St Michael's Mount - Inscribed To The Right Honourable Lord Somers. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGAAHHII JJKKLMNNOOPPQQRRSSKK TTUUFFVVWWXXYYZZA2A2 B2B2SSVVIIDDC2C2TTII D2D2RRE2E2HHF2F2G2G2 ZZJJEEH2H2III2I2AAJ2 J2DDK2K2HHIIJJL2L2M2 N2O2O2XXAAAP2P2E2E2Q 2Q2R2R2M2N2S2S2T2T2U 2O2AAH2H2JJV2V2AAIIN 2M2W2W2M2N2JJIIX2X2Y 2Z2O2O2EEA3A3KKS2S2O 2O2DDI2I2A2A2B3B3C3D 3BE3F3F3G3H3SSO2O2D3 D3D3D3F3F3ERIIF3F3I3 I3EED3D3F3F3EEF3F3SS D3D3F3F3F3F3F3J3J3K3 K3D3D3F3F3K2K2I2I2X2 X2QQJ3J3H2H2L3L3O2O2 SSD3D3F3F3U2O2KKH2H2 O2O2RRF3F3D3D3H2H2D3 D3BBIIOOEED3D3F3F3M3 M3D3D3SSN3N3F3F3F3F3 D3D3EED3D3D3D3F3F3D3 D3O2O2F3F3F3F3H2H2RR O3I2F3F3F3F3F3F3F3F3 F3

While summer airs scarce breathe along the tide	A
Oft pausing up the mountain's craggy side	A
We climb how beautiful how still how clear	B
The scenes that stretch around The rocks that rear	B
Their shapes in rich fantastic colours dressed	C
The hill tops where the softest shadows rest	C
The long retiring bay the level sand	D
The fading sea line and the furthest land	D
That seems as low it lessens from the eye	E
To steal away beneath the cloudless sky	E
But yesterday the misty morn was spread	F
In dreariness on the bleak mountain's head	F
No glittering prospect from the upland smiled	G
The driving squall came dark the sea heaved wild	G
And lost and lonely the wayfarer sighed	A
Wet with the hoar spray of the flashing tide	A
How changed is now the circling scene The deep	H
Stirs not the glancing roofs and white towers peep	H
Along the margin of the lucid bay	I
The sails descried far in the offing gray	I
Hang motionless and the pale headland's height	J
Is touched as with sweet gleams of fairy light	J
Oh lives there on earth's busy stirring scene	K
Whom Nature's tranquil charms her airs serene	K
Her seas her skies her sunbeams fail to move	L
With stealing tenderness and grateful love	M
Go thankless man to Misery's cave behold	N
Captivity stretched in her dungeon cold	N
Or think on those who in yon dreary mine	O
Sunk fathoms deep beneath the rolling brine	O
From year to year amid the lurid shade	P
O'er wearied ply their melancholy trade	P
That thou may'st bless the glorious sun and hail	Q
Him who with beauty clothed the hill and vale	Q
Who bent the arch of the high heavens for thee	R
And stretched in amplitude the broad blue sea	R
Now sunk are all its murmurs and the air	S
But moves by fits the bents that here and there	S
Upshoot in casual spots of faded green	K
Here straggling sheep the scanty pasture glean	K
Or on the jutting fragments that impend	T
Stray fearlessly and gaze as we ascend	T
Mountain no pomp of waving woods hast thou	U
That deck with varied shade thy hoary brow	U
No sunny meadows at thy feet are spread	F
No streamlets sparkle o'er their pebbly bed	F
But thou canst boast thy beauties ample views	V
That catch the rapt eye of the pausing Muse	V
Headlands around new lighted sails and seas	W
Now glassy smooth now wrinkling to the breeze	W
And when the drisly Winter wrapped in sleet	X
Goes by and winds and rain thy ramparts beat	X
Fancy can see thee standing thus aloof	Y
And frowning bleak and bare and tempest proof	Y
Look as with awful confidence and brave	Z
The howling hurricane the dashing wave	Z
More graceful when the storm's dark vapours frown	A2
Than when the summer suns in pomp go down	A2
And such is he who clad in watchet weeds	B2
And boasting little more than nature needs	B2
Can wrap him in contentedness and wear	S
A port unchanged in seasons rude or fair	S
His may be Fancy's sunshine and the Muse	V
May deck his visions with her fairest hues	V
And he may lift his honest front and say	I
To the hard storm that rends his locks of gray	I
I heed thee not he unappalled may stand	D
Beneath the cloud that shades a sinking land	D
While heedless of the storm that onward sweeps	C2
Mad impious Riot his loud wassail keeps	C2
Pre eminent in native worth nor bend	T
Though gathering ills on his bare head descend	T
And when the wasteful storm sweeps o'er its prey	I
And rends the kingdoms of the world away	I
He firm as stands the rock's unshaken base	D2
Yet panting for a surer resting place	D2
The human hurricane unmoved can see	R
And say O GOD my refuge is in Thee	R
States anchored deep that far their shadow cast	E2
Rock and are scattered by the ALMIGHTY'S blast	E2
As when awakened from his horrid sleep	H
In fiery caves a thousand fathoms deep	H
The Earthquake's Demon hies aloft he waits	F2
Nigh some high turreted proud city's gates	F2
As listening to the mingled shouts and din	G2
Of the mad crowd that feast or dance within	G2
Mean time sad Nature feels his sway the wave	Z
Heaves and low sounds moan through the mountain cave	Z
Then all at once is still still as midnight	J
When not the lime leaf moves Oh piteous sight	J
For now the glittering domes crash from on high	E
And hark a strange and lamentable cry	E
It ceases and the tide's departing roar	H2
Alone is heard upon the desert shore	H2
That as it sweeps with slow huge swell away	I
Remorseless mutters o'er its buried prey	I
So Ruin hurrieth o'er this shaken ball	I2
He bids his blast go forth and lo doth fall	I2
A Carthage or a Rome Then rolls the tide	A
Of deep Forgetfulness whelming the pride	A
Of man his shattered and forsaken bowers	J2
His noiseless cities and his prostrate towers	J2
Some columns eminent and awful stand	D
Like Egypt's pillars on the lonely sand	D
We read upon their base inscribed by Fame	K2
A HOMER'S here or here a SHAKESPEARE'S name	K2
Yet think not of the surge that soon may sweep	H
Ourselves unnumbered to the oblivious deep	H
Yet time has been as mouldering legends say	I
When all yon western tract and this bright bay	I
Where now the sunshine sleeps and wheeling white	J
The sea mew circles in fantastic flight	J
Was peopled wide but the loud storm hath raved	L2
Where its green top the high wood whispering waved	L2
And many a year the slowly rising flood	M2
Raked where the Druids' uncooth altar stood	N2
Thou only aged mountain dost remain	O2
Stern monument amidst the deluged plain	O2
And fruitless the big waves thy bulwarks beat	X
The big waves slow retire and murmur at thy feet	X
Thou half encircled by the refluent tide	A
As if thy state its utmost rage defied	A
Dost tower above the scene as in thine ancient pride	A
Mountain the curious Muse might love to gaze	P2
On the dim record of thy early days	P2
Oft fancying that she heard like the low blast	E2
The sounds of mighty generations past	E2
Thee the Phoenician as remote he sailed	Q2
Along the unknown coast exulting hailed	Q2
And when he saw thy rocky point aspire	R2
Thought on his native shores of Aradus or Tyre	R2
Distained with many a ghastly giant's blood	M2
Upon thy height huge Corineus stood	N2
And clashed his shield whilst hid in caves profound	S2
His monstrous foe cowered at the fearful sound	S2
Hark to the brazen clarion's pealing swell	T2
The shout at intervals the deepening yell	T2
Long ages speed away yet now again	U2
The noise of battle hurtles on the plain	O2
Behold the dark haired warriors down thy side	A
O mountain sternly terrible they stride	A
Ev'n now impatient for the promised war	H2
They rear their axes huge and shouting cry to Thor	H2
The sounds of conflict cease at dead of night	J
A voice is heard Prepare the Druid rite	J
And hark the bard upon thy summit rings	V2
The deep chords of his thrilling harp and sings	V2
To Night's pale Queen that through the heavens wide	A
Amidst her still host list'ning seems to ride	A
Slow sinks the cadence of the solemn lay	I
And all the sombrous scenery steals away	I
The shadowy Druid throng the darksome wood	N2
And the hoar altar wet with human blood	M2
Marked ye the Angel spectre that appeared	W2
By other hands the holy fane is reared	W2
High on the point where gazing o'er the flood	M2
Confessed the glittering apparition stood	N2
And now the sailor on his watch of night	J
Sees like a glimmering star the far off light	J
Or homeward bound hears on the twilight bay	I
The slowly chanted vespers die away	I
These scenes are fled and passed yet still sublime	X2
And wearing graceful the gray tints of Time	X2
Upon the steep rock's craggy eminence	Y2
The embattled castle sits surveying thence	Z2
The villages that strew the subject plain	O2
And the long winding of the lucid main	O2
Meantime the stranger marks its turrets high	E
And muses on the tale of changeful years gone by	E
Of this no more lo here our journey ends	A3
Wide and more wide the arch of heaven extends	A3
And on this topmost fragment as we lean	K
We feel removed from dim earth's distant scene	K
Lift up the hollow trump that on the ground	S2
Is cast and let it rolling its long sound	S2
Speak to the surge below that we may gain	O2
Tidings from those who traverse the wide main	O2
Or tread we now some spot of wizard land	D
And mark the sable trump that may command	D
The brazen doors to fly and with loud call	I2
Scare the grim giant in his murky hall	I2
Hail solitary castle that dost crown	A2
This desert summit and supreme look down	A2
On the long lessening landscape stretched below	B3
Fearless to trace thy inmost haunts we go	B3
We climb the steps No warning signs are sent	C3
No fiery shapes flash on the battlement	D3
We enter the long chambers without fear	B
We traverse no strange echoes meet the ear	E3
No time worn tapestry spontaneous shakes	F3
No spell bound maiden from her trance awakes	F3
But Taste's fair hand arrays the peaceful dome	G3
And hither the domestic virtues come	H3
Pleased while to this secluded scene they bear	S
Sweets that oft wither in a world of care	S
Castle no more thou frownest on the main	O2
In the dark terror of thy ancient reign	O2
No more thy long and dreary halls affright	D3
Swept by the stoled spirits of the night	D3
But calm and heedless of the storms that beat	D3
Here Elegance and Peace assume their seat	D3
And when the night descends and Ocean roars	F3
Rocking without upon his darkened shores	F3
These vaulted roofs to gentle sounds reply	E
The voice of social cheer or song of harmony	R
So fade the modes of life with slow decay	I
And various ages various hues display	I
Fled are the grimly shadows of Romance	F3
And pleased we see in beauteous troop advance	F3
New arts new manners from the Gothic gloom	I3
Escaped and scattering flowers that sweetlier bloom	I3
Refinement wakes before her beaming eye	E
Dispersed the fumes of feudal darkness fly	E
Like orient Morning on the mountain's head	D3
A softer light on life's wide scene is shed	D3
Lapping in bliss the sense of human cares	F3
Hark Melody pours forth her sweetest airs	F3
And like the shades that on the still lake lie	E
Of rocks or fringing woods or tinted sky	E
Painting her hues on the clear tablet lays	F3
And her own beauteous world with tender touch displays	F3
Then Science lifts her form august and fair	S
And shakes the night dews from her glittering hair	S
Meantime rich Culture clothes the living waste	D3
And purer patterns of Athenian Taste	D3
Invite the eye and wake the kindling sense	F3
And milder Manners as they play dispense	F3
Like tepid airs of Spring their genial influence	F3
Such is thy boast Refinement But deep dyes	F3
Oft mar the splendour of thy noontide skies	F3
Then Fancy sick of follies that deform	J3
The face of day and in the sunshine swarm	J3
Sick of the fluttering fopperies that engage	K3
The vain pursuits of a degenerate age	K3
Sick of smooth Sophistry's insidious cant	D3
Or cold Impiety's defying rant	D3
Sick of the muling sentiment that sighs	F3
O'er its dead bird while Want unpitied cries	F3
Sick of the pictures that pale Lust inflame	K2
And flush the cheek of Love with deep deep shame	K2
Would fain the shade of elder days recall	I2
The Gothic battlements the bannered hall	I2
Or list of elfin harps the fabling rhyme	X2
Or wrapped in melancholy trance sublime	X2
Pause o'er the working of some wond'rous tale	Q
Or bid the spectres of the castle hail	Q
Oh might I now amid the frowning storm	J3
Behold great Vision of the Mount thy form	J3
Such and so vast as thou wert seen of yore	H2
When looking steadfast to Bayonna's shore	H2
Thou sattest awful on the topmost stone	L3
Making the rock thy solitary throne	L3
For up the narrow steps winding with pain	O2
The watch tower's loftiest platform now we gain	O2
Departed spirit fruitless is the prayer	S
We see alone thy long deserted chair	S
And never more or in the storm of night	D3
Or by the glimmering moon's illusive light	D3
Or when the flash with red and hasty glance	F3
Sudden illumes the sea's remote expanse	F3
The shores the cliffs the mountain till again	U2
Deep darkness closes on the roaring main	O2
Shalt thou dread Angel with unaltered mien	K
Sublime upon thy cloudy seat be seen	K
Yet musing much on wild tradition's lore	H2
And many a phantom tale believed of yore	H2
Chiefly remembering the sweet song whose strain	O2
Shall never die of him who wept in vain	O2
For his loved Lycidas in the wide sea	R
Whelmed when he cried great Angel unto thee	R
The fabled scene of thy renown we trace	F3
And hail with thronging thoughts thy hallowed resting place	F3
The stealing Morn goes out here let us end	D3
Fitliest our song and to the shore descend	D3
Yet once more azure ocean and once more	H2
Ye lighted headlands and thou stretching shore	H2
Down on the beauties of your scenes we cast	D3
A tender look the longest and the last	D3
Amid the arch of heaven extended clear	B
Scarce the thin flecks of feathery clouds appear	B
Beyond the long curve of the lessening bay	I
The still Atlantic stretches its bright way	I
The tall ship moves not on the tranquil brine	O
Around the solemn promontories shine	O
No sounds approach us save at times the cry	E
Of the gray gull that scarce is heard so high	E
The billows make no noise and on the breast	D3
Of charmed Ocean Silence sinks to rest	D3
Oh might we thus from heaven's bright battlements	F3
Behold the scene Humanity presents	F3
And see like this all harmonised and still	M3
And hear no far off sounds of earthly ill	M3
Wide landscape of the world in purest light	D3
Arrayed how fair how cheering were the sight	D3
Alas we think upon this seat of care	S
And ask if peace if harmony be there	S
We hear the clangours and the cries that shake	N3
The mad world and their dismal music make	N3
We see gaunt Vice of dread enormous size	F3
That fearless in the broad day sweltering lies	F3
And scorns the feeble arrow that assails	F3
His Heaven defying crest and iron scales	F3
His brows with wan and withered roses crowned	D3
And reeling to the pipe's lascivious sound	D3
We see Intemperance his goblet quaff	E
And mocking Blasphemy with mad loud laugh	E
Acting before high Heaven a direr part	D3
Sport with the weapons that shall pierce his heart	D3
If o'er the southern wave we turn our sight	D3
More dismal shapes of hideous woe affright	D3
Grim visaged War that ruthless as he hies	F3
Drowns with his trumpet's blast a brother's cries	F3
And Massacre by yelling furies led	D3
With ghastly grin and eye balls rolling red	D3
O'er a vast field wide heaped with festering slain	O2
Hark how the Demon Passions shout amain	O2
And cry exulting while the death storm lowers	F3
Hurrah the kingdoms of the world are ours	F3
O GOD who madest man I see these things	F3
And wearied wish for a fleet angel's wings	F3
That I might fly away and hear no more	H2
The surge that moans along this mortal shore	H2
But Joy's unclouded sunshine may not be	R
Till Father of all worlds we rest with Thee	R
Then Truth uplifting from thy works the pall	O3
Shall speak In wisdom hast Thou made them all	I2
Then angels and archangels as they gaze	F3
And all the acclaiming host of heaven shall raise	F3
The loud hosannah of eternal praise	F3
Here all is mixed with sorrow and the clouds	F3
Hang awfully whose shade the dim earth shrouds	F3
Therefore I mourn for man and sighing say	F3
As down the steep I wind my homeward way	F3
Oh when will Earth's long muttering tempests cease	F3
And all be sunshine like this scene and peace	F3

William Lisle Bowles

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