The Battle Of The Nile Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCADDEEFFGG FFHHIJIJKKLLMIMINNOO PFQQCA RSFRTUTVHHWXXYYWWWZZ A2A2 CB2CB2TTB2OOC2CCD2QQ TT CE2E2CF2F2G2G2H2H2I2 I2J2J2K2K2L2L2 MHMHCM2M2CFFYYB2TB2T N2N2O2O2 QTQTP2P2PFM2M2VVHHTT MM BGBBBBQ2BQ2BM2FFMMM2 M2BBTT BBBBTTMFFMF2F2TBCTM2 M2R2R2M2M2 FS2N2FCCTTR2R2M2BBM2 R2R2BBCR2Shout for the Lord hath triumphed gloriously | A |
Upon the shores of that renowned land | B |
Where erst His mighty arm and outstretched hand | B |
He lifted high | C |
And dashed in pieces dashed the enemy | A |
Upon that ancient coast | D |
Where Pharaoh's chariot and his host | D |
He cast into the deep | E |
Whilst o'er their silent pomp He bid the swoll'n sea sweep | E |
Upon that eastern shore | F |
That saw His awful arm revealed of yore | F |
Again hath He arisen and opposed | G |
His foes' defying vaunt o'er them the deep hath closed | G |
- | |
Shades of mighty chiefs of yore | F |
Who triumphed on the self same shore | F |
Ammon who first o'er ocean's empire wide | H |
Didst bid the bold bark stem the roaring tide | H |
Sesac who from the East to farthest West | I |
Didst rear thy pillars over realms subdued | J |
And thou whose bones do rest | I |
In the huge pyramid's dim solitude | J |
Beneath the uncouth stone | K |
Thy name and deeds unknown | K |
And Philip's glorious son | L |
With conquest flushed for fields and cities won | L |
And thou imperial Caesar whose sole sway | M |
The long disputed world at length confessed | I |
When on these shores thy bleeding rival lay | M |
Oh could ye starting from your long cold rest | I |
Burst Death's oblivious trance | N |
And once again with plumed pride advance | N |
How would ye own your fame surpassed | O |
And on the sand your trophies cast | O |
When the storm of conflict o'er | P |
And ceased the burning battle's roar | F |
Beneath the morning's orient light | Q |
Ye saw with sails all swelling white | Q |
Britain's proud fleet to many a joyful cry | C |
Ride o'er the rolling surge in awful sovereignty | A |
- | |
For fierce Ambition fired your mind | R |
Beside your glittering car | S |
Amid the thickest war | F |
Went Superstition sorceress blind | R |
In dimly figured robe with scowling mien | T |
Half hid in jealous hood | U |
And Tyranny beneath whose helm was seen | T |
His eye suffused with blood | V |
And giant Pride | H |
That the great sun with haughty smile defied | H |
And Avarice that grasped his guilty gold | W |
These as the sorceress her loud sistrum rung | X |
Their dismal paean sung | X |
And still far off pale Pity hung her head | Y |
Whilst o'er the dying and the dead | Y |
The victor's brazen wheels with gory axle rolled | W |
Now look on him in holy courage bold | W |
The asserter of his country's cause behold | W |
He lifts his gaze to heaven serenely brave | Z |
And whilst around war's fearful banners wave | Z |
He prays Protect us as our cause is just | A2 |
For in thy might alone Judge of the world we trust | A2 |
- | |
And they are scattered the destroyers die | C |
They that usurped the bloody victor's claim | B2 |
That spoke of freedom but behold a cry | C |
They that like a wasteful flame | B2 |
Or the huge sandy pillar that amain | T |
Whirls 'mid the silence of the desert plain | T |
Deathful in their career of terror came | B2 |
And scattered ruin as they passed | O |
So rush they like the simoom's horrid blast | O |
They sweep and all around is wilderness | C2 |
But from thy throne on high | C |
Thou God hast heard the cry | C |
Of nations in distress | D2 |
Britain goes forth beneath thy might | Q |
To quell the proud blasphemers in the fight | Q |
And Egypt far along her winding main | T |
Echoes the shout of joy and genuine Freedom's strain | T |
- | |
Now let them who thy name O GOD defy | C |
Invoke the mighty Prophet of the East | E2 |
Or deck as erst the mystic feast | E2 |
To Ashtaroth queen of the starry sky | C |
Let them in some cavern dark | F2 |
Seek Osiris' buried ark | F2 |
Or call on Typhon of gigantic form | G2 |
Lifting his hundred arms and howling 'mid the storm | G2 |
Or to that grisly king | H2 |
In vain their cymbals let them ring | H2 |
To him in Tophet's vale revered | I2 |
With smoke his brazen idol smeared | I2 |
Grim Moloch in whose fuming furnace blue | J2 |
The unpitying priest the shrieking infant threw | J2 |
Whilst to shrill cries and drums' and timbrels' sound | K2 |
The frantic and unhearing troop danced round | K2 |
To him despairing let them go | L2 |
And tell their fearful tale of hideous overthrow | L2 |
- | |
Calm breathed the airs along the evening bay | M |
Where all in warlike pride | H |
The Gallic squadron stretched its long array | M |
And o'er the tranquil tide | H |
With beauteous bend the streamers waved on high | C |
But ah how changed the scene ere night descends | M2 |
Hark to the shout that heaven's high concave rends | M2 |
Hark to that dying cry | C |
Whilst louder yet the cannon's roar | F |
Resounds along the Nile's affrighted shore | F |
Where from his oozy bed | Y |
The cowering crocodile hath raised his head | Y |
What bursting flame | B2 |
Lightens the long track of the gleamy brine | T |
From yon proud ship it came | B2 |
That towered the leader of the hostile line | T |
Now loud explosion rends the midnight air | N2 |
Heard ye the last deep groaning of despair | N2 |
Heaven's fiery cope unwonted thunders fill | O2 |
Then with one dreadful pause earth air and seas are still | O2 |
- | |
But now the mingled fight | Q |
Begins its awful strife again | T |
Through the dun shades of night | Q |
Along the darkly heaving main | T |
Is seen the frequent flash | P2 |
And many a towering mast with dreadful crash | P2 |
Rings falling Is the scene of slaughter o'er | P |
Is the death cry heard no more | F |
Lo where the East a glimmering freckle streaks | M2 |
Slow o'er the shadowy wave the gray dawn breaks | M2 |
Behold O Sun the flood | V |
Strewed with the dead and dark with blood | V |
Behold all scattered on the rocking tide | H |
The wrecks of haughty Gallia's pride | H |
But Britain's floating bulwarks with serene | T |
And silent pomp amid the deathful scene | T |
Move glorious and more beautiful display | M |
Their ensigns streaming to thy orient ray | M |
- | |
Awful Genius of the land | B |
Who thy reign of glory closed | G |
By marble wrecks half hid in sand | B |
Hast mournfully reposed | B |
Who long amid the wasteful desert wide | B |
Hast loved with death like stillness to abide | B |
Or wrapped in tenfold gloom | Q2 |
From noise of human things for ages hid | B |
Hast sat upon the shapeless tomb | Q2 |
In the forlorn and dripping pyramid | B |
Awake Arise | M2 |
Though thou behold the day no more | F |
That saw thy pride and pomp of yore | F |
Though like the sounds that in the morning ray | M |
Trembled and died away | M |
From Memnon's statue though like these the voice | M2 |
That bade thy vernal plains rejoice | M2 |
The voice of Science is no longer heard | B |
And all thy gorgeous state hath disappeared | B |
Yet hear with triumph and with hope again | T |
The shouts of joy that swell from thy forsaken main | T |
- | |
And oh might He at whose command | B |
Deep darkness shades a mourning land | B |
At whose command bursting from night | B |
And flaming with redoubled light | B |
The Sun of Science mounts again | T |
And re illumes the wide extended plain | T |
Might He from this eventful day | M |
Illustrious Egypt to thy shore | F |
Science Freedom Peace restore | F |
And bid thy crowded ports their ancient pomp display | M |
No more should Superstition mark | F2 |
In characters uncouth and dark | F2 |
Her dreary monumental shrine | T |
No more should meek eyed Piety | B |
Outcast insulted lie | C |
Beneath the mosque whose golden crescents shine | T |
But starting from her trance | M2 |
O'er Nubia's sands advance | M2 |
Beyond the farthest fountains of the Nile | R2 |
The dismal Gallas should behold her smile | R2 |
And Abyssinia's inmost rocks rejoice | M2 |
To hear her awful lore yet soft consoling voice | M2 |
- | |
Hasten O GOD the time when never more | F |
Pale Pity from her moonlight seat shall hear | S2 |
And dropping at the sound a fruitless tear | N2 |
The far off battle's melancholy roar | F |
When never more Horror's portentous cry | C |
Shall sound amid the troubled sky | C |
Or dark Destruction's grimly smiling mien | T |
Through the red flashes of the fight be seen | T |
Father in heaven our ardent hopes fulfil | R2 |
Thou speakest 'Peace ' and the vexed world is still | R2 |
Yet should Oppression huge arise | M2 |
And with bloody banners spread | B |
Upon the gasping nations tread | B |
Whilst he thy name defies | M2 |
Trusting in Thee alone we hope to quell | R2 |
His furious might his purpose fell | R2 |
And as the ensigns of his baffled pride | B |
O'er the seas are scattered wide | B |
We will take up a joyous strain and cry | C |
Shout for the Lord hath triumphed gloriously | R2 |
William Lisle Bowles
(1)
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