Thanatopsis Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQROS NTUVWXYZA2B2 C2D2E2F2G2H2I2J2K2L2 M2N2O2N2P2P2Q2R2S2F2 T2U2OPV2E2W2X2Y2Z2A3 PC2B3C3ZUD3E3F3G3H3 I3J3K3Q2IL3M3N3O3To him who in the love of Nature holds | A |
Communion with her visible forms she speaks | B |
A various language for his gayer hours | C |
She has a voice of gladness and a smile | D |
And eloquence of beauty and she glides | E |
Into his darker musings with a mild | F |
And healing sympathy that steals away | G |
Their sharpness e're he is aware When thoughts | H |
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight | I |
Over thy spirit and sad images | J |
Of the stern agony and shroud and pall | K |
And breathless darkness and the narrow house | L |
Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart | M |
Go forth under the open sky and list | N |
To Nature's teachings while from all around | O |
Earth and her waters and the depths of air | P |
Comes a still voice Yet a few days and thee | Q |
The all beholding sun shall see no more | R |
In all his course nor yet in the cold ground | O |
Where thy pale form was laid with many tears | S |
Nor in the embrace of ocean shall exist | N |
Thy image Earth that nourished thee shall claim | T |
Thy growth to be resolved to earth again | U |
And lost each human trace surrendering up | V |
Thine individual being shalt thou go | W |
To mix for ever with the elements | X |
To be a brother to the insensible rock | Y |
And to the sluggish clod which the rude swain | Z |
Turns with his share and treads upon The oak | A2 |
Shall send his roots abroad and pierce thy mould | B2 |
- | |
Yet not to thine eternal resting place | C2 |
Shalt thou retire alone nor couldst thou wish | D2 |
Couch more magnificent Thou shalt lie down | E2 |
With patriarchs of the infant world with kings | F2 |
The powerful of the earth the wise the good | G2 |
Fair forms and hoary seers of ages past | H2 |
All in one mighty sepulchre The hills | I2 |
Rock ribbed and ancient as the sun the vales | J2 |
Stretching in pensive quietness between | K2 |
The venerable woods rivers that move | L2 |
In majesty and the complaining brooks | M2 |
That make the meadows green and poured round all | N2 |
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste | O2 |
Are but the solemn decorations all | N2 |
Of the great tomb of man The golden sun | P2 |
The planets all the infinite host of heaven | P2 |
Are shining on the sad abodes of death | Q2 |
Through the still lapse of ages All that tread | R2 |
The globe are but a handful to the tribes | S2 |
That slumber in its bosom Take the wings | F2 |
Of morning and the Barcan desert pierce | T2 |
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods | U2 |
Where rolls the Oregon and hears no sound | O |
Save his own dashings yet the dead are there | P |
And millions in those solitudes since first | V2 |
The flight of years began have laid them down | E2 |
In their last sleep the dead reign there alone | W2 |
So shalt thou rest and what if thou withdraw | X2 |
Unheeded by the living and no friend | Y2 |
Take note of thy departure All that breathe | Z2 |
Will share thy destiny The gay will laugh | A3 |
When thou art gone the solemn brood of care | P |
Plod on and each one as before will chase | C2 |
His favourite phantom yet all these shall leave | B3 |
Their mirth and their employments and shall come | C3 |
And make their bed with thee As the long train | Z |
Of ages glide away the sons of men | U |
The youth in life's green spring and he who goes | D3 |
In the full strength of years matron and maid | E3 |
And the sweet babe and the gray headed man | F3 |
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side | G3 |
By those who in their turn shall follow them | H3 |
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So live that when thy summons comes to join | I3 |
The innumerable caravan that moves | J3 |
To that mysterious realm where each shall take | K3 |
His chamber in the silent halls of death | Q2 |
Thou go not like the quarry slave at night | I |
Scourged to his dungeon but sustained and soothed | L3 |
By an unfaltering trust approach thy grave | M3 |
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch | N3 |
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams | O3 |
William Cullen Bryant
(1)
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