The Fountain Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFDGHI JKLMNDEOPQ RSTUVEWXY ZA2B2C2D2E2F2DG2H2 I2BKF2KJ2F2YK2L2F2M2 N2BF2O2P2J2Q2R2PBF2B S2 F2T2F2BBPU2V2W2X2F2Y 2 J2BZ2RA3B3F2F2Y2KC3F 2O2KD3E3F3G3H3I3J3F2 K3 BL3M3N2M3BN3F2O3P3F2 T2BQ3YF2BR3S3T3A3F2U 3 V3W3X3KN2BY3P2Z3A4F2 B4C4BD4Fountain that springest on this grassy slope | A |
Thy quick cool murmur mingles pleasantly | B |
With the cool sound of breezes in the beach | C |
Above me in the noontide Thou dost wear | D |
No stain of thy dark birthplace gushing up | E |
From the red mould and slimy roots of earth | F |
Thou flashest in the sun The mountain air | D |
In winter is not clearer nor the dew | G |
That shines on mountain blossom Thus doth God | H |
Bring from the dark and foul the pure and bright | I |
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This tangled thicket on the bank above | J |
Thy basin how thy waters keep it green | K |
For thou dost feed the roots of the wild vine | L |
That trails all over it and to the twigs | M |
Ties fast her clusters There the spice bush lifts | N |
Her leafy lances the viburnum there | D |
Paler of foliage to the sun holds up | E |
Her circlet of green berries In and out | O |
The chipping sparrow in her coat of brown | P |
Steals silently lest I should mark her nest | Q |
- | |
Not such thou wert of yore ere yet the axe | R |
Had smitten the old woods Then hoary trunks | S |
Of oak and plane and hickory o'er thee held | T |
A mighty canopy When April winds | U |
Grew soft the maple burst into a flush | V |
Of scarlet flowers The tulip tree high up | E |
Opened in airs of June her multitude | W |
Of golden chalices to humming birds | X |
And silken winged insects of the sky | Y |
- | |
Frail wood plants clustered round thy edge in Spring | Z |
The liverleaf put forth her sister blooms | A2 |
Of faintest blue Here the quick footed wolf | B2 |
Passing to lap thy waters crushed the flower | C2 |
Of sanguinaria from whose brittle stem | D2 |
The red drops fell like blood The deer too left | E2 |
Her delicate foot print in the soft moist mould | F2 |
And on the fallen leaves The slow paced bear | D |
In such a sultry summer noon as this | G2 |
Stopped at thy stream and drank and leaped across | H2 |
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But thou hast histories that stir the heart | I2 |
With deeper feeling while I look on thee | B |
They rise before me I behold the scene | K |
Hoary again with forests I behold | F2 |
The Indian warrior whom a hand unseen | K |
Has smitten with his death wound in the woods | J2 |
Creep slowly to thy well known rivulet | F2 |
And slake his death thirst Hark that quick fierce cry | Y |
That rends the utter silence 'tis the whoop | K2 |
Of battle and a throng of savage men | L2 |
With naked arms and faces stained like blood | F2 |
Fill the green wilderness the long bare arms | M2 |
Are heaved aloft bows twang and arrows stream | N2 |
Each makes a tree his shield and every tree | B |
Sends forth its arrow Fierce the fight and short | F2 |
As is the whirlwind Soon the conquerors | O2 |
And conquered vanish and the dead remain | P2 |
Mangled by tomahawks The mighty woods | J2 |
Are still again the frighted bird comes back | Q2 |
And plumes her wings but thy sweet waters run | R2 |
Crimson with blood Then as the sun goes down | P |
Amid the deepening twilight I descry | B |
Figures of men that crouch and creep unheard | F2 |
And bear away the dead The next day's shower | B |
Shall wash the tokens of the fight away | S2 |
- | |
I look again a hunter's lodge is built | F2 |
With poles and boughs beside thy crystal well | T2 |
While the meek autumn stains the woods with gold | F2 |
And sheds his golden sunshine To the door | B |
The red man slowly drags the enormous bear | B |
Slain in the chestnut thicket or flings down | P |
The deer from his strong shoulders Shaggy fells | U2 |
Of wolf and cougar hang upon the walls | V2 |
And loud the black eyed Indian maidens laugh | W2 |
That gather from the rustling heaps of leaves | X2 |
The hickory's white nuts and the dark fruit | F2 |
That falls from the gray butternut's long boughs | Y2 |
- | |
So centuries passed by and still the woods | J2 |
Blossomed in spring and reddened when the year | B |
Grew chill and glistened in the frozen rains | Z2 |
Of winter till the white man swung the axe | R |
Beside thee signal of a mighty change | A3 |
Then all around was heard the crash of trees | B3 |
Trembling awhile and rushing to the ground | F2 |
The low of ox and shouts of men who fired | F2 |
The brushwood or who tore the earth with ploughs | Y2 |
The grain sprang thick and tall and hid in green | K |
The blackened hill side ranks of spiky maize | C3 |
Rose like a host embattled the buckwheat | F2 |
Whitened broad acres sweetening with its flowers | O2 |
The August wind White cottages were seen | K |
With rose trees at the windows barns from which | D3 |
Came loud and shrill the crowing of the cock | E3 |
Pastures where rolled and neighed the lordly horse | F3 |
And white flocks browsed and bleated A rich turf | G3 |
Of grasses brought from far o'ercrept thy bank | H3 |
Spotted with the white clover Blue eyed girls | I3 |
Brought pails and dipped them in thy crystal pool | J3 |
And children ruddy cheeked and flaxen haired | F2 |
Gathered the glistening cowslip from thy edge | K3 |
- | |
Since then what steps have trod thy border Here | B |
On thy green bank the woodmann of the swamp | L3 |
Has laid his axe the reaper of the hill | M3 |
His sickle as they stooped to taste thy stream | N2 |
The sportsman tired with wandering in the still | M3 |
September noon has bathed his heated brow | B |
In thy cool current Shouting boys let loose | N3 |
For a wild holiday have quaintly shaped | F2 |
Into a cup the folded linden leaf | O3 |
And dipped thy sliding crystal From the wars | P3 |
Returning the plumed soldier by thy side | F2 |
Has sat and mused how pleasant 'twere to dwell | T2 |
In such a spot and be as free as thou | B |
And move for no man's bidding more At eve | Q3 |
When thou wert crimson with the crimson sky | Y |
Lovers have gazed upon thee and have thought | F2 |
Their mingled lives should flow as peacefully | B |
And brightly as thy waters Here the sage | R3 |
Gazing into thy self replenished depth | S3 |
Has seen eternal order circumscribe | T3 |
And bind the motions of eternal change | A3 |
And from the gushing of thy simple fount | F2 |
Has reasoned to the mighty universe | U3 |
- | |
Is there no other change for thee that lurks | V3 |
Among the future ages Will not man | W3 |
Seek out strange arts to wither and deform | X3 |
The pleasant landscape which thou makest green | K |
Or shall the veins that feed thy constant stream | N2 |
Be choked in middle earth and flow no more | B |
For ever that the water plants along | Y3 |
Thy channel perish and the bird in vain | P2 |
Alight to drink Haply shall these green hills | Z3 |
Sink with the lapse of years into the gulf | A4 |
Of ocean waters and thy source be lost | F2 |
Amidst the bitter brine Or shall they rise | B4 |
Upheaved in broken cliffs and airy peaks | C4 |
Haunts of the eagle and the snake and thou | B |
Gush midway from the bare and barren steep | D4 |
William Cullen Bryant
(1)
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