At Shelley-s House At Lerici Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCCD EEFGG HHIJJI KKLHHL MNOPPO QQRSSR TTUVVU WWHXXH YYZA2A2Z B2B2KC2D2E2 F2F2BG2G2B AAH2I2I2J2 YYK2VVK2 L2L2L2K2K2L2 L2L2M2N2N2M2 L2L2O2PPP2 Q2Q2R2FFR2 QQS2T2T2S2 L2L2U2JJU2 V2V2W2X2X2W2 YYBUUB Y2Y2Z2EEZ2Maiden with English hair and eyes | A |
The colour of Italian skies | A |
What seek you by this shore | B |
I seek sir for the latest home | C |
Where Shelley dwelt and o'er the foam | C |
Speeding returned no more '' | D |
- | |
Come then with me I seek it too | E |
Are you his kith For strangely you | E |
Resemble him in mien | F |
No save it be that all are kin | G |
Who cherish the same thoughts within | G |
And gaze on things unseen '' | - |
- | |
It should be easy sure to find | H |
Waves close in front woods close behind | H |
Green shutters whitewashed walls | I |
A little space of rocky ground | J |
Where climbs the wave and round and round | J |
The seagull curves and calls | I |
- | |
Lo there it stands A quiet spot | K |
Untenanted it seems forgot | K |
Like shrine from which the God | L |
Hath vanished and but left behind | H |
A something in the air the wind | H |
Recalling where he trod | L |
- | |
Upon this balcony how oft | M |
When waves were smooth and winds were soft | N |
As now he must have stood | O |
And dreamed of days when men should be | P |
Bondless as this unfettered sea | P |
And peaceful as that wood | O |
- | |
What would he find if came he now | Q |
A phantom crown on kingly brow | Q |
Veiled sceptre trembling throne | R |
Pulpits where threat and curse have ceased | S |
And shrines whereat half sceptic priest | S |
Worships too oft alone | R |
- | |
With muffled psalm and whispered hymn | T |
At secret dawn or twilight dim | T |
A pious remnant pray | U |
For their maimed rites indulgence plead | V |
And half uncertain of their creed | V |
Explain their God away | U |
- | |
Gone the conventions Shelley cursed | W |
The first are last the last are first | W |
The lame the halt the blind | H |
Now in the seat of power along | X |
With the far seeing and the strong | X |
Mould mandates for mankind | H |
- | |
No longer doth man's will decide | Y |
And woman's feebler impulse guide | Y |
He yields to her his might | Z |
Duty hath grown an old world tale | A2 |
And chaste Obedience rends her veil | A2 |
For epicene delight | Z |
- | |
Where now do towering despots reign | B2 |
Over lithe knee and servile brain | B2 |
The scared the base the bought | K |
Monarchs themselves now bend with awe | C2 |
Before the kingliness of Law | D2 |
The majesty of Thought | E2 |
- | |
Yes Kings have gone or reign as slaves | F2 |
Religion mumbles round our graves | F2 |
But shapes our lives no more | B |
Tradition thrice spurned Sibyl burns | G2 |
The leaves mob Sovereignty spurns | G2 |
Contemptuous of her lore | B |
- | |
Fair Maiden with the sea blue eyes | A |
With whom beneath these sea blue skies | A |
Shelley had loved to live | H2 |
Forgive me if his dream unborn | I2 |
Then but now adult moves my scorn | I2 |
Would He too not forgive | J2 |
- | |
For where both Crown and Cowl defied | Y |
Sue for the ruth they once denied | Y |
What would he find instead | K2 |
A fiercer despot fouler creed | V |
The Rule of Gold the rites of Greed | V |
And a bitterer cry for bread | K2 |
- | |
Wake poet and retune your strings | L2 |
The earth now swarms with petty kings | L2 |
Seated on self made thrones | L2 |
And altar tables richly spread | K2 |
Where Roguery consecrates the bread | K2 |
And Opulence atones | L2 |
- | |
Here Shelley prayed that War might cease | L2 |
From earth and Pentecostal Peace | L2 |
Descend with dovelike breath | M2 |
Look round this bay each treeless gorge | N2 |
Each scarred ravine incessant forge | N2 |
The instruments of death | M2 |
- | |
From Salterbrand's unfreezing peaks | L2 |
To sunny Manfredonia's creeks | L2 |
Have alien satraps gone | O2 |
But guarding Italy the Free | P |
Her murderous mammoth monsters see | P |
Come grimly wallowing on | P2 |
- | |
Yes here He dwelt and dreamed and there | Q2 |
Gleams Porto Venere the fair | Q2 |
The mockery of a name | R2 |
Where fervent Venus once was Queen | F |
Hot Mars now ravishes the scene | F |
And fans a fiercer flame | R2 |
- | |
Fair Maiden with the English brow | Q |
Although from me who shortly now | Q |
Must tread life's downward slope | S2 |
Illusions one by one depart | T2 |
Still foster in your virgin heart | T2 |
The embryo of Hope | S2 |
- | |
The hills remain the woods the waves | L2 |
And they alone are dupes or slaves | L2 |
Who spurning Nature's breast | U2 |
Too high would soar too deep would sound | J |
And madden vainly round and round | J |
The orbit of unrest | U2 |
- | |
Pity too lingers As I speak | V2 |
The teardrops tremble on your cheek | V2 |
Too silent to deceive | W2 |
And with assuaging hand you show | X2 |
How tenderness still tempers woe | X2 |
And none need singly grieve | W2 |
- | |
Yes sweet it were with you for guide | Y |
To float across that dimpling tide | Y |
And on its farther shore | B |
To prove if Venus still holds sway | U |
And wandering with you round the bay | U |
Tempt back one's youth once more | B |
- | |
But child it is not Shelley's world | Y2 |
Fancy's light sails had best be furled | Y2 |
Before they surge and swell | Z2 |
What helm can steer the heart or who | E |
Keep moored inspired by such as You | E |
Heaven prosper you Farewell | Z2 |
Alfred Austin
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about At Shelley-s House At Lerici poem by Alfred Austin
Best Poems of Alfred Austin