The Princess (part 2) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNKOP QRSTUVWXYV ZA2A2B2A2 ZA2C2ZZD2E2ZA2C2ZZF2 G2H2FI2J2 K2C2MA2ME2ZZPC2ZA2A2 PL2ZE2M2N2O2A2P2Q2ZB 2ZPFHL2R2 ZZE2S2T2F2ZZZZU2ZZA2 V2 E2 ZW2ZE2X2ZD2 Y2ZE2Z2A3A2B3CA2Y2ZA 2ZJ2A2ZZZC3ZZZZD3E2E 3BL2A2ZF3G3H3E2KA2FZ L2I3E2I3FZZE2ZA2FJ3Z F3C3ZFK3L3 ZA2E2ZM3ZZMZA2Z

At break of day the College Portress cameA
She brought us Academic silks in hueB
The lilac with a silken hood to eachC
And zoned with gold and now when these were onD
And we as rich as moths from dusk cocoonsE
She curtseying her obeisance let us knowF
The Princess Ida waited out we pacedG
I first and following through the porch that sangH
All round with laurel issued in a courtI
Compact of lucid marbles bossed with lengthsJ
Of classic frieze with ample awnings gayK
Betwixt the pillars and with great urns of flowersL
The Muses and the Graces grouped in threesM
Enringed a billowing fountain in the midstN
And here and there on lattice edges layK
Or book or lute but hastily we pastO
And up a flight of stairs into the hallP
-
There at a board by tome and paper satQ
With two tame leopards couched beside her throneR
All beauty compassed in a female formS
The Princess liker to the inhabitantT
Of some clear planet close upon the SunU
Than our man's earth such eyes were in her headV
And so much grace and power breathing downW
From over her arched brows with every turnX
Lived through her to the tips of her long handsY
And to her feet She rose her height and saidV
-
'We give you welcome not without redoundZ
Of use and glory to yourselves ye comeA2
The first fruits of the stranger aftertimeA2
And that full voice which circles round the graveB2
Will rank you nobly mingled up with meA2
What are the ladies of your land so tall '-
'We of the court' said Cyril 'From the court'Z
She answered 'then ye know the Prince ' and heA2
'The climax of his age as though there wereC2
One rose in all the world your Highness thatZ
He worships your ideal ' she repliedZ
'We scarcely thought in our own hall to hearD2
This barren verbiage current among menE2
Light coin the tinsel clink of complimentZ
Your flight from out your bookless wilds would seemA2
As arguing love of knowledge and of powerC2
Your language proves you still the child IndeedZ
We dream not of him when we set our handZ
To this great work we purposed with ourselfF2
Never to wed You likewise will do wellG2
Ladies in entering here to cast and flingH2
The tricks which make us toys of men that soF
Some future time if so indeed you willI2
You may with those self styled our lords allyJ2
Your fortunes justlier balanced scale with scale '-
-
At those high words we conscious of ourselvesK2
Perused the matting then an officerC2
Rose up and read the statutes such as theseM
Not for three years to correspond with homeA2
Not for three years to cross the libertiesM
Not for three years to speak with any menE2
And many more which hastily subscribedZ
We entered on the boards and 'Now ' she criedZ
'Ye are green wood see ye warp not Look our hallP
Our statues not of those that men desireC2
Sleek Odalisques or oracles of modeZ
Nor stunted squaws of West or East but sheA2
That taught the Sabine how to rule and sheA2
The foundress of the Babylonian wallP
The Carian Artemisia strong in warL2
The Rhodope that built the pyramidZ
Clelia Cornelia with the PalmyreneE2
That fought Aurelian and the Roman browsM2
Of Agrippina Dwell with these and loseN2
Convention since to look on noble formsO2
Makes noble through the sensuous organismA2
That which is higher O lift your natures upP2
Embrace our aims work out your freedom GirlsQ2
Knowledge is now no more a fountain sealedZ
Drink deep until the habits of the slaveB2
The sins of emptiness gossip and spiteZ
And slander die Better not be at allP
Than not be noble Leave us you may goF
Today the Lady Psyche will harangueH
The fresh arrivals of the week beforeL2
For they press in from all the provincesR2
And fill the hive '-
She spoke and bowing wavedZ
Dismissal back again we crost the courtZ
To Lady Psyche's as we entered inE2
There sat along the forms like morning dovesS2
That sun their milky bosoms on the thatchT2
A patient range of pupils she herselfF2
Erect behind a desk of satin woodZ
A quick brunette well moulded falcon eyedZ
And on the hither side or so she lookedZ
Of twenty summers At her left a childZ
In shining draperies headed like a starU2
Her maiden babe a double April oldZ
Agla a slept We sat the Lady glancedZ
Then Florian but not livelier than the dameA2
That whispered 'Asses' ears' among the sedgeV2
'My sister ' 'Comely too by all that's fair '-
Said Cyril 'Oh hush hush ' and she beganE2
-
'This world was once a fluid haze of lightZ
Till toward the centre set the starry tidesW2
And eddied into suns that wheeling castZ
The planets then the monster then the manE2
Tattooed or woaded winter clad in skinsX2
Raw from the prime and crushing down his mateZ
As yet we find in barbarous isles and hereD2
Among the lowest '-
Thereupon she tookY2
A bird's eye view of all the ungracious pastZ
Glanced at the legendary AmazonE2
As emblematic of a nobler ageZ2
Appraised the Lycian custom spoke of thoseA3
That lay at wine with Lar and LucumoA2
Ran down the Persian Grecian Roman linesB3
Of empire and the woman's state in eachC
How far from just till warming with her themeA2
She fulmined out her scorn of laws SaliqueY2
And little footed China touched on MahometZ
With much contempt and came to chivalryA2
When some respect however slight was paidZ
To woman superstition all awryJ2
However then commenced the dawn a beamA2
Had slanted forward falling in a landZ
Of promise fruit would follow Deep indeedZ
Their debt of thanks to her who first had daredZ
To leap the rotten pales of prejudiceC3
Disyoke their necks from custom and assertZ
None lordlier than themselves but that which madeZ
Woman and man She had founded they must buildZ
Here might they learn whatever men were taughtZ
Let them not fear some said their heads were lessD3
Some men's were small not they the least of menE2
For often fineness compensated sizeE3
Besides the brain was like the hand and grewB
With using thence the man's if more was moreL2
He took advantage of his strength to beA2
First in the field some ages had been lostZ
But woman ripened earlier and her lifeF3
Was longer and albeit their glorious namesG3
Were fewer scattered stars yet since in truthH3
The highest is the measure of the manE2
And not the Kaffir Hottentot MalayK
Nor those horn handed breakers of the glebeA2
But Homer Plato Verulam even soF
With woman and in arts of governmentZ
Elizabeth and others arts of warL2
The peasant Joan and others arts of graceI3
Sappho and others vied with any manE2
And last not least she who had left her placeI3
And bowed her state to them that they might growF
To use and power on this Oasis laptZ
In the arms of leisure sacred from the blightZ
Of ancient influence and scornE2
At lastZ
She rose upon a wind of prophecyA2
Dilating on the future 'everywhereF
Who heads in council two beside the hearthJ3
Two in the tangled business of the worldZ
Two in the liberal offices of lifeF3
Two plummets dropt for one to sound the abyssC3
Of science and the secrets of the mindZ
Musician painter sculptor critic moreF
And everywhere the broad and bounteous EarthK3
Should bear a double growth of those rare soulsL3
Poets whose thoughts enrich the blood of the world '-
-
She ended here and beckoned us the restZ
Parted and glowing full faced welcome sheA2
Began to address us and was moving onE2
In gratulation till as when a boatZ
Tacks and the slackened sail flaps all her voiceM3
Faltering and fluttering in her throat she criedZ
'My brother ' 'Well my sister ' 'O ' she saidZ
'What do you here and in this dress and theseM
Why who are these a wolf within the foldZ
A pack of wolves the Lord be gracious to meA2
A plot a plot a plot toZ

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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