Fragmentary Scenes From The Road To Avernus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB C DEFEFGEGEE EHEEGEGEE EIEIIJIJJ EKEKIIIII EK EB EIIBBEELLEEBB KE EEB KJ B KMM EBBEEBBKKBBII KI EICCKBBJJE LEKEEEEKCCBIBEEIIKEE ECEECCNBBB KC I BII BKK BCC BEE BKKCCKK BBB BBB BBB BI BIB BB BII BBBBKBBB| Scene I | A |
| 'Discontent' | B |
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| LAURENCE RABY | C |
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| Laurence | D |
| I said to young Allan M'Ilveray | E |
| Beside the swift swirls of the North | F |
| When in lilac shot through with a silver ray | E |
| We haul'd the strong salmon fish forth | F |
| Said only 'He gave us some trouble | G |
| To land him and what does he weigh | E |
| Our friend has caught one that weighs double | G |
| The game for the candle won't pay | E |
| Us to day | E |
| We may tie up our rods and away ' | - |
| - | |
| I said to old Norman M'Gregor | E |
| Three leagues to the west of Glen Dhu | H |
| I had drawn with a touch of the trigger | E |
| The best BEAD that ever I drew | E |
| Said merely 'For birds in the stubble | G |
| I once had an eye I could swear | E |
| He's down but he's not worth the trouble | G |
| Of seeking You once shot a bear | E |
| In his lair | E |
| 'Tis only a buck that lies there ' | - |
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| I said to Lord Charles only last year | E |
| The time that we topp'd the oak rail | I |
| Between Wharton's plough and Whynne's pasture | E |
| And clear'd the big brook in Blakesvale | I |
| We only at Warburton's double | I |
| He fell then I finish'd the run | J |
| And kill'd clean said 'So bursts a bubble | I |
| That shone half an hour in the sun | J |
| What is won | J |
| Your sire clear'd and captured a gun ' | - |
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| I said to myself in true sorrow | E |
| I said yestere'en 'A fair prize | K |
| Is won and it may be to morrow | E |
| 'Twill not seem so fair in thine eyes | K |
| Real life is a race through sore trouble | I |
| That gains not an inch on the goal | I |
| And bliss an intangible bubble | I |
| That cheats an unsatisfied soul | I |
| And the whole | I |
| Of the rest an illegible scroll ' | - |
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| Scene VII | E |
| 'Two Exhortations' | K |
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| A Shooting box in the West of Ireland A Bedchamber | E |
| LAURENCE RABY and MELCHIOR Night | B |
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| Melchior | E |
| Surely in the great beginning God made all things good and still | I |
| That soul sickness men call sinning entered not without His will | I |
| Nay our wisest have asserted that as shade enhances light | B |
| Evil is but good perverted wrong is but the foil of right | B |
| Banish sickness then you banish joy for health to all that live | E |
| Slay all sin all good must vanish good being but comparative | E |
| Sophistry you say yet listen look you skyward there 'tis known | L |
| Worlds on worlds in myriads glisten larger lovelier than our own | L |
| This has been and this still shall be here as there in sun or star | E |
| These things are to be and will be those things were to be and are | E |
| Man in man's imperfect nature is by imperfection taught | B |
| Add one cubit to your stature if you can by taking thought | B |
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| Laurence | K |
| Thus you would not teach that peasant though he calls you 'father' | E |
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| Melchior True | E |
| I should magnify this present mystify that future too | E |
| We adapt our conversation always to our hearer's light | B |
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| Laurence | K |
| I am not of your persuasion | J |
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| Melchior Yet the difference is but slight | B |
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| Laurence | K |
| I EVEN I say 'He who barters worldly weal for heavenly worth | M |
| He does well' your saints and martyrs were examples here on earth | M |
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| Melchior | E |
| Aye in earlier Christian ages while the heathen empire stood | B |
| When the war 'twixt saints and sages cried aloud for saintly blood | B |
| Christ was then their model truly Now if all were meek and pure | E |
| Save the ungodly and the unruly would the Christian Church endure | E |
| Shall the toiler or the fighter dream by day and watch by night | B |
| Turn the left cheek to the smiter smitten rudely on the right | B |
| Strong men must encounter bad men so called saints of latter days | K |
| Have been mostly pious madmen lusting after righteous praise | K |
| Or the thralls of superstition doubtless worthy some reward | B |
| Since they came by their condition hardly of their free accord | B |
| 'Tis but madness sad and solemn that these fakir Christians feel | I |
| Saint Stylites on his column gratified a morbid zeal | I |
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| Laurence | K |
| By your showing good is really on a par of worth with ill | I |
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| Melchior | E |
| Nay I said not so I merely tell you both some ends fulfil | I |
| Priestly vows were my vocation fast and vigil wait for me | C |
| You must work and face temptation Never should the strong man flee | C |
| Though God wills the inclination with the soul at war to be Pauses | K |
| In the strife 'twixt flesh and spirit while you can the spirit aid | B |
| Should you fall not less your merit be not for a fall afraid | B |
| Whatsoe'er most right most fit is you shall do When all is done | J |
| Chaunt the noble Nunc Dimittis Benedicimur my son | J |
| Exit MELCHIOR | E |
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| Laurence alone | L |
| Why do I provoke these wrangles Melchior talks as well he may | E |
| With the tongues of men and angels | K |
| Takes up a pamphlet What has this man got to say | E |
| Reads Sic sacerdos fatur ejus nomen quondam erat Burgo | E |
| Mala mens est caro pejus anima infirma ergo | E |
| I nunc ora sine mora orat etiam Sancta Virgo | E |
| Thinks | K |
| Speaks So it seems they mean to make her wed the usurer Nathan Lee | C |
| Poor Estelle her friends forsake her what has this to do with me | C |
| Glad I am at least that Helen still refuses to discard | B |
| Her through tales false gossips tell | I |
| in spite or heedlessness 'Tis hard | B |
| Lee the Levite some few years back Herbert horsewhipp'd him the cur | E |
| Show'd his teeth and laid his ears back Now his wealth has purchased her | E |
| Must his baseness mar her brightness Shall the callous cunning churl | I |
| Revel in the rosy whiteness of that golden headed girl | I |
| Thinks and smokes | K |
| Reads Cito certe venit vitae finis sic sacerdos fatur | E |
| Nunc audite omnes ite vobis fabula narratur | E |
| Nunc orate et laudate laudat etiam Alma Mater | E |
| Muses Such has been and such shall still be | C |
| here as there in sun or star | E |
| These things are to be and will be those things were to be and are | E |
| If I thought that speech worth heeding I should Nay it seems to me | C |
| More like Satan's special pleading than like Gloria Domine | C |
| Lies down on his couch | N |
| Reads Et tuquoque frater meus facta mala quod fecisti | B |
| Denique confundit Deus omnes res quas tetegisti | B |
| Nunc si unquam nunc aut nunquam sanguine adjuro Christi | B |
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| Scene IX | K |
| 'In the Garden' | C |
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| Aylmer's Garden near the Lake LAURENCE RABY and ESTELLE | I |
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| He | B |
| Come to the bank where the boat is moor'd to the willow tree low | I |
| Bertha the baby won't notice Brian the blockhead won't know | I |
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| She | B |
| Bertha is not such a baby sir as you seem to suppose | K |
| Brian a blockhead he may be more than you think for he knows | K |
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| He | B |
| This much at least of your brother from the beginning he knew | C |
| Somewhat concerning that other made such a fool of by you | C |
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| She | B |
| Firmer those bonds were and faster Frank was my spaniel my slave | E |
| You you would fain be my master mark you the difference is grave | E |
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| He | B |
| Call me your spaniel your starling take me and treat me as these | K |
| I would be anything darling aye whatsoever you please | K |
| Brian and Basil are 'punting' leave them their dice and their wine | C |
| Bertha is butterfly hunting surely one hour shall be mine | C |
| See I have done with all duty see I can dare all disgrace | K |
| Only to look at your beauty feasting my eyes on your face | K |
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| She | B |
| Look at me aye till your eyes ache How let me ask will it end | B |
| Neither for your sake nor my sake but for the sake of my friend | B |
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| He | B |
| Is she your friend then I own it this is all wrong and the rest | B |
| Frustra sed anima monet caro quod fortius est | B |
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| She | B |
| Not quite so close Laurence Raby not with your arm round my waist | B |
| Something to look at I may be nothing to touch or to taste | B |
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| He | B |
| Wilful as ever and wayward why did you tempt me Estelle | I |
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| She | B |
| You misinterpret each stray word you for each inch take an ell | I |
| Lightly all laws and ties trammel me I am warn'd for all that | B |
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| He aside | B |
| Perhaps she will swallow her camel when she has strained at her gnat | B |
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| She | B |
| Therefore take thought and consider weigh well as I do the whole | I |
| You for mere beauty a bidder say would you barter a soul | I |
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| He | B |
| Girl THAT MAY happen but THIS IS after this welcome the worst | B |
| Blest for one hour by your kisses let me be evermore curs'd | B |
| Talk not of ties to me reckless here every tie I discard | B |
| Make me your girdle your necklace | K |
| She Laurence you kiss me too hard | B |
| He | B |
| Aye 'tis the road t | B |
Adam Lindsay Gordon
(1)
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