A Forest Hymn Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST EUV WXFYKZA2B2EC2D2E2B2A 2F2G2H2ZI2JLJ2VK2LL2 M2N2O2P2Q2JR2S2T2U2J 2V2W2X2OY2D2Z2K2A3 B3C3D3E3F3J2G3H3I3ZJ 3K3L3ZM3N3O3OA2P3Q3 R3BS3T3U3G3V3V3OV3B3 XOW3T3V3X3O3V3T3OPV3 Y3Z3T3T3V3V3The groves were God's first temples Ere man learned | A |
To hew the shaft and lay the architrave | B |
And spread the roof above them ere he framed | C |
The lofty vault to gather and roll back | D |
The sound of anthems in the darkling wood | E |
Amidst the cool and silence he knelt down | F |
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks | G |
And supplication For his simple heart | H |
Might not resist the sacred influences | I |
Which from the stilly twilight of the place | J |
And from the gray old trunks that high in heaven | K |
Mingled their mossy boughs and from the sound | L |
Of the invisible breath that swayed at once | M |
All their green tops stole over him and bowed | N |
His spirit with the thought of boundless power | O |
And inaccessible majesty Ah why | P |
Should we in the world's riper years neglect | Q |
God's ancient sanctuaries and adore | R |
Only among the crowd and under roofs | S |
That our frail hands have raised Let me at least | T |
Here in the shadow of this aged wood | E |
Offer one hymn thrice happy if it find | U |
Acceptance in His ear | V |
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Father thy hand | W |
Hath reared these venerable columns thou | X |
Didst weave this verdant roof Thou didst look down | F |
Upon the naked earth and forthwith rose | Y |
All these fair ranks of trees They in thy sun | K |
Budded and shook their green leaves in thy breeze | Z |
And shot towards heaven The century living crow | A2 |
Whose birth was in their tops grew old and died | B2 |
Among their branches till at last they stood | E |
As now they stand massy and tall and dark | C2 |
Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold | D2 |
Communion with his Maker These dim vaults | E2 |
These winding aisles of human pomp or pride | B2 |
Report not No fantasting carvings show | A2 |
The boast of our vain race to change the form | F2 |
Of thy fair works But thou art here thou fill'st | G2 |
The solitude Thou art in the soft winds | H2 |
That run along the summit of these trees | Z |
In music thou art in the cooler breath | I2 |
That from the inmost darkness of the place | J |
Comes scarcely felt the barky trunks the ground | L |
The fresh moist ground are all instinct with thee | J2 |
Here is continual worship nature here | V |
In the tranquillity that thou dost love | K2 |
Enjoys thy presence Noiselessly around | L |
From perch to perch the solitary bird | L2 |
Passes and yon clear spring that midst its herbs | M2 |
Wells softly forth and visits the strong roots | N2 |
Of half the mighty forest tells no tale | O2 |
Of all the good it does Thou hast not left | P2 |
Thyself without a witness in these shades | Q2 |
Of thy perfections Grandeur strength and grace | J |
Are here to speak of thee This mighty oak | R2 |
By whose immovable stem I stand and seem | S2 |
Almost annihilated not a prince | T2 |
In all that proud old world beyond the deep | U2 |
Ere wore his crown as loftily as he | J2 |
Wears the green coronal of leaves with which | V2 |
Thy hand has graced him Nestled at his root | W2 |
Is beauty such as blooms not in the glare | X2 |
Of the broad sun That delicate forest flower | O |
With scented breath and look so like a smile | Y2 |
Seems as it issues from the shapeless mould | D2 |
An emanation of the indwelling Life | Z2 |
A visible token of the upholding Love | K2 |
That are the soul of this wide universe | A3 |
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My heart is awed within me when I think | B3 |
Of the great miracle that still goes on | C3 |
In silence round me the perpetual work | D3 |
Of thy creation finished yet renewed | E3 |
For ever Written on thy works I read | F3 |
The lesson of thy own eternity | J2 |
Lo all grow old and die but see again | G3 |
How on the faltering footsteps of decay | H3 |
Youth presses ever gay and beautiful youth | I3 |
In all its beautiful forms These lofty trees | Z |
Wave not less proudly that their ancestors | J3 |
Moulder beneath them Oh there is not lost | K3 |
One of earth's charms upon her bosom yet | L3 |
After the flight of untold centuries | Z |
The freshness of her far beginning lies | M3 |
And yet shall lie Life mocks the idle hate | N3 |
Of his arch enemy Death yea seats himself | O3 |
Upon the tyrant's throne the sepulchre | O |
And of the triumphs of his ghastly foe | A2 |
Makes his own nourishment For he came forth | P3 |
From thine own bosom and shall have no end | Q3 |
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There have been holy men who hid themselves | R3 |
Deep in the woody wilderness and gave | B |
Their lives to thought and prayer till they outlived | S3 |
The generation born with them nor seemed | T3 |
Less aged than the hoary trees and rocks | U3 |
Around them and there have been holy men | G3 |
Who deemed it were not well to pass life thus | V3 |
But let me often to these solitudes | V3 |
Retire and in thy presence reassure | O |
My feeble virtue Here its enemies | V3 |
The passions at thy plainer footsteps shrink | B3 |
And tremble and are still Oh God when thou | X |
Dost scare the world with tempests set on fire | O |
The heavens with falling thunderbolts or fill | W3 |
With all the waters of the firmament | T3 |
The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods | V3 |
And drowns the villages when at thy call | X3 |
Uprises the great deep and throws himself | O3 |
Upon the continent and overwhelms | V3 |
Its cities who forgets not at the sight | T3 |
Of these tremendous tokens of thy power | O |
His pride and lays his strifes and follies by | P |
Oh from these sterner aspects of thy face | V3 |
Spare me and mine nor let us need the wrath | Y3 |
Of the mad unchained elements to teach | Z3 |
Who rules them Be it ours to meditate | T3 |
In these calm shades thy milder majesty | T3 |
And to the beautiful order of thy works | V3 |
Learn to conform the order of our lives | V3 |
William Cullen Bryant
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