A Forest Hymn Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST EUV WXFYKZA2B2EC2D2E2B2A 2F2G2H2ZI2JLJ2VK2LL2 M2N2O2P2Q2JR2S2T2U2J 2V2W2X2OY2D2Z2K2A3 B3C3D3E3F3J2G3H3I3ZJ 3K3L3ZM3N3O3OA2P3Q3 R3BS3T3U3G3V3V3OV3B3 XOW3T3V3X3O3V3T3OPV3 Y3Z3T3T3V3V3

The groves were God's first temples Ere man learnedA
To hew the shaft and lay the architraveB
And spread the roof above them ere he framedC
The lofty vault to gather and roll backD
The sound of anthems in the darkling woodE
Amidst the cool and silence he knelt downF
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanksG
And supplication For his simple heartH
Might not resist the sacred influencesI
Which from the stilly twilight of the placeJ
And from the gray old trunks that high in heavenK
Mingled their mossy boughs and from the soundL
Of the invisible breath that swayed at onceM
All their green tops stole over him and bowedN
His spirit with the thought of boundless powerO
And inaccessible majesty Ah whyP
Should we in the world's riper years neglectQ
God's ancient sanctuaries and adoreR
Only among the crowd and under roofsS
That our frail hands have raised Let me at leastT
Here in the shadow of this aged woodE
Offer one hymn thrice happy if it findU
Acceptance in His earV
-
Father thy handW
Hath reared these venerable columns thouX
Didst weave this verdant roof Thou didst look downF
Upon the naked earth and forthwith roseY
All these fair ranks of trees They in thy sunK
Budded and shook their green leaves in thy breezeZ
And shot towards heaven The century living crowA2
Whose birth was in their tops grew old and diedB2
Among their branches till at last they stoodE
As now they stand massy and tall and darkC2
Fit shrine for humble worshipper to holdD2
Communion with his Maker These dim vaultsE2
These winding aisles of human pomp or prideB2
Report not No fantasting carvings showA2
The boast of our vain race to change the formF2
Of thy fair works But thou art here thou fill'stG2
The solitude Thou art in the soft windsH2
That run along the summit of these treesZ
In music thou art in the cooler breathI2
That from the inmost darkness of the placeJ
Comes scarcely felt the barky trunks the groundL
The fresh moist ground are all instinct with theeJ2
Here is continual worship nature hereV
In the tranquillity that thou dost loveK2
Enjoys thy presence Noiselessly aroundL
From perch to perch the solitary birdL2
Passes and yon clear spring that midst its herbsM2
Wells softly forth and visits the strong rootsN2
Of half the mighty forest tells no taleO2
Of all the good it does Thou hast not leftP2
Thyself without a witness in these shadesQ2
Of thy perfections Grandeur strength and graceJ
Are here to speak of thee This mighty oakR2
By whose immovable stem I stand and seemS2
Almost annihilated not a princeT2
In all that proud old world beyond the deepU2
Ere wore his crown as loftily as heJ2
Wears the green coronal of leaves with whichV2
Thy hand has graced him Nestled at his rootW2
Is beauty such as blooms not in the glareX2
Of the broad sun That delicate forest flowerO
With scented breath and look so like a smileY2
Seems as it issues from the shapeless mouldD2
An emanation of the indwelling LifeZ2
A visible token of the upholding LoveK2
That are the soul of this wide universeA3
-
My heart is awed within me when I thinkB3
Of the great miracle that still goes onC3
In silence round me the perpetual workD3
Of thy creation finished yet renewedE3
For ever Written on thy works I readF3
The lesson of thy own eternityJ2
Lo all grow old and die but see againG3
How on the faltering footsteps of decayH3
Youth presses ever gay and beautiful youthI3
In all its beautiful forms These lofty treesZ
Wave not less proudly that their ancestorsJ3
Moulder beneath them Oh there is not lostK3
One of earth's charms upon her bosom yetL3
After the flight of untold centuriesZ
The freshness of her far beginning liesM3
And yet shall lie Life mocks the idle hateN3
Of his arch enemy Death yea seats himselfO3
Upon the tyrant's throne the sepulchreO
And of the triumphs of his ghastly foeA2
Makes his own nourishment For he came forthP3
From thine own bosom and shall have no endQ3
-
There have been holy men who hid themselvesR3
Deep in the woody wilderness and gaveB
Their lives to thought and prayer till they outlivedS3
The generation born with them nor seemedT3
Less aged than the hoary trees and rocksU3
Around them and there have been holy menG3
Who deemed it were not well to pass life thusV3
But let me often to these solitudesV3
Retire and in thy presence reassureO
My feeble virtue Here its enemiesV3
The passions at thy plainer footsteps shrinkB3
And tremble and are still Oh God when thouX
Dost scare the world with tempests set on fireO
The heavens with falling thunderbolts or fillW3
With all the waters of the firmamentT3
The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woodsV3
And drowns the villages when at thy callX3
Uprises the great deep and throws himselfO3
Upon the continent and overwhelmsV3
Its cities who forgets not at the sightT3
Of these tremendous tokens of thy powerO
His pride and lays his strifes and follies byP
Oh from these sterner aspects of thy faceV3
Spare me and mine nor let us need the wrathY3
Of the mad unchained elements to teachZ3
Who rules them Be it ours to meditateT3
In these calm shades thy milder majestyT3
And to the beautiful order of thy worksV3
Learn to conform the order of our livesV3

William Cullen Bryant



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