The Flood Of Years Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIEJKLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZA2B2HC2B2D2E2 F2G2H2KI2J2J2J2J2A2P J2K2A2L2J2OUJ2M2HN2B 2O2P2J2Q2R2S2FO2J2J2 J2J2J2FB2J2T2J2U2J2N 2FV2W2J2J2X2Y2Z2J2Y2 J2Y2J2J2J2A3B2B3Y2J2 J2J2J2J2YB2Y2K2J2Y2Y 2C3J2D3J2FY2SD2HE3J2 J2Y2Y2D2F3FY2Y2A3J2Y 2G3F3J2H3J2J2J2HY2J2 Y2I3FY2J3J2K3Y2L3Y2Y 2

A MIGHTY Hand from an exhaustless UrnA
Pours forth the never ending Flood of YearsB
Among the nations How the rushing wavesC
Bear all before them On their foremost edgeD
And there alone is Life The Present thereE
Tosses and foams and fills the air with roarF
Of mingled noises There are they who toilG
And they who strive and they who feast and theyH
Who hurry to and fro The sturdy swainI
Woodman and delver with the spade is thereE
And busy artisan beside his benchJ
And pallid student with his written rollK
A moment on the mounting billow seenL
The flood sweeps over them and they are goneM
There groups of revellers whose brows are twinedN
With roses ride the topmost swell awhileO
And as they raise their flowing cups and touchP
The clinking brim to brim are whirled beneathQ
The waves and disappear I hear the jarR
Of beaten drums and thunders that break forthS
From cannon where the advancing billow sendsT
Up to the sight long files of arm d menU
That hurry to the charge through flame and smokeV
The torrent bears them under whelmed and hidW
Slayer and slain in heaps of bloody foamX
Down go the steed and rider the plumed chiefY
Sinks with his followers the head that wearsZ
The imperial diadem goes down besideA2
The felon s with cropped ear and branded cheekB2
A funeral train the torrent sweeps awayH
Bearers and bier and mourners By the bedC2
Of one who dies men gather sorrowingB2
And women weep aloud the flood rolls onD2
The wail is stifled and the sobbing groupE2
Borne under Hark to that shrill sudden shoutF2
The cry of an applauding multitudeG2
Swayed by some loud voiced orator who wieldsH2
The living mass as if he were its soulK
The waters choke the shout and all is stillI2
Lo next a kneeling crowd and one who spreadsJ2
The hands in prayer the engulfing wave o ertakesJ2
And swallows them and him A sculptor wieldsJ2
The chisel and the stricken marble growsJ2
To beauty at his easel eager eyedA2
A painter stands and sunshine at his touchP
Gathers upon his canvas and life glowsJ2
A poet as he paces to and froK2
Murmurs his sounding lines A while they rideA2
The advancing billow till its tossing crestL2
Strikes them and flings them under while their tasksJ2
Are yet unfinished See a mother smileO
On her young babe that smiles to her againU
The torrent wrests it from her arms she shrieksJ2
And weeps and midst her tears is carried downM2
A beam like that of moonlight turns the sprayH
To glistening pearls two lovers hand in handN2
Rise on the billowy swell and fondly lookB2
Into each other s eyes The rushing floodO2
Flings them apart the youth goes down the maidP2
With hands outstretched in vain and streaming eyesJ2
Waits for the next high wave to follow himQ2
An aged man succeeds his bending formR2
Sinks slowly Mingling with the sullen streamS2
Gleam the white locks and then are seen no moreF
Lo wider grows the stream a sea like floodO2
Saps earth s walled cities massive palacesJ2
Crumble before it fortresses and towersJ2
Dissolve in the swift waters populous realmsJ2
Swept by the torrent see their ancient tribesJ2
Engulfed and lost their very languagesJ2
Stifled and never to be uttered moreF
I pause and turn my eyes and looking backB2
Where that tumultuous flood has been I seeJ2
The silent ocean of the Past a wasteT2
Of waters weltering over graves its shoresJ2
Strewn with the wreck of fleets where mast and hullU2
Drop away piecemeal battlemented wallsJ2
Frown idly green with moss and temples standN2
Unroofed forsaken by the worshipperF
There lie memorial stones whence time has gnawedV2
The graven legends thrones of kings o er turnedW2
The broken altars of forgotten godsJ2
Foundations of old cities and long streetsJ2
Where never fall of human foot is heardX2
On all the desolate pavement I beholdY2
Dim glimmerings of lost jewels far withinZ2
The sleeping waters diamond sardonyxJ2
Ruby and topaz pearl and chrysoliteY2
Once glittering at the banquet on fair browsJ2
That long ago were dust and all aroundY2
Strewn on the surface of that silent seaJ2
Are withering bridal wreaths and glossy locksJ2
Shorn from dear brows by loving hands and scrollsJ2
O erwritten haply with fond words of loveA3
And vows of friendship and fair pages flungB2
Fresh from the printer s engine There they lieB3
A moment and then sink away from sightY2
I look and the quick tears are in my eyesJ2
For I behold in every one of theseJ2
A blighted hope a separate historyJ2
Of human sorrows telling of dear tiesJ2
Suddenly broken dreams of happinessJ2
Dissolved in air and happy days too briefY
That sorrowfully ended and I thinkB2
How painfully must the poor heart have beatY2
In bosoms without number as the blowK2
Was struck that slew their hope and broke their peaceJ2
Sadly I turn and look before where yetY2
The Flood must pass and I behold a mistY2
Where swarm dissolving forms the brood of HopeC3
Divinely fair that rest on banks of flowersJ2
Or wander among rainbows fading soonD3
And reappearing haply giving placeJ2
To forms of grisly aspect such as FearF
Shapes from the idle air where serpents liftY2
The head to strike and skeletons stretch forthS
The bony arm in menace Further onD2
A belt of darkness seems to bar the wayH
Long low and distant where the Life to comeE3
Touches the Life that is The Flood of YearsJ2
Rolls toward it near and nearer It must passJ2
That dismal barrier What is there beyondY2
Hear what the wise and good have said BeyondY2
That belt of darkness still the Years roll onD2
More gently but with not less mighty sweepF3
They gather up again and softly bearF
All the sweet lives that late were over whelmedY2
And lost to sight all that in them was goodY2
Noble and truly great and worthy of loveA3
The lives of infants and ingenuous youthsJ2
Sages and saintly women who have madeY2
Their households happy all are raised and borneG3
By that great current in its onward sweepF3
Wandering and rippling with caressing wavesJ2
Around green islands with the breathH3
Of flowers that never wither So they passJ2
From stage to stage along the shining courseJ2
Of that bright river broadening like a seaJ2
As its smooth eddies curl along their wayH
They bring old friends together hands are claspedY2
In joy unspeakable the mother s armsJ2
Again are folded round the child she lovedY2
And lost Old sorrows are forgotten nowI3
Or but remembered to make sweet the hourF
That overpays them wounded hearts that bledY2
Or broke are healed forever In the roomJ3
Of this grief shadowed present there shall beJ2
A Present in whose reign no grief shall gnawK3
The heart and never shall a tender tieY2
Be broken in whose reign the eternal ChangeL3
That waits on growth and action shall proceedY2
With everlasting Concord hand in handY2

William Cullen Bryant



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