Stanzas Suggested In A Steamboat Off Saint Bees' Heads, On The Coast Of Cumberland Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEE FFGGHHEEE IIJJKKEEE LLMMKKEEE KKNOPPEEE KKQQKKEEE RRSTUUEEE KKKKKKEEE VEKKWWEEE KKWWXXEEE KKYYZZEEE EEKKKKEEE A2CB2B2EEEEE C2C2KKD2EEEE EEKKCCEEE EEE2E2EEEEE YYF2F2EEEEE EEYYC2C2EEE| If Life were slumber on a bed of down | A |
| Toil unimposed vicissitude unknown | B |
| Sad were our lot no hunter of the hare | C |
| Exults like him whose javelin from the lair | C |
| Has roused the lion no one plucks the rose | D |
| Whose proffered beauty in safe shelter blows | D |
| 'Mid a trim garden's summer luxuries | E |
| With joy like his who climbs on hands and knees | E |
| For some rare plant yon Headland of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| This independence upon oar and sail | F |
| This new indifference to breeze or gale | F |
| This straight lined progress furrowing a flat lea | G |
| And regular as if locked in certainty | G |
| Depress the hours Up Spirit of the storm | H |
| That Courage may find something to perform | H |
| That Fortitude whose blood disdains to freeze | E |
| At Danger's bidding may confront the seas | E |
| Firm as the towering Headlands of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Dread cliff of Baruth 'that' wild wish may sleep | I |
| Bold as if men and creatures of the Deep | I |
| Breathed the same element too many wrecks | J |
| Have struck thy sides too many ghastly decks | J |
| Hast thou looked down upon that such a thought | K |
| Should here be welcome and in verse enwrought | K |
| With thy stern aspect better far agrees | E |
| Utterance of thanks that we have past with ease | E |
| As millions thus shall do the Headlands of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Yet while each useful Art augments her store | L |
| What boots the gain if Nature should lose more | L |
| And Wisdom as she holds a Christian place | M |
| In man's intelligence sublimed by grace | M |
| When Bega sought of yore the Cumbrian coast | K |
| Tempestuous winds her holy errand crossed | K |
| She knelt in prayer the waves their wrath appease | E |
| And from her vow well weighed in Heaven's decrees | E |
| Rose where she touched the strand the Chantry of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Cruel of heart were they bloody of hand | K |
| Who in these Wilds then struggled for command | K |
| The strong were merciless without hope the weak | N |
| Till this bright Stranger came fair as daybreak | O |
| And as a cresset true that darts its length | P |
| Of beamy lustre from a tower of strength | P |
| Guiding the mariner through troubled seas | E |
| And cheering oft his peaceful reveries | E |
| Like the fixed Light that crowns yon Headland of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| To aid the Votaress miracles believed | K |
| Wrought in men's minds like miracles achieved | K |
| So piety took root and Song might tell | Q |
| What humanizing virtues near her cell | Q |
| Sprang up and spread their fragrance wide around | K |
| How savage bosoms melted at the sound | K |
| Of gospel truth enchained in harmonies | E |
| Wafted o'er waves or creeping through close trees | E |
| From her religious Mansion of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| When her sweet Voice that instrument of love | R |
| Was glorified and took its place above | R |
| The silent stars among the angelic quire | S |
| Her chantry blazed with sacrilegious fire | T |
| And perished utterly but her good deeds | U |
| Had sown the spot that witnessed them with seeds | U |
| Which lay in earth expectant till a breeze | E |
| With quickening impulse answered their mute pleas | E |
| And lo a 'statlier' pile the Abbey of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| There are the naked clothed the hungry fed | K |
| And Charity extendeth to the dead | K |
| Her intercessions made for the soul's rest | K |
| Of tardy penitents or for the best | K |
| Among the good when love might else have slept | K |
| Sickened or died in pious memory kept | K |
| Thanks to the austere and simple Devotees | E |
| Who to that service bound by venial fees | E |
| Keep watch before the altars of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Are not in sooth their Requiem's sacred ties | V |
| Woven out of passion's sharpest agonies | E |
| Subdued composed and formalized by art | K |
| To fix a wiser sorrow in the heart | K |
| The prayer for them whose hour is past away | W |
| Says to the Living profit while ye may | W |
| A little part and that the worst he sees | E |
| Who thinks that priestly cunning holds the keys | E |
| That best unlock the secrets of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Conscience the timid being's inmost light | K |
| Hope of the dawn and solace of the night | K |
| Cheers these Recluses with a steady ray | W |
| In many an hour when judgment goes astray | W |
| Ah scorn not hastily their rule who try | X |
| Earth to despise and flesh to mortify | X |
| Consume with zeal in winged ecstasies | E |
| Of prayer and praise forget their rosaries | E |
| Nor hear the loudest surges of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Yet none so prompt to succour and protect | K |
| The forlorn traveler or sailor wrecked | K |
| On the bare coast nor do they grudge the boon | Y |
| Which staff and cockle hat and sandal shoon | Y |
| Claim for the pilgrim and though chidings sharp | Z |
| May sometimes greet the strolling minstrel's harp | Z |
| It is not then when swept with sportive ease | E |
| It charms a feast day throng of all degrees | E |
| Brightening the archway of revered St Bees | E |
| - | |
| How did the cliffs and echoing hills rejoice | E |
| What time the Benedictine Brethren's voice | E |
| Imploring or commanding with meet pride | K |
| Summoned the Chiefs to lay their feuds aside | K |
| And under one blest ensign serve the Lord | K |
| In Palestine Advance indignant Sword | K |
| Flaming till thou from Panym hands release | E |
| That Tomb dread centre of all sanctities | E |
| Nursed in the quiet Abbey of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| But look we now to them whose minds from far | A2 |
| Follow the fortunes which they may not share | C |
| While in Judea Fancy loves to roam | B2 |
| She helps to make a Holy land at home | B2 |
| The Star of Bethlehem from its sphere invites | E |
| To sound the crystal depth of maiden rights | E |
| And wedded Life through scriptural mysteries | E |
| Heavenward ascends with all her charities | E |
| Taught by the hooded Celibates of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Nor be it e'er forgotten how by skill | C2 |
| Of cloistered Architects free their souls to fill | C2 |
| With love of God throughout the Land were raised | K |
| Churches on whose symbolic beauty gazed | K |
| Peasant and mail clad Chief with pious awe | D2 |
| As at this day men seeing what they saw | E |
| Or the bare wreck of faith's solemnities | E |
| Aspire to more than earthly destinies | E |
| Witness yon Pile that greets us from St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Yet more around those Churches gathered Towns | E |
| Safe from the feudal Castle's haughty frowns | E |
| Peaceful abodes where Justice might uphold | K |
| Her scales with even hand and culture mould | K |
| The heart to pity train the mind in care | C |
| For rules of life sound as the Time could bear | C |
| Nor dost thou fail thro' abject love of ease | E |
| Or hindrance raised by sordid purposes | E |
| To bear thy part in this good work St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Who with the ploughshare clove the barren moors | E |
| And to green meadows changed the swampy shores | E |
| Thinned the rank woods and for the cheerful grange | E2 |
| Made room where wolf and boar were used to range | E2 |
| Who taught and showed by deeds that gentler chains | E |
| Should bind the vassal to his lord's domains | E |
| The thoughtful Monks intent their God to please | E |
| For Christ's dear sake by human sympathies | E |
| Poured from the bosom of thy Church St Bees | E |
| - | |
| But all availed not by a mandate given | Y |
| Through lawless will the Brotherhood was driven | Y |
| Forth from their cells their ancient House laid low | F2 |
| In Reformation's sweeping overthrow | F2 |
| But now once more the local Heart revives | E |
| The inextinguishable Spirit strives | E |
| Oh may that Power who hushed the stormy seas | E |
| And cleared a way for the first Votaries | E |
| Prosper the new born College of St Bees | E |
| - | |
| Alas the Genius of our age from Schools | E |
| Less humble draws her lessons aims and rules | E |
| To Prowess guided by her insight keen | Y |
| Matter and Spirit are as one Machine | Y |
| Boastful Idolatress of formal skill | C2 |
| She in her own would merge the eternal will | C2 |
| Better if Reason's triumphs match with these | E |
| Her flight before the bold credulities | E |
| That furthered the first teaching of St Bees | E |
William Wordsworth
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About Stanzas Suggested In A Steamboat Off Saint Bees' Heads, On The Coast Of Cumberland
Stanzas Suggested In A Steamboat Off Saint Bees' Heads, On The Coast Of Cumberland is a poem by William Wordsworth. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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