Sir Walter Scott- Lay of the Last Minstrel
By trinihd
@trinihd (996)
United States
December 15, 2007 11:54pm CST
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.
http://www.rampantscotland.com/poetry/blpoems_minstrel.htm
Isn't it beautiful? I love the fact that it is deep and yet it rhymes. Or maybe it's not as deep as all that...Anyway, I always feel like people think rhyming poetry is not as "deep" and symbolic as blank verse....but somehow rhyming lines appeal to me more than anything else. I like to write them too....or rather they write themselves to me! lol Only once in a while...
1 person likes this
2 responses
@girlgonefishing (2174)
• United States
16 Dec 07
I love this poem! Thank you so much for sharing it. I'm like you, I prefer poems that rhyme. They give me a better feel of the way that they should be read and how they should sound.
@trinihd (996)
• United States
17 Dec 07
You're welcome! It's definitely grown on me...I've heard the line that Andie Macdowell reads in the movie "Groundhog Day" so many times but never looked it up til two days ago, and I am glad I did. I always liked the line and wondered about the rest of it. The wonder of the internet allowed me to find an excerpt. Now I just have to go find the rest of it. :)
"They give me a better feel of the way that they should be read and how they should sound."
That's so true! I absolutely agree...that is one of the main problems with poems that don't rhyme, I never know how to read them!
1 person likes this
@girlgonefishing (2174)
• United States
17 Dec 07
I was so worried you weren't going to get my point but, you did!
1 person likes this



