The Winds Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDDDC A EFEFGGGF A HIHIEEEI J KLKLMMML J JNJNCCCN J OPOPQQQP J RSRSBBBS J TFUFVVVF| I | A |
| - | |
| Ye winds ye unseen currents of the air | B |
| Softly ye played a few brief hours ago | C |
| Ye bore the murmuring bee ye tossed the hair | B |
| O'er maiden cheeks that took a fresher glow | C |
| Ye rolled the round white cloud through depths of blue | D |
| Ye shook from shaded flowers the lingering dew | D |
| Before you the catalpa's blossoms flew | D |
| Light blossoms dropping on the grass like snow | C |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| How are ye changed Ye take the cataract's sound | E |
| Ye take the whirlpool's fury and its might | F |
| The mountain shudders as ye sweep the ground | E |
| The valley woods lie prone beneath your flight | F |
| The clouds before you shoot like eagles past | G |
| The homes of men are rocking in your blast | G |
| Ye lift the roofs like autumn leaves and cast | G |
| Skyward the whirling fragments out of sight | F |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| The weary fowls of heaven make wing in vain | H |
| To escape your wrath ye seize and dash them dead | I |
| Against the earth ye drive the roaring rain | H |
| The harvest field becomes a river's bed | I |
| And torrents tumble from the hills around | E |
| Plains turn to lakes and villages are drowned | E |
| And wailing voices midst the tempest's sound | E |
| Rise as the rushing waters swell and spread | I |
| - | |
| IV | J |
| - | |
| Ye dart upon the deep and straight is heard | K |
| A wilder roar and men grow pale and pray | L |
| Ye fling its floods around you as a bird | K |
| Flings o'er his shivering plumes the fountain's spray | L |
| See to the breaking mast the sailor clings | M |
| Ye scoop the ocean to its briny springs | M |
| And take the mountain billow on your wings | M |
| And pile the wreck of navies round the bay | L |
| - | |
| V | J |
| - | |
| Why rage ye thus no strife for liberty | J |
| Has made you mad no tyrant strong through fear | N |
| Has chained your pinions till ye wrenched them free | J |
| And rushed into the unmeasured atmosphere | N |
| For ye were born in freedom where ye blow | C |
| Free o'er the mighty deep to come and go | C |
| Earth's solemn woods were yours her wastes of snow | C |
| Her isles where summer blossoms all the year | N |
| - | |
| VI | J |
| - | |
| O ye wild winds a mightier Power than yours | O |
| In chains upon the shore of Europe lies | P |
| The sceptred throng whose fetters he endures | O |
| Watch his mute throes with terror in their eyes | P |
| And armed warriors all around him stand | Q |
| And as he struggles tighten every band | Q |
| And lift the heavy spear with threatening hand | Q |
| To pierce the victim should he strive to rise | P |
| - | |
| VII | J |
| - | |
| Yet oh when that wronged Spirit of our race | R |
| Shall break as soon he must his long worn chains | S |
| And leap in freedom from his prison place | R |
| Lord of his ancient hills and fruitful plains | S |
| Let him not rise like these mad winds of air | B |
| To waste the loveliness that time could spare | B |
| To fill the earth with wo and blot her fair | B |
| Unconscious breast with blood from human veins | S |
| - | |
| VIII | J |
| - | |
| But may he like the spring time come abroad | T |
| Who crumbles winter's gyves with gentle might | F |
| When in the genial breeze the breath of God | U |
| Come spouting up the unsealed springs to light | F |
| Flowers start from their dark prisons at his feet | V |
| The woods long dumb awake to hymnings sweet | V |
| And morn and eve whose glimmerings almost meet | V |
| Crowd back to narrow bounds the ancient night | F |
William Cullen Bryant
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