The Prairies Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPMQRS TUVWXYZA2MB2C2D2E2F2 G2H2I2J2K2L2M2N2O2P2 GNQ2R2S2T2U2U2V2W2U2 X2Y2CZ2A3U2B3C3U2D3E 3F3G3H3I3U2U2H3U2J3H 3CU2H3H3H3K3M2H3H3 H3K3U2U2L3U2H3GM3H3I 3H3H3N3O3U2P3 M2H3H3Q3U2R3S3Q3T3H3 U3L3K2U2U2H3V3H3W3H3 X3Y3

These are the gardens of the Desert theseA
The unshorn fields boundless and beautifulB
For which the speech of England has no nameC
The Prairies I behold them for the firstD
And my heart swells while the dilated sightE
Takes in the encircling vastness Lo they stretchF
In airy undulations far awayG
As if the ocean in his gentlest swellH
Stood still with all his rounded billows fixedI
And motionless for ever MotionlessJ
No they are all unchained again The cloudsK
Sweep over with their shadows and beneathL
The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eyeM
Dark hollows seem to glide along and chaseN
The sunny ridges Breezes of the SouthO
Who toss the golden and the flame like flowersP
And pass the prairie hawk that poised on highM
Flaps his broad wings yet moves not ye have playedQ
Among the palms of Mexico and vinesR
Of Texas and have crisped the limpid brooksS
That from the fountains of Sonora glideT
Into the calm Pacific have ye fannedU
A nobler or a lovelier scene than thisV
Man hath no part in all this glorious workW
The hand that built the firmament hath heavedX
And smoothed these verdant swells and sown their slopesY
With herbage planted them with island grovesZ
And hedged them round with forests Fitting floorA2
For this magnificent temple of the skyM
With flowers whose glory and whose multitudeB2
Rival the constellations The great heavensC2
Seem to stoop down upon the scene in loveD2
A nearer vault and of a tenderer blueE2
Than that which bends above the eastern hillsF2
-
As o'er the verdant waste I guide my steedG2
Among the high rank grass that sweeps his sidesH2
The hollow beating of his footstep seemsI2
A sacrilegious sound I think of thoseJ2
Upon whose rest he tramples Are they hereK2
The dead of other days and did the dustL2
Of these fair solitudes once stir with lifeM2
And burn with passion Let the mighty moundsN2
That overlook the rivers or that riseO2
In the dim forest crowded with old oaksP2
Answer A race that long has passed awayG
Built them a disciplined and populous raceN
Heaped with long toil the earth while yet the GreekQ2
Was hewing the Pentelicus to formsR2
Of symmetry and rearing on its rockS2
The glittering Parthenon These ample fieldsT2
Nourished their harvests here their herds were fedU2
When haply by their stalls the bison lowedU2
And bowed his maned shoulder to the yokeV2
All day this desert murmured with their toilsW2
Till twilight blushed and lovers walked and wooedU2
In a forgotten language and old tunesX2
From instruments of unremembered formY2
Gave the soft winds a voice The red man cameC
The roaming hunter tribes warlike and fierceZ2
And the mound builders vanished from the earthA3
The solitude of centuries untoldU2
Has settled where they dwelt The prairie wolfB3
Hunts in their meadows and his fresh dug denC3
Yawns by my path The gopher mines the groundU2
Where stood their swarming cities All is goneD3
All save the piles of earth that hold their bonesE3
The platforms where they worshipped unknown godsF3
The barriers which they builded from the soilG3
To keep the foe at bay till o'er the wallsH3
The wild beleaguerers broke and one by oneI3
The strongholds of the plain were forced and heapedU2
With corpses The brown vultures of the woodU2
Flocked to those vast uncovered sepulchresH3
And sat unscared and silent at their feastU2
Haply some solitary fugitiveJ3
Lurking in marsh and forest till the senseH3
Of desolation and of fear becameC
Bitterer than death yielded himself to dieU2
Man's better nature triumphed then Kind wordsH3
Welcomed and soothed him the rude conquerorsH3
Seated the captive with their chiefs he choseH3
A bride among their maidens and at lengthK3
Seemed to forget yet ne'er forgot the wifeM2
Of his first love and her sweet little onesH3
Butchered amid their shrieks with all his raceH3
-
Thus change the forms of being Thus ariseH3
Races of living things glorious in strengthK3
And perish as the quickening breath of GodU2
Fills them or is withdrawn The red man tooU2
Has left the blooming wilds he ranged so longL3
And nearer to the Rocky Mountains soughtU2
A wilder hunting ground The beaver buildsH3
No longer by these streams but far awayG
On waters whose blue surface ne'er gave backM3
The white man's face among Missouri's springsH3
And pools whose issues swell the OreganI3
He rears his little Venice In these plainsH3
The bison feeds no more Twice twenty leaguesH3
Beyond remotest smoke of hunter's campN3
Roams the majestic brute in herds that shakeO3
The earth with thundering steps yet here I meetU2
His ancient footprints stamped beside the poolP3
-
Still this great solitude is quick with lifeM2
Myriads of insects gaudy as the flowersH3
They flutter over gentle quadrupedsH3
And birds that scarce have learned the fear of manQ3
Are here and sliding reptiles of the groundU2
Startlingly beautiful The graceful deerR3
Bounds to the wood at my approach The beeS3
A more adventurous colonist than manQ3
With whom he came across the eastern deepT3
Fills the savannas with his murmuringsH3
And hides his sweets as in the golden ageU3
Within the hollow oak I listen longL3
To his domestic hum and think I hearK2
The sound of that advancing multitudeU2
Which soon shall fill these deserts From the groundU2
Comes up the laugh of children the soft voiceH3
Of maidens and the sweet and solemn hymnV3
Of Sabbath worshippers The low of herdsH3
Blends with the rustling of the heavy grainW3
Over the dark brown furrows All at onceH3
A fresher wind sweeps by and breaks my dreamX3
And I am in the wilderness aloneY3

William Cullen Bryant



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