Hymn To Death Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQKRE STHUVWXLYZA2R VB2C2HD2E2AXF2G2H2I2 J2QK2L2M2N2O2P2Q2R2S 2UT2U2V2Q2N2Q2Q2Q2Q2 W2ED2X2Y2N2DA2Z2U2VV 2A3B3Q2U2KC3D3K2F2E3 VF3KG3H3XI3J3K2XG3Q2 K3Q2L3M3N3D3O3K2Q2P3 H2IKVN2 X2EQ3G3R3HQ2HQ2Q2S3H HHHHT3Q2U3 VQ2Q2V3KA2D3WHHQ2Q3Q 2G3G3FW3T3X3Y3Z3FQ2R 2KH HQ2HHIA4HHI

Oh could I hope the wise and pure in heartA
Might hear my song without a frown nor deemB
My voice unworthy of the theme it triesC
I would take up the hymn to Death and sayD
To the grim power The world hath slandered theeE
And mocked thee On thy dim and shadowy browF
They place an iron crown and call thee kingG
Of terrors and the spoiler of the worldH
Deadly assassin that strik'st down the fairI
The loved the good that breathest on the lightsJ
Of virtue set along the vale of lifeK
And they go out in darkness I am comeL
Not with reproaches not with cries and prayersM
Such as have stormed thy stern insensible earN
from the beginning I am come to speakO
Thy praises True it is that I have weptP
Thy conquests and may weep them yet againQ
And thou from some I love wilt take a lifeK
Dear to me as my own Yet while the spellR
Is on my spirit and I talk with theeE
In sight of all thy trophies face to faceS
Meet is it that my voice should utter forthT
Thy nobler triumphs I will teach the worldH
To thank thee Who are thine accusers WhoU
The living they who never felt thy powerV
And know thee not The curses of the wretchW
Whose crimes are ripe his sufferings when thy handX
Is on him and the hour he dreads is comeL
Are writ among thy praises But the goodY
Does he whom thy kind hand dismissed to peaceZ
Upbraid the gentle violence that took offA2
His fetters and unbarred his prison cellR
-
Raise then the hymn to Death DelivererV
God hath anointed thee to free the oppressedB2
And crush the oppressor When the armed chiefC2
The conqueror of nations walks the worldH
And it is changed beneath his feet and allD2
Its kingdoms melt into one mighty realmE2
Thou while his head is loftiest and his heartA
Blasphemes imagining his own right handX
Almighty thou dost set thy sudden graspF2
Upon him and the links of that strong chainG2
That bound mankind are crumbled thou dost breakH2
Sceptre and crown and beat his throne to dustI2
Then the earth shouts with gladness and her tribesJ2
Gather within their ancient bounds againQ
Else had the mighty of the olden timeK2
Nimrod Sesostris or the youth who feignedL2
His birth from Libyan Ammon smitten yetM2
The nations with a rod of iron and drivenN2
Their chariot o'er our necks Thou dost avengeO2
In thy good time the wrongs of those who knowP2
No other friend Nor dost thou interposeQ2
Only to lay the sufferer asleepR2
Where he who made him wretched troubles notS2
His rest thou dost strike down his tyrant tooU
Oh there is joy when hands that held the scourgeT2
Drop lifeless and the pitiless heart is coldU2
Thou too dost purge from earth its horribleV2
And old idolatries from the proud fanesQ2
Each to his grave their priests go out till noneN2
Is left to teach their worship then the firesQ2
Of sacrifice are chilled and the green mossQ2
O'ercreeps their altars the fallen imagesQ2
Cumber the weedy courts and for loud hymnsQ2
Chanted by kneeling multitudes the windW2
Shrieks in the solitary aisles When heE
Who gives his life to guilt and laughs at allD2
The laws that God or man has made and roundX2
Hedges his seat with power and shines in wealthY2
Lifts up his atheist front to scoff at HeavenN2
And celebrates his shame in open dayD
Thou in the pride of all his crimes cutt'st offA2
The horrible example Touched by thineZ2
The extortioner's hard hand foregoes the goldU2
Wrung from the o'er worn poor The perjurerV
Whose tongue was lithe e'en now and volubleV2
Against his neighbour's life and he who laughedA3
And leaped for joy to see a spotless fameB3
Blasted before his own foul calumniesQ2
Are smit with deadly silence He who soldU2
His conscience to preserve a worthless lifeK
Even while he hugs himself on his escapeC3
Trembles as doubly terrible at lengthD3
Thy steps o'ertake him and there is no timeK2
For parley nor will bribes unclench thy graspF2
Oft too dost thou reform thy victim longE3
Ere his last hour And when the revellerV
Mad in the chase of pleasure stretches onF3
And strains each nerve and clears the path of lifeK
Like wind thou point'st him to the dreadful goalG3
And shak'st thy hour glass in his reeling eyeH3
And check'st him in mid course Thy skeleton handX
Shows to the faint of spirit the right pathI3
And he is warned and fears to step asideJ3
Thou sett'st between the ruffian and his crimeK2
Thy ghastly countenance and his slack handX
Drops the drawn knife But oh most fearfullyG3
Dost thou show forth Heaven's justice when thy shaftsQ2
Drink up the ebbing spirit then the hardK3
Of heart and violent of hand restoresQ2
The treasure to the friendless wretch he wrongedL3
Then from the writhing bosom thou dost pluckM3
The guilty secret lips for ages sealedN3
Are faithless to the dreadful trust at lengthD3
And give it up the felon's latest breathO3
Absolves the innocent man who bears his crimeK2
The slanderer horror smitten and in tearsQ2
Recalls the deadly obloquy he forgedP3
To work his brother's ruin Thou dost makeH2
Thy penitent victim utter to the airI
The dark conspiracy that strikes at lifeK
And aims to whelm the laws ere yet the hourV
Is come and the dread sign of murder givenN2
-
Thus from the first of time hast thou been foundX2
On virtue's side the wicked but for theeE
Had been too strong for the good the great of earthQ3
Had crushed the weak for ever Schooled in guileG3
For ages while each passing year had broughtR3
Its baneful lesson they had filled the worldH
With their abominations while its tribesQ2
Trodden to earth imbruted and despoiledH
Had knelt to them in worship sacrificeQ2
Had smoked on many an altar temple roofsQ2
Had echoed with the blasphemous prayer and hymnS3
But thou the great reformer of the worldH
Tak'st off the sons of violence and fraudH
In their green pupilage their lore half learnedH
Ere guilt had quite o'errun the simple heartH
God gave them at their birth and blotted outH
His image Thou dost mark them flushed with hopeT3
As on the threshold of their vast designsQ2
Doubtful and loose they stand and strik'st them downU3
-
-
-
Alas I little thought that the stern powerV
Whose fearful praise I sung would try me thusQ2
Before the strain was ended It must ceaseQ2
For he is in his grave who taught my youthV3
The art of verse and in the bud of lifeK
Offered me to the muses Oh cut offA2
Untimely when thy reason in its strengthD3
Ripened by years of toil and studious searchW
And watch of Nature's silent lessons taughtH
Thy hand to practise best the lenient artH
To which thou gavest thy laborious daysQ2
And last thy life And therefore when the earthQ3
Received thee tears were in unyielding eyesQ2
And on hard cheeks and they who deemed thy skillG3
Delayed their death hour shuddered and turned paleG3
When thou wert gone This faltering verse which thouF
Shalt not as wont o'erlook is all I haveW3
To offer at thy grave this and the hopeT3
To copy thy example and to leaveX3
A name of which the wretched shall not thinkY3
As of an enemy's whom they forgiveZ3
As all forgive the dead Rest therefore thouF
Whose early guidance trained my infant stepsQ2
Rest in the bosom of God till the brief sleepR2
Of death is over and a happier lifeK
Shall dawn to waken thine insensible dustH
-
Now thou art not and yet the men whose guiltH
Has wearied Heaven for vengeance he who bearsQ2
False witness he who takes the orphan's breadH
And robs the widow he who spreads abroadH
Polluted hands of mockery of prayerI
Are left to cumber earth Shuddering I lookA4
On what is written yet I blot not outH
The desultory numbers let them standH
The record of an idle reveryI

William Cullen Bryant



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