The Missionary - Canto Second Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCC AADDEFFGGEHHIJKKHHAA GGLLMM CCNOPPQQRRFFSSAATTUU FFHHAAAATTQQAAVVFFWW XXPPGGVVYYVVZZA2A2KB 2VVC2C2VVQD2DDE2E2AA F2F2MMVVG2G2FFVVH2H2 UUI2I2UJ2CCHHHFFH2H2 G2SK2K2L2M2DDH2H2UUU N2N2O2O2P2P2Q2B2R2R2 S2S2N2N2UUVVT2T2AADD B2KHHN2N2AAVVAE| The night was still and clear when o'er the snows | A |
| Andes thy melancholy Spirit rose | A |
| A shadow stern and sad he stood alone | B |
| Upon the topmost mountain's burning cone | B |
| And whilst his eyes shone dim through surging smoke | C |
| Thus to the spirits of the fire he spoke | C |
| - | |
| Ye who tread the hidden deeps | A |
| Where the silent earthquake sleeps | A |
| Ye who track the sulphurous tide | D |
| Or on hissing vapours ride | D |
| Spirits come | E |
| From worlds of subterraneous night | F |
| From fiery realms of lurid light | F |
| From the ore's unfathomed bed | G |
| From the lava's whirlpools red | G |
| Spirits come | E |
| On Chili's foes rush with vindictive sway | H |
| And sweep them from the light of living day | H |
| Heard ye not the ravenous brood | I |
| That flap their wings and scream for blood | J |
| On Peru's devoted shore | K |
| Their murderous beaks are red with gore | K |
| Yet here impatient for new prey | H |
| The insatiate vultures track their way | H |
| Let them perish they whose bands | A |
| Swept remote and peaceful lands | A |
| Let them perish on their head | G |
| Descend the darkness of the dead | G |
| Spirits now your caves forsake | L |
| Hark ten thousand warriors wake | L |
| Spirits their high cause defend | M |
| From your caves ascend ascend | M |
| - | |
| As thus the Genius of the Andes spoke | C |
| The trembling mountain heaved with darker smoke | C |
| Lightnings and phantom forms by fits appeared | N |
| His mighty voice far off Osorno heard | O |
| The caverned deeps shook through their vast profound | P |
| And Chimborazzo's height rolled back the sound | P |
| With lifted arm and towering stature high | Q |
| And aspect frowning to the middle sky | Q |
| Its misty form dilated in the wind | R |
| The phantom stood till less and less defined | R |
| Into thin air it faded from the sight | F |
| Lost in the ambient haze of slow returning light | F |
| Its feathery seeming crown its giant spear | S |
| Its limbs of huge proportion disappear | S |
| And the bare mountains to the dawn disclose | A |
| The same long line of solitary snows | A |
| The morning shines the military train | T |
| Streams far and wide along the tented plain | T |
| And plaited cuirasses and helms of steel | U |
| Throw back the sunbeams as the horsemen wheel | U |
| Thus with arms glancing to the eastern light | F |
| Pass in review proud steeds and cohorts bright | F |
| For all the host by break of morrow's gray | H |
| Wind back their march to Penco's northern bay | H |
| Valdivia fearful lest confederate foes | A |
| Ambushed and dark his progress might oppose | A |
| Marshals to day the whole collected force | A |
| File and artillery cuirassier and horse | A |
| Himself yet lingers ere he joins the train | T |
| That moves in ordered march along the plain | T |
| While troops and Indian slaves beneath his eye | Q |
| The labours of the rising city ply | Q |
| Wide glows the general toil the mole extends | A |
| The watch tower o'er the desert surge ascends | A |
| And battlements and rising ramparts shine | V |
| Above the ocean's blue and level line | V |
| The sun ascended to meridian height | F |
| And all the northern bastions shone in light | F |
| With hoarse acclaim the gong and trumpet rung | W |
| The Moorish slaves aloft their cymbals swung | W |
| When the proud victor in triumphant state | X |
| Rode forth in arms through the portcullis' gate | X |
| With neck high arching as he smote the ground | P |
| And restless pawing to the trumpet's sound | P |
| With mantling mane o'er his broad shoulders spread | G |
| And nostrils blowing and dilated red | G |
| The coal black steed in rich caparison | V |
| Far trailing to the ground went proudly on | V |
| Proudly he tramped as conscious of his charge | Y |
| And turned around his eye balls bright and large | Y |
| And shook the frothy boss as in disdain | V |
| And tossed the flakes indignant off his mane | V |
| And with high swelling veins exulting pressed | Z |
| Proudly against the barb his heaving breast | Z |
| The fate of empires glowing in his thought | A2 |
| Thus armed the tented field Valdivia sought | A2 |
| On the left side his poised shield he bore | K |
| With quaint devices richly blazoned o'er | B2 |
| Above the plumes upon his helmet's cone | V |
| Castile's imperial crest illustrious shone | V |
| Blue in the wind the escutcheoned mantle flowed | C2 |
| O'er the chained mail which tinkled as he rode | C2 |
| The barred vizor raised you might discern | V |
| His clime changed countenance though pale yet stern | V |
| And resolute as death whilst in his eye | Q |
| Sat proud Assurance Fame and Victory | D2 |
| Lautaro now in manhood's rising pride | D |
| Rode with a lance attendant at his side | D |
| In Spanish mantle gracefully arrayed | E2 |
| Upon his brow a tuft of feathers played | E2 |
| His glossy locks with dark and mantling grace | A |
| Shaded the noonday sunbeams on his face | A |
| Though passed in tears the dayspring of his youth | F2 |
| Valdivia loved his gratitude and truth | F2 |
| He in Valdivia owned a nobler friend | M |
| Kind to protect and mighty to defend | M |
| So on he rode upon his youthful mien | V |
| A mild but sad intelligence was seen | V |
| Courage was on his open brow yet care | G2 |
| Seemed like a wandering shade to linger there | G2 |
| And though his eye shone as the eagle's bright | F |
| It beamed with humid melancholy light | F |
| When now Valdivia saw the embattled line | V |
| Helmets and swords and shields and matchlocks shine | V |
| Now the long phalanx still and steady stand | H2 |
| Fixed every eye and motionless each hand | H2 |
| Then slowly clustering into columns wheel | U |
| Each with the red cross banners of Castile | U |
| While trumps and drums and cymbals to his ear | I2 |
| Made music such as soldiers love to hear | I2 |
| While horsemen checked their steeds or bending low | U |
| With levelled lances o'er the saddle bow | J2 |
| Rode gallantly at tilt and thunders broke | C |
| Instant involving van and rear in smoke | C |
| Till winds the obscuring volume rolled away | H |
| And the red file stretched out in long array | H |
| More radiant moved beneath the beams of day | H |
| While ensigns arms and crosses glittered bright | F |
| Philip he cried seest thou the glorious sight | F |
| And dost thou deem the tribes of this poor land | H2 |
| Can men and arms and steeds like these withstand | H2 |
| Forgive the youth replied and checked a tear | G2 |
| The land where my forefathers sleep is dear | S |
| My native land this spot of blessed earth | K2 |
| The scene where I and all I love had birth | K2 |
| What gratitude fidelity can give | L2 |
| Is yours my lord you shielded bade me live | M2 |
| When in the circuit of the world so wide | D |
| I had but one one only friend beside | D |
| I bowed resigned to fate I kissed the hand | H2 |
| Red with the best blood of my father's land | H2 |
| But mighty as thou art Valdivia know | U |
| Though Cortes' desolating march laid low | U |
| The shrines of rich voluptuous Mexico | U |
| With carcases though proud Pizarro strew | N2 |
| The Sun's imperial temple in Peru | N2 |
| Yet the rude dwellers of this land are brave | O2 |
| And the last spot they lose will be their grave | O2 |
| A moment's crimson crossed Valdivia's cheek | P2 |
| Then o'er the plain he spurred nor deigned to speak | P2 |
| Waving the youth at distance to retire | Q2 |
| None saw the eye that shot terrific fire | B2 |
| As their commander sternly rode along | R2 |
| Troop after troop halted the martial throng | R2 |
| And all the pennoned trumps a louder blast | S2 |
| Blew as the Southern World's great victor passed | S2 |
| Lautaro turned scarce heeding from the view | N2 |
| And from the noise of trumps and drums withdrew | N2 |
| And now while troubled thoughts his bosom swell | U |
| Seeks the gray Missionary's humble cell | U |
| Fronting the ocean but beyond the ken | V |
| Of public view and sounds of murmuring men | V |
| Of unhewn roots composed and gnarled wood | T2 |
| A small and rustic oratory stood | T2 |
| Upon its roof of reeds appeared a cross | A |
| The porch within was lined with mantling moss | A |
| A crucifix and hour glass on each side | D |
| One to admonish seemed and one to guide | D |
| This to impress how soon life's race is o'er | B2 |
| And that to lift our hopes where time shall be no more | K |
| O'er the rude porch with wild and gadding stray | H |
| The clustering copu weaved its trellis gay | H |
| Two mossy pines high bending interwove | N2 |
| Their aged and fantastic arms above | N2 |
| In front amid the gay surrounding flowers | A |
| A dial counted the departing hours | A |
| On which the sweetest light of summer shone | V |
| A rude and brief inscription marked the stone | V |
| To count with passing shade the hours | A |
| I placed the dial 'mi | E |
William Lisle Bowles
(1)
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