Thanatopsis Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQROS NTUVWXYZA2B2 C2D2E2F2G2H2I2J2K2L2 M2N2O2N2P2P2Q2R2S2F2 T2U2OPV2E2W2X2Y2Z2A3 PC2B3C3ZUD3E3F3G3H3 I3J3K3Q2IL3M3N3O3

To him who in the love of Nature holdsA
Communion with her visible forms she speaksB
A various language for his gayer hoursC
She has a voice of gladness and a smileD
And eloquence of beauty and she glidesE
Into his darker musings with a mildF
And healing sympathy that steals awayG
Their sharpness e're he is aware When thoughtsH
Of the last bitter hour come like a blightI
Over thy spirit and sad imagesJ
Of the stern agony and shroud and pallK
And breathless darkness and the narrow houseL
Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heartM
Go forth under the open sky and listN
To Nature's teachings while from all aroundO
Earth and her waters and the depths of airP
Comes a still voice Yet a few days and theeQ
The all beholding sun shall see no moreR
In all his course nor yet in the cold groundO
Where thy pale form was laid with many tearsS
Nor in the embrace of ocean shall existN
Thy image Earth that nourished thee shall claimT
Thy growth to be resolved to earth againU
And lost each human trace surrendering upV
Thine individual being shalt thou goW
To mix for ever with the elementsX
To be a brother to the insensible rockY
And to the sluggish clod which the rude swainZ
Turns with his share and treads upon The oakA2
Shall send his roots abroad and pierce thy mouldB2
-
Yet not to thine eternal resting placeC2
Shalt thou retire alone nor couldst thou wishD2
Couch more magnificent Thou shalt lie downE2
With patriarchs of the infant world with kingsF2
The powerful of the earth the wise the goodG2
Fair forms and hoary seers of ages pastH2
All in one mighty sepulchre The hillsI2
Rock ribbed and ancient as the sun the valesJ2
Stretching in pensive quietness betweenK2
The venerable woods rivers that moveL2
In majesty and the complaining brooksM2
That make the meadows green and poured round allN2
Old ocean's gray and melancholy wasteO2
Are but the solemn decorations allN2
Of the great tomb of man The golden sunP2
The planets all the infinite host of heavenP2
Are shining on the sad abodes of deathQ2
Through the still lapse of ages All that treadR2
The globe are but a handful to the tribesS2
That slumber in its bosom Take the wingsF2
Of morning and the Barcan desert pierceT2
Or lose thyself in the continuous woodsU2
Where rolls the Oregon and hears no soundO
Save his own dashings yet the dead are thereP
And millions in those solitudes since firstV2
The flight of years began have laid them downE2
In their last sleep the dead reign there aloneW2
So shalt thou rest and what if thou withdrawX2
Unheeded by the living and no friendY2
Take note of thy departure All that breatheZ2
Will share thy destiny The gay will laughA3
When thou art gone the solemn brood of careP
Plod on and each one as before will chaseC2
His favourite phantom yet all these shall leaveB3
Their mirth and their employments and shall comeC3
And make their bed with thee As the long trainZ
Of ages glide away the sons of menU
The youth in life's green spring and he who goesD3
In the full strength of years matron and maidE3
And the sweet babe and the gray headed manF3
Shall one by one be gathered to thy sideG3
By those who in their turn shall follow themH3
-
So live that when thy summons comes to joinI3
The innumerable caravan that movesJ3
To that mysterious realm where each shall takeK3
His chamber in the silent halls of deathQ2
Thou go not like the quarry slave at nightI
Scourged to his dungeon but sustained and soothedL3
By an unfaltering trust approach thy graveM3
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couchN3
About him and lies down to pleasant dreamsO3

William Cullen Bryant



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