A Letter From Italy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AAABBCD AEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLJJM MNNOO ALLLLPIJJQQRRJSTTLLU UVVWW MJJJJXXYYZZNNFFKKA2A 2BBOOB2B2C2C2MM FKKLLGGD2D2LL MLLE2E2MMF2F2G2G2H2H 2I2F2J2J2JJK2K2BBL2L 2G2G2KKKCCM2M2N2N2FF QQ MO2O2P2P2L2L2QQQ2Q2Q 2Q2R2S2JJQ2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q 2UUQQJJLLQQFF MQ2Q2P2P2QQQ2Q2Q2Q2Q 2Q2QQD2O2Q2Q2UUO2O2U UUULLUU FQ2Q2Q2Q2FFQQT2T2

IA
Lately when we wished good byeA
Underneath a gloomy skyA
Bear '' you said my love in mindB
Leaving me not quite behindB
And across the mountains sendC
News and greeting to your friend ''D
-
IIA
Swiftly though we did advanceE
Through the rich flat fields of FranceE
Still the eye grew tired to seeF
Patches of equalityF
Nothing wanton waste or wildG
Women delving lonely childG
Tending cattle lank and leanH
Not a hedgerow to be seenH
Where the eglantine may rambleI
Or the vagrant unkempt brambleI
Might its flowers upon you pressJ
Simple sweet but profitlessJ
Jealous ditches straight and squareK
Sordid comfort everywhereK
Pollard poplars stunted vineL
Nowhere happy pasturing kineL
Wandering in untended groupsJ
Through the uncut buttercupsJ
All things pruned to pile the shelfM
Nothing left to be itselfM
Neither horn nor hound nor stirrupN
Not a carol not a chirrupN
Every idle sound repressedO
Like a Sabbath without restO
-
IIIA
O the sense of freedom whenL
Kingly mountains rose againL
Congregated but aloneL
Each upon his separate throneL
Like to mighty minds that dwellP
Lonely inaccessibleI
High above the human raceJ
Single and supreme in spaceJ
Soaring higher higher higherQ
Carrying with them our desireQ
Irrepressible if fondR
To push on to worlds beyondR
Many a peak august I sawJ
Crowned with mist and girt with aweS
Fertilising as is fitT
Valleys that look up to itT
With the melted snows down drivenL
Which itself received from HeavenL
Then to see the torrents flashingU
Leaping twisting foaming crashingU
Like a youth who feels at lengthV
Freedom ample as his strengthV
Hurrying from the home that bore himW
With the whole of life before himW
-
IVM
As when summer sunshine gleamsJ
Glaciers soften into streamsJ
So to liquid flowing vowelsJ
As we pierced the mountains' bowelsJ
Teuton consonants did meltX
When Italian warmth was feltX
Gloomy fir and pine austereY
Unto precipices sheerY
Clinging as one holds one's breathZ
Half way betwixt life and deathZ
Changed to gently shelving slopeN
Where man tills with faith and hopeN
And the tenderest tendrilled treeF
Prospers in securityF
Softer outlines balmier airK
Belfries unto evening prayerK
Calling as the shadows fadeA2
Halting crone and hurrying maidA2
With her bare black tresses twinedB
Into massive coils behindB
And her snowy pleated vestO
Folded o'er mysterious breastO
Like the dove's wings chastely crossedB2
At the Feast of PentecostB2
Something in scent sight and soundC2
Elsewhere craved for never foundC2
Underneath around aboveM
Moves to tenderness and loveM
-
VF
But three nights I halted whereK
Stands the temple vowed to prayerK
That surmounts the Lombard plainL
Green with strips of grape and grainL
There Spiaggiascura's childG
By too hopeful love beguiledG
Yet resolved save faith should flowD2
Through his parched heart to foregoD2
Earthly bliss for heavenly painL
Prayed for Godfrid prayed in vainL
-
VIM
How looked Florence Fair as whenL
Beatrice was nearly tenL
Nowise altered just the sameE2
Marble city mountain frameE2
Turbid river cloudless skyM
As in days when you and IM
Roamed its sunny streets apartF2
Ignorant of each other's heartF2
Little knowing that our feetG2
Slow were moving on to meetG2
And that we should find at lastH2
Kinship in a common PastH2
But a shadow falls athwartI2
All her beauty all her artF2
For alas I vainly seekJ2
Outstretched hand and kindling cheekJ2
Such as in the bygone daysJ
Sweetened sanctified her waysJ
When as evening belfries chimeK2
I to Bellosguardo climbK2
Vaguely thinking there to findB
Faces that still haunt my mindB
Though the doors stand open wideL2
No one waits for me insideL2
Not a voice comes forth to greetG2
As of old my nearing feetG2
So I stand without and stareK
Wishing you were here to shareK
Void too vast alone to bearK
To Ricorboli I wendC
But where now the dear old friendC
Heart as open as his gateM2
Song and jest and simple stateM2
They who loved me all are fledN2
Some are gone and some are deadN2
So though young and lovely beF
Florence still it feels to meF
Thinking of the days that wereQ
Like a marble sepulchreQ
-
VIIM
Yet thank Heaven he liveth stillO2
Now no more upon the hillO2
Where was perched his Tuscan homeP2
But in liberated RomeP2
Hale as ever still his strideL2
Keeps me panting at his sideL2
Would that you were here to strayQ
With me up the Appian WayQ
Climb with me the Coelian mountQ2
With me find Egeria's fountQ2
See the clear sun sink and setQ2
From the Pincian parapetQ2
Or from Sant' Onofrio watchR2
Shaggy Monte Cavo catchS2
Gloomy glory on its faceJ
As the red dawn mounts apaceJ
Twenty years and more have fledQ2
Since I first with youthful treadQ2
Wandered 'mong these wrecks of FateQ2
Lonely but not desolateQ2
Proud to ponder and to broodQ2
Satisfied with solitudeQ2
But as fruit that hard in SpringU
Tender grows with mellowingU
So one's nature year by yearQ
Softens as it ripens dearQ
And youth's selfish strain and stressJ
Sweeten into tendernessJ
Therefore is it that I pineL
For a gentle hand in mineL
For a voice to murmur clearQ
All I know but love to hearQ
Crave to feel think hear and seeF
Through your lucid sympathyF
-
VIIIM
Shortly shortly we shall meetQ2
Southern skies awhile are sweetQ2
But in whatso land I roamP2
Half my heart remains at homeP2
Tell me for I long to hearQ
Tidings of our English yearQ
Was the cuckoo soon or lateQ2
Beg the primroses to waitQ2
That their homely smile may greetQ2
Faithfully returning feetQ2
Have the apple blossoms burstQ2
Is the oak or ash the firstQ2
Are there snowballs on the guelderQ
Can you scent as yet the elderQ
On the bankside that we knowD2
Is the golden gorse ablowO2
Like love's evergreen delightQ2
Never out of season quiteQ2
But most prodigal in SpringU
When the whitethroats pair and singU
Tell me tell me most of allO2
When you hear the thrushes callO2
When you see soft shadows fleetingU
O'er the grass where lambs are bleatingU
When the lyric lark returningU
From the mirage of its yearningU
Like a fountain that in vainL
Rises but to fall againL
Seeks its nest with drooping wingU
Do you miss me from the SpringU
-
IXF
Quickly then I come AdieuQ2
Mouldering arch and ether blueQ2
For in you I sure shall findQ2
All that here I leave behindQ2
Steadfastness of Roman raysF
In the candour of your gazeF
In your friendship comfort moreQ
Than in warmth of Oscan shoreQ
In the smiles that light your mouthT2
All the sunshine of the SouthT2

Alfred Austin



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