Florence Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHG IJKJ HLHL MJNJ OPOP QRQR STST UVUV WXWX HYHY ZA2ZA2 HB2HB2 C2WC2W HD2HZ HE2HE2 F2HF2H G2H2G2H2 BI2J2I2 K2B2K2B2 HK2HK2

City acclaimed from far off daysA
Fair and baptized in field of flowersB
Once more I scan with eager gazeA
Your soaring domes your storied towersB
-
Nigh on eight lustres now have flownC
Since first with trembling heart I cameD
And girdled by your mountain zoneC
Found you yet fairer than your fameD
-
It was the season purple sweetE
When figs are plucked and grapes are pressedF
And all your folk with following feetE
Bore a dead Poet to sacred restF
-
You seemed to fling your gates ajarG
And gently lead me by the handH
Saying Behold henceforth you areG
No stranger in this Tuscan land ''-
-
And though no love my love can weanI
From Albion's crags and cradling seaJ
You Florence since that hour have beenK
More than a foster nurse to meJ
-
And seems that welcome half profanedH
If in your lap lain oft and longL
I cherish to have something drainedH
Of Dante's soul and Petrarch's songL
-
But more than even Muse can giveM
Is Love which songless though we beJ
While the unloving jarring liveN
Makes life one long sweet melodyJ
-
And you with love and friendship stillO
Have teemed as teem your hills with wineP
And through the seasons good or illO
Have made their mellow vintage mineP
-
But most while Fancy yet was youngQ
Yet timely cared no more to roamR
You lent your tender Tuscan tongueQ
To help me in my English homeR
-
So now from soft Sicilian shoreS
And Tiber's sterner tide I bringT
My Autumn sheaves to share once moreS
The rapture of your rainbow SpringT
-
I lingering in your palaced townU
Asudden 'neath some beetling pileV
Catch sight of Dante's awful frownU
Or Vinci's enigmatic smileV
-
Then following olden footsteps strollW
To where from May day's mocking pyreX
Savonarola's tortured soulW
Went up to Heaven in tongues of fireX
-
Or Buonarroti's godlike handH
Made marble block from Massa's steepY
Dawn into Day at his commandH
Or plunged it into Night and SleepY
-
Onward I pass through radiant squaresZ
And widening ways whose foliage shamesA2
Our leafless streets to one that bearsZ
The best beloved of English namesA2
-
And climb the white veiled slopes arrayedH
In bridal bloom of peach and pearB2
While 'neath the olive's phantom shadeH
Lupine and beanflower scent the airB2
-
The wild bees hum round golden bayC2
The green frog sings on fig tree boleW
And see down daisy whitened wayC2
Come the slow steers and swaying poleW
-
The fresh pruned vine stems curving bendH
Over the peaceful wheaten spearsD2
And with the glittering sunshine blendH
Their transitory April tearsZ
-
O'er wall and trellis trailed and woundH
Hang roses blushing roses paleE2
And hark what was that silvery soundH
The first note of the nightingaleE2
-
Curtained I close my lids and dreamF2
Of Beauty seen not but surmisedH
And lulled by scent and song I seemF2
Immortally imparadisedH
-
When from the deep sweet swoon I wakeG2
And gaze past slopes of grape and grainH2
Where Arno like some lonely lakeG2
Silvers the far off seaward plainH2
-
I see celestial sunset firesB
That lift us from this earthly leavenI2
And darkly silent cypress spiresJ2
Pointing the way from hill to HeavenI2
-
Then something more than mortal stealsK2
Over the wavering twilight airB2
And messenger of nightfall pealsK2
From each crowned peak a call to prayerB2
-
And now the last meek prayer is saidH
And in the hallowed hush there isK2
Only a starry dome o'erheadH
Propped by columnar cypressesK2

Alfred Austin



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