Constellations, The Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDCEFGHIJKLMCNOAPQ RSTUVWWAXYAZA2B2C2D2 E2F2G2OAH2TI2TJ2TUQT TTTTK2L2M2TTT| O constellations of the early night | A |
| That sparkled brighter as the twilight died | B |
| And made the darkness glorious I have seen | C |
| Your rays grow dim upon the horizon's edge | D |
| And sink behind the mountains I have seen | C |
| The great Orion with his jewelled belt | E |
| That large limbed warrior of the skies go down | F |
| Into the gloom Beside him sank a crowd | G |
| Of shining ones I look in vain to find | H |
| The group of sister stars which mothers love | I |
| To show their wondering babes the gentle Seven | J |
| Along the desert space mine eyes in vain | K |
| Seek the resplendent cressets which the Twins | L |
| Uplifted in their ever youthful hands | M |
| The streaming tresses of the Egyptian Queen | C |
| Spangle the heavens no more The Virgin trails | N |
| No more her glittering garments through the blue | O |
| Gone all are gone and the forsaken Night | A |
| With all her winds in all her dreary wastes | P |
| Sighs that they shine upon her face no more | Q |
| No only here and there a little star | R |
| Looks forth alone Ah me I know them not | S |
| Those dim successors of the numberless host | T |
| That filled the heavenly fields and flung to earth | U |
| Their guivering fires And now the middle watch | V |
| Betwixt the eve and morn is past and still | W |
| The darkness gains upon the sky and still | W |
| It closes round my way Shall then the Night | A |
| Grow starless in her later hours Have these | X |
| No train of flaming watchers that shall mark | Y |
| Their coming and farewell O Sons of Light | A |
| Have ye then left me ere the dawn of day | Z |
| To grope along my journey sad and faint | A2 |
| Thus I complained and from the darkness round | B2 |
| A voice replied was it indeed a voice | C2 |
| Or seeming accents of a waking dream | D2 |
| Heard by the inner ear But thus it said | E2 |
| O Traveller of the Night thine eyes are dim | F2 |
| With watching and the mists that chill the vale | G2 |
| Down which thy feet are passing hide from view | O |
| The ever burning stars It is thy sight | A |
| That is so dark and not the heaens Thine eyes | H2 |
| Were they but clear would see a fiery host | T |
| Above thee Hercules with flashing mace | I2 |
| The Lyre with silver cords the Swan uppoised | T |
| On gleaming wings the Dolphin gliding on | J2 |
| With glistening scales and that poetic steed | T |
| With beamy mane whose hoof struck out from earth | U |
| The fount of Hippocrene and many more | Q |
| Fair clustered splendors with whose rays the Night | T |
| Shall close her march in glory ere she yield | T |
| To the young Day the great earth steeped in dew | T |
| So spake the monitor and I perceived | T |
| How vain were my repinings and my thought | T |
| Went backward to the vanished years and all | K2 |
| The good and great who came and passed with them | L2 |
| And knew that ever would the years to come | M2 |
| Bring with them in their course the good and great | T |
| Lights of the world though to my clouded sight | T |
| Their rays might seem but dim or reach me not | T |
William Cullen Bryant
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
<< Noon Poem
November Poem>>
Write your comment about Constellations, The poem by William Cullen Bryant
Best Poems of William Cullen Bryant