Catterskill Falls Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABBBCC DBDBEE FGFGHH IJKJLL EBEBMM NONOPP QRQROO BBBBSS LBTBOO UOUOOO HJHHMM VWVWBB HXHXYY BOBOEE ZOZOBB OOOOHH BBBBA2A2 BOBOUU B2C2B2C2D2D2

Midst greens and shades the Catterskill leapsA
From cliffs where the wood flower clingsB
All summer he moistens his verdant steepsB
With the sweet light spray of the mountain springsB
And he shakes the woods on the mountain sideC
When they drip with the rains of autumn tideC
-
But when in the forest bare and oldD
The blast of December callsB
He builds in the starlight clear and coldD
A palace of ice where his torrent fallsB
With turret and arch and fretwork fairE
And pillars blue as the summer airE
-
For whom are those glorious chambers wroughtF
In the cold and cloudless nightG
Is there neither spirit nor motion of thoughtF
In forms so lovely and hues so brightG
Hear what the gray haired woodmen tellH
Of this wild stream and its rocky dellH
-
'Twas hither a youth of dreamy moodI
A hundred winters agoJ
Had wandered over the mighty woodK
When the panther's track was fresh on the snowJ
And keen were the winds that came to stirL
The long dark boughs of the hemlock firL
-
Too gentle of mien he seemed and fairE
For a child of those rugged steepsB
His home lay low in the valley whereE
The kingly Hudson rolls to the deepsB
But he wore the hunter's frock that dayM
And a slender gun on his shoulder layM
-
And here he paused and against the trunkN
Of a tall gray linden leantO
When the broad clear orb of the sun had sunkN
From his path in the frosty firmamentO
And over the round dark edge of the hillP
A cold green light was quivering stillP
-
And the crescent moon high over the greenQ
From a sky of crimson shoneR
On that icy palace whose towers were seenQ
To sparkle as if with stars of their ownR
While the water fell with a hollow soundO
'Twixt the glistening pillars ranged aroundO
-
Is that a being of life that movesB
Where the crystal battlements riseB
A maiden watching the moon she lovesB
At the twilight hour with pensive eyesB
Was that a garment which seemed to gleamS
Betwixt the eye and the falling streamS
-
'Tis only the torrent tumbling o'erL
In the midst of those glassy wallsB
Gushing and plunging and beating the floorT
Of the rocky basin in which it fallsB
'Tis only the torrent but why that startO
Why gazes the youth with a throbbing heartO
-
He thinks no more of his home afarU
Where his sire and sister waitO
He heeds no longer how star after starU
Looks forth on the night as the hour grows lateO
He heeds not the snow wreaths lifted and castO
From a thousand boughs by the rising blastO
-
His thoughts are alone of those who dwellH
In the halls of frost and snowJ
Who pass where the crystal domes upswellH
From the alabaster floors belowH
Where the frost trees shoot with leaf and sprayM
And frost gems scatter a silvery dayM
-
And oh that those glorious haunts were mineV
He speaks and throughout the glenW
Thin shadows swim in the faint moonshineV
And take a ghastly likeness of menW
As if the slain by the wintry stormsB
Came forth to the air in their earthly formsB
-
There pass the chasers of seal and whaleH
With their weapons quaint and grimX
And bands of warriors in glittering mailH
And herdsmen and hunters huge of limbX
There are naked arms with bow and spearY
And furry gauntlets the carbine rearY
-
There are mothers and oh how sadly their eyesB
On their children's white brows restO
There are youthful lovers the maiden liesB
In a seeming sleep on the chosen breastO
There are fair wan women with moonstruck airE
The snow stars flecking their long loose hairE
-
They eye him not as they pass alongZ
But his hair stands up with dreadO
When he feels that he moves with that phantom throngZ
Till those icy turrets are over his headO
And the torrent's roar as they enter seemsB
Like a drowsy murmur heard in dreamsB
-
The glittering threshold is scarcely passedO
When there gathers and wraps him roundO
A thick white twilight sullen and vastO
In which there is neither form nor soundO
The phantoms the glory vanish allH
With the dying voice of the waterfallH
-
Slow passes the darkness of that tranceB
And the youth now faintly seesB
Huge shadows and gushes of light that danceB
On a rugged ceiling of unhewn treesB
And walls where the skins of beasts are hungA2
And rifles glitter on antlers strungA2
-
On a couch of shaggy skins he liesB
As he strives to raise his headO
Hard featured woodmen with kindly eyesB
Come round him and smooth his furry bedO
And bid him rest for the evening starU
Is scarcely set and the day is farU
-
They had found at eve the dreaming oneB2
By the base of that icy steepC2
When over his stiffening limbs begunB2
The deadly slumber of frost to creepC2
And they cherished the pale and breathless formD2
Till the stagnant blood ran free and warmD2

William Cullen Bryant



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