
- | |
S Patrick You are still wrecked among heathen dreams | G |
- | |
Oisin 'Why do you wind no horn ' she said | K |
'And every hero droop his head | K |
The hornless deer is not more sad | L |
That many a peaceful moment had | L |
More sleek than any granary mouse | G |
In his own leafy forest house | G |
Among the waving fields of fern | F |
The hunting of heroes should be glad ' | - |
- | |
'O pleasant woman ' answered Finn | F |
'We think on Oscar's pencilled urn | F |
And on the heroes lying slain | F |
On Gabhra's raven covered plain | F |
But where are your noble kith and kin | F |
And from what country do you ride ' | - |
- | |
'My father and my mother are | D |
Aengus and Edain my own name | M |
Niamh and my country far | D |
Beyond the tumbling of this tide ' | - |
- | |
'What dream came with you that you came | M |
Through bitter tide on foam wet feet | N |
Did your companion wander away | O |
From where the birds of Aengus wing ' | - |
Thereon did she look haughty and sweet | N |
'I have not yet war weary king | B |
Been spoken of with any man | F |
Yet now I choose for these four feet | N |
Ran through the foam and ran to this | G |
That I might have your son to kiss ' | - |
- | |
'Were there no better than my son | F |
That you through all that foam should run ' | - |
- | |
'I loved no man though kings besought | N |
Until the Danaan poets brought | N |
Rhyme that rhymed upon Oisin's name | M |
And now I am dizzy with the thought | N |
Of all that wisdom and the fame | M |
Of battles broken by his hands | G |
Of stories builded by his words | G |
That are like coloured Asian birds | G |
At evening in their rainless lands ' | - |
- | |
O Patrick by your brazen bell | J |
There was no limb of mine but fell | J |
Into a desperate gulph of love | P |
'You only will I wed ' I cried | N |
'And I will make a thousand songs | G |
And set your name all names above | P |
And captives bound with leathern thongs | G |
Shall kneel and praise you one by one | F |
At evening in my western dun ' | - |
- | |
'O Oisin mount by me and ride | N |
To shores by the wash of the tremulous tide | N |
Where men have heaped no burial mounds | G |
And the days pass by like a wayward tune | F |
Where broken faith has never been known | F |
And the blushes of first love never have flown | F |
And there I will give you a hundred hounds | G |
No mightier creatures bay at the moon | F |
And a hundred robes of murmuring silk | Q |
And a hundred calves and a hundred sheep | R |
Whose long wool whiter than sea froth flows | G |
And a hundred spears and a hundred bows | G |
And oil and wine and honey and milk | Q |
And always never anxious sleep | R |
While a hundred youths mighty of limb | S |
But knowing nor tumult nor hate nor strife | T |
And a hundred ladies merry as birds | G |
Who when they dance to a fitful measure | D |
Have a speed like the speed of the salmon herds | G |
Shall follow your horn and obey your whim | S |
And you shall know the Danaan leisure | D |
And Niamh be with you for a wife ' | - |
Then she sighed gently 'It grows late | N |
Music and love and sleep await | N |
Where I would be when the white moon climbs | G |
The red sun falls and the world grows dim ' | - |
- | |
And then I mounted and she bound me | G |
With her triumphing arms around me | G |
And whispering to herself enwound me | G |
He shook himself and neighed three times | G |
Caoilte Conan and Finn came near | D |
And wept and raised their lamenting hands | G |
And bid me stay with many a tear | D |
But we rode out from the human lands | G |
In what far kingdom do you go' | Q |
Ah Fenians with the shield and bow | U |
Or are you phantoms white as snow | F |
Whose lips had life's most prosperous glow | F |
O you with whom in sloping vallcys | G |
Or down the dewy forest alleys | G |
I chased at morn the flying deer | D |
With whom I hurled the hurrying spear | D |
And heard the foemen's bucklers rattle | V |
And broke the heaving ranks of battle | V |
And Bran Sceolan and Lomair | D |
Where are you with your long rough hair | D |
You go not where the red deer feeds | G |
Nor tear the foemen from their steeds | G |
- | |
S Patrick Boast not nor mourn with drooping head | N |
Companions long accurst and dead | N |
And hounds for centuries dust and air | D |
- | |
Oisin We galloped over the glossy sea | G |
I know not if days passed or hours | G |
And Niamh sang continually | G |
Danaan songs and their dewy showers | G |
Of pensive laughter unhuman sound | N |
Lulled weariness and softly round | N |
My human sorrow her white arms wound | N |
We galloped now a hornless deer | D |
Passed by us chased by a phantom hound | N |
All pearly white save one red ear | D |
And now a lady rode like the wind | N |
With an apple of gold in her tossing hand | N |
And a beautiful young man followed behind | N |
With quenchless gaze and fluttering hair | D |
'Were these two born in the Danaan land | N |
Or have they breathed the mortal air ' | - |
- | |
'Vex them no longer ' Niamh said | N |
And sighing bowed her gentle head | N |
And sighing laid the pearly tip | W |
Of one long finger on my lip | W |
- | |
But now the moon like a white rose shone | F |
In the pale west and the sun'S rim sank | Q |
And clouds atrayed their rank on rank | Q |
About his fading crimson ball | X |
The floor of Almhuin's hosting hall | X |
Was not more level than the sea | G |
As full of loving fantasy | G |
And with low murmurs we rode on | F |
Where many a trumpet twisted shell | J |
That in immortal silence sleeps | G |
Dreaming of her own melting hues | G |
Her golds her ambers and her blues | G |
Pierced with soft light the shallowing deeps | G |
But now a wandering land breeze came | M |
And a far sound of feathery quires | G |
It seemed to blow from the dying flame | M |
They seemed to sing in the smouldering fires | G |
The horse towards the music raced | N |
Neighing along the lifeless waste | N |
Like sooty fingers many a tree | G |
Rose ever out of the warm sea | G |
And they were trembling ceaselessly | G |
As though they all were beating time | Y |
Upon the centre of the sun | F |
To that low laughing woodland rhyme | Y |
And now our wandering hours were done | F |
We cantered to the shore and knew | F |
The reason of the trembling trees | G |
Round every branch the song birds flew | F |
Or clung thereon like swarming bees | G |
While round the shore a million stood | N |
Like drops of frozen rainbow light | N |
And pondered in a soft vain mood | N |
Upon their shadows in the tide | N |
And told the purple deeps their pride | N |
And murmured snatches of delight | N |
And on the shores were many boats | G |
With bending sterns and bending bows | G |
And carven figures on their prows | G |
Of bitterns and fish eating stoats | G |
And swans with their exultant throats | G |
And where the wood and waters meet | N |
We tied the horse in a leafy clump | Z |
And Niamh blew three merry notes | G |
Out of a little silver trump | Z |
And then an answering whispering flew | F |
Over the bare and woody land | N |
A whisper of impetuous feet | N |
And ever nearer nearer grew | F |
And from the woods rushed out a band | N |
Of men and ladies hand in hand | N |
And singing singing all together | D |
Their brows were white as fragrant milk | Q |
Their cloaks made out of yellow silk | Q |
And trimmed with many a crimson feather | D |
And when they saw the cloak I wore | D |
Was dim with mire of a mortal shore | D |
They fingered it and gazed on me | G |
And laughed like murmurs of the sea | G |
But Niamh with a swift distress | G |
Bid them away and hold their peace | G |
And when they heard her voice they ran | F |
And knelt there every girl and man | F |
And kissed as they would never cease | G |
Her pearl pale hand and the hem of her dress | G |
She bade them bring us to the hall | X |
Where Aengus dreams from sun to sun | F |
A Druid dream of the end of days | G |
When the stars are to wane and the world be done | F |
- | |
They led us by long and shadowy ways | G |
Where drops of dew in myriads fall | X |
And tangled creepers every hour | D |
Blossom in some new crimson flower | D |
And once a sudden laughter sprang | Q |
From all their lips and once they sang | Q |
Together while the dark woods rang | Q |
And made in all their distant parts | G |
With boom of bees in honey marts | G |
A rumour of delighted hearts | G |
And once a lady by my side | N |
Gave me a harp and bid me sing | Q |
And touch the laughing silver string | Q |
But when I sang of human joy | A2 |
A sorrow wrapped each merry face | G |
And patrick by your beard they wept | N |
Until one came a tearful boy | A2 |
'A sadder creature never stept | N |
Than this strange human bard ' he cried | N |
And caught the silver harp away | O |
And weeping over the white strings hurled | N |
It down in a leaf hid hollow place | G |
That kept dim waters from the sky | Q |
And each one said with a long long sigh | Q |
'O saddest harp in all the world | N |
Sleep there till the moon and the stars die ' | - |
- | |
And now still sad we came to where | D |
A beautiful young man dreamed within | F |
A house of wattles clay and skin | F |
One hand upheld his beardless chin | F |
And one a sceptre flashing out | N |
Wild flames of red and gold and blue | F |
Like to a merry wandering rout | N |
Of dancers leaping in the air | D |
And men and ladies knelt them there | D |
And showed their eyes with teardrops dim | S |
And with low murmurs prayed to him | S |
And kissed the sceptre with red lips | G |
And touched it with their finger tips | G |
He held that flashing sceptre up | B2 |
'Joy drowns the twilight in the dew | F |
And fills with stars night's purple cup | B2 |
And wakes the sluggard seeds of corn | F |
And stirs the young kid's budding horn | F |
And makes the infant ferns unwrap | C2 |
And for the peewit paints his cap | C2 |
And rolls along the unwieldy sun | F |
And makes the little planets run | F |
And if joy were not on the earth | D2 |
There were an end of change and birth | D2 |
And Earth and Heaven and Hell would die | Q |
And in some gloomy barrow lie | Q |
Folded like a frozen fly | Q |
Then mock at Death and Time with glances | G |
And wavering arms and wandering dances | G |
- | |
'Men's hearts of old were drops of flame | M |
That from the saffron morning came | M |
Or drops of silver joy that fell | J |
Out of the moon's pale twisted shell | J |
But now hearts cry that hearts are slaves | G |
And toss and turn in narrow caves | G |
But here there is nor law nor rule | E2 |
Nor have hands held a weary tool | E2 |
And here there is nor Change nor Death | F2 |
But only kind and merry breath | F2 |
For joy is God and God is joy ' | - |
With one long glance for girl and boy | A2 |
And the pale blossom of the moon | F |
He fell into a Druid swoon | F |
- | |
And in a wild and sudden dance | G |
We mocked at Time and Fate and Chance | G |
And swept out of the wattled hall | X |
And came to where the dewdrops fall | X |
Among the foamdrops of the sea | G |
And there we hushed the revelry | G |
And gathering on our brows a frown | F |
Bent all our swaying bodies down | F |
And to the waves that glimmer by | Q |
That sloping green De Danaan sod | N |
Sang 'God is joy and joy is God | N |
And things that have grown sad are wicked | N |
And things that fear the dawn of the morrow | D |
Or the grey wandering osprey Sorrow ' | - |
- | |
We danced to where in the winding thicket | N |
The damask roses bloom on bloom | G2 |
Like crimson meteors hang in the gloom | G2 |
And bending over them softly said | N |
Bending over them in the dance | G |
With a swift and friendly glance | G |
From dewy eyes 'Upon the dead | N |
Fall the leaves of other roses | G |
On the dead dim earth encloses | G |
But never never on our graves | G |
Heaped beside the glimmering waves | G |
Shall fall the leaves of damask roses | G |
For neither Death nor Change comes near us | G |
And all listless hours fear us | G |
And we fear no dawning morrow | D |
Nor the grey wandering osprey Sorrow ' | - |
- | |
The dance wound through the windless woods | G |
The ever summered solitudes | G |
Until the tossing arms grew still | H |
Upon the woody central hill | H |
And gathered in a panting band | N |
We flung on high each waving hand | N |
And sang unto the starry broods | G |
In our raised eyes there flashed a glow | D |
Of milky brightness to and fro | D |
As thus our song arose 'You stars | G |
Across your wandering ruby cars | G |
Shake the loose reins you slaves of God | N |
He rules you with an iron rod | N |
He holds you with an iron bond | N |
Each one woven to the other | D |
Each one woven to his brother | D |
Like bubbles in a frozen pond | N |
But we in a lonely land abide | N |
Unchainable as the dim tide | N |
With hearts that know nor law nor rule | E2 |
And hands that hold no wearisome tool | E2 |
Folded in love that fears no morrow | D |
Nor the grey wandering osprey Sorrow ' | - |
- | |
O Patrick for a hundred years | G |
I chased upon that woody shore | D |
The deer the badger and the boar | D |
O patrick for a hundred years | G |
At evening on the glimmering sands | G |
Beside the piled up hunting spears | G |
These now outworn and withered hands | G |
Wrestled among the island bands | G |
O patrick for a hundred years | G |
We went a fishing in long boats | G |
With bending sterns and bending bows | G |
And carven figures on their prows | G |
Of bitterns and fish eating stoats | G |
O patrick for a hundred years | G |
The gentle Niamh was my wife | T |
But now two things devour my life | T |
The things that most of all I hate | N |
Fasting and prayers | G |
- | |
S Patrick Tell on | F |
- | |
Oisin Yes yes | G |
For these were ancient Oisin's fate | N |
Loosed long ago from Heaven's gate | N |
For his last days to lie in wait | N |
When one day by the tide I stood | N |
I found in that forgetfulness | G |
Of dreamy foam a staff of wood | N |
From some dead warrior's broken lance | G |
I tutned it in my hands the stains | G |
Of war were on it and I wept | N |
Remembering how the Fenians stept | N |
Along the blood bedabbled plains | G |
Equal to good or grievous chance | G |
Thereon young Niamh softly came | M |
And caught my hands but spake no word | N |
Save only many times my name | M |
In murmurs like a frighted bird | N |
We passed by woods and lawns of clover | D |
And found the horse and bridled him | S |
For we knew well the old was over | D |
I heard one say 'His eyes grow dim | S |
With all the ancient sorrow of men' | F |
And wrapped in dreams rode out again | F |
With hoofs of the pale findrinny | F |
Over the glimmering purple sea | G |
Under the golden evening light | N |
The Immortals moved among thc fountains | G |
By rivers and the woods' old night | N |
Some danced like shadows on the mountains | G |
Some wandered ever hand in hand | N |
Or sat in dreams on the pale strand | N |
Each forehead like an obscure star | D |
Bent down above each hooked knee | G |
And sang and with a dreamy gaze | G |
Watched where the sun in a saffron blaze | G |
Was slumbering half in the sea ways | G |
And as they sang the painted birds | G |
Kept time with their bright wings and feet | N |
Like drops of honey came their words | G |
But fainter than a young lamb's bleat | N |
- | |
'An old man stirs the fire to a blaze | G |
In the house of a child of a friend of a brother | D |
He has over lingered his welcome the days | G |
Grown desolate whisper and sigh to each other | D |
He hears the storm in the chimney above | P |
And bends to the fire and shakes with the cold | N |
While his heart still dreams of battle and love | P |
And the cry of the hounds on the hills of old | N |
- | |
But We are apart in the grassy places | G |
Where care cannot trouble the least of our days | G |
Or the softness of youth be gone from our faces | G |
Or love's first tenderness die in our gaze | G |
The hare grows old as she plays in the sun | F |
And gazes around her with eyes of brightness | G |
Before the swift things that she dreamed of were done | F |
She limps along in an aged whiteness | G |
A storm of birds in the Asian trees | G |
Like tulips in the air a winging | Q |
And the gentle waves of the summer seas | G |
That raise their heads and wander singing | Q |
Must murmur at last Unjust unjust | N |
And My speed is a weariness falters the mouse | G |
And the kingfisher turns to a ball of dust | N |
And the roof falls in of his tunnelled house | G |
But the love dew dims our eyes till the day | N |
When God shall come from the Sea with a sigh | Q |
And bid the stars drop down from the sky | Q |
And the moon like a pale rose wither away ' | - |
William Butler Yeats
(1)
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