The Past Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHIH JKJK LMLM NONO PQPR SNSN TNTN UVUV WNWN NXNB NYNY| Thou unrelenting Past | A |
| Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain | B |
| And fetters sure and fast | A |
| Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign | B |
| - | |
| Far in thy realm withdrawn | C |
| Old empires sit in sullenness and gloom | D |
| And glorious ages gone | C |
| Lie deep within the shadow of thy womb | D |
| - | |
| Childhood with all its mirth | E |
| Youth Manhood Age that draws us to the ground | F |
| And last Man's Life on earth | E |
| Glide to thy dim dominions and are bound | F |
| - | |
| Thou hast my better years | G |
| Thou hast my earlier friends the good the kind | H |
| Yielded to thee with tears | I |
| The venerable form the exalted mind | H |
| - | |
| My spirit yearns to bring | J |
| The lost ones back yearns with desire intense | K |
| And struggles hard to wring | J |
| Thy bolts apart and pluck thy captives thence | K |
| - | |
| In vain thy gates deny | L |
| All passage save to those who hence depart | M |
| Nor to the streaming eye | L |
| Thou giv'st them back nor to the broken heart | M |
| - | |
| In thy abysses hide | N |
| Beauty and excellence unknown to thee | O |
| Earth's wonder and her pride | N |
| Are gathered as the waters to the sea | O |
| - | |
| Labours of good to man | P |
| Unpublished charity unbroken faith | Q |
| Love that midst grief began | P |
| And grew with years and faltered not in death | R |
| - | |
| Full many a mighty name | S |
| Lurks in thy depths unuttered unrevered | N |
| With thee are silent fame | S |
| Forgotten arts and wisdom disappeared | N |
| - | |
| Thine for a space are they | T |
| Yet shalt thou yield thy treasures up at last | N |
| Thy gates shall yet give way | T |
| Thy bolts shall fall inexorable Past | N |
| - | |
| All that of good and fair | U |
| Has gone into thy womb from earliest time | V |
| Shall then come forth to wear | U |
| The glory and the beauty of its prime | V |
| - | |
| They have not perished no | W |
| Kind words remembered voices once so sweet | N |
| Smiles radiant long ago | W |
| And features the great soul's apparent seat | N |
| - | |
| All shall come back each tie | N |
| Of pure affection shall be knit again | X |
| Alone shall Evil die | N |
| And Sorrow dwell a prisoner in thy reign | B |
| - | |
| And then shall I behold | N |
| Him by whose kind paternal side I sprung | Y |
| And her who still and cold | N |
| Fills the next grave the beautiful and young | Y |
William Cullen Bryant
(1)
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