The Princess (part I) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCD EFGHIJKLEMBNOPQOORSO TOUOOVWVXYZA2OVB2C2 VOD2E2VOF2G2H2V VOOOVVI2 OJ2VVK2F2L2VC2F2 HOTM2C2G2VVHOF2V N2F2O2V P2V VQ2VVOB2VA2OO R2VVVOVOVVS2OOT OVOF2OG2VT2OOXVVF2U2 OXKV2W2VVVE2VX2OOS2V 2OOJ2Y2HF2XF2L2OF2I2 VOVF2O TF2OOVVVZ2Q2A3OVOT VVOQVB3VOC3B3D3E3F2O OVOOOVVVVF2F3Z2OG3OO VOOH3OOVVOOTF2Q2OI3F 2 J3K3VVH3Q2VE3VOVV VL3V F2H2 VM3N3OO3VH3P3H3 VOI2I2OVOX2OVOE3E3O

A prince I was blue eyed and fair in faceA
Of temper amorous as the first of MayB
With lengths of yellow ringlet like a girlC
For on my cradle shone the Northern starD
-
There lived an ancient legend in our houseE
Some sorcerer whom a far off grandsire burntF
Because he cast no shadow had foretoldG
Dying that none of all our blood should knowH
The shadow from the substance and that oneI
Should come to fight with shadows and to fallJ
For so my mother said the story ranK
And truly waking dreams were more or lessL
An old and strange affection of the houseE
Myself too had weird seizures Heaven knows whatM
On a sudden in the midst of men and dayB
And while I walked and talked as heretoforeN
I seemed to move among a world of ghostsO
And feel myself the shadow of a dreamP
Our great court Galen poised his gilt head caneQ
And pawed his beard and muttered 'catalepsy'O
My mother pitying made a thousand prayersO
My mother was as mild as any saintR
Half canonized by all that looked on herS
So gracious was her tact and tendernessO
But my good father thought a king a kingT
He cared not for the affection of the houseO
He held his sceptre like a pedant's wandU
To lash offence and with long arms and handsO
Reached out and picked offenders from the massO
For judgmentV
Now it chanced that I had beenW
While life was yet in bud and blade bethrothedV
To one a neighbouring Princess she to meX
Was proxy wedded with a bootless calfY
At eight years old and still from time to timeZ
Came murmurs of her beauty from the SouthA2
And of her brethren youths of puissanceO
And still I wore her picture by my heartV
And one dark tress and all around them bothB2
Sweet thoughts would swarm as bees about their queenC2
-
But when the days drew nigh that I should wedV
My father sent ambassadors with fursO
And jewels gifts to fetch her these brought backD2
A present a great labour of the loomE2
And therewithal an answer vague as windV
Besides they saw the king he took the giftsO
He said there was a compact that was trueF2
But then she had a will was he to blameG2
And maiden fancies loved to live aloneH2
Among her women certain would not wedV
-
That morning in the presence room I stoodV
With Cyril and with Florian my two friendsO
The first a gentleman of broken meansO
His father's fault but given to starts and burstsO
Of revel and the last my other heartV
And almost my half self for still we movedV
Together twinned as horse's ear and eyeI2
-
Now while they spake I saw my father's faceO
Grow long and troubled like a rising moonJ2
Inflamed with wrath he started on his feetV
Tore the king's letter snowed it down and rentV
The wonder of the loom through warp and woofK2
From skirt to skirt and at the last he swareF2
That he would send a hundred thousand menL2
And bring her in a whirlwind then he chewedV
The thrice turned cud of wrath and cooked his spleenC2
Communing with his captains of the warF2
-
At last I spoke 'My father let me goH
It cannot be but some gross error liesO
In this report this answer of a kingT
Whom all men rate as kind and hospitableM2
Or maybe I myself my bride once seenC2
Whate'er my grief to find her less than fameG2
May rue the bargain made ' And Florian saidV
'I have a sister at the foreign courtV
Who moves about the Princess she you knowH
Who wedded with a nobleman from thenceO
He dying lately left her as I hearF2
The lady of three castles in that landV
Through her this matter might be sifted clean '-
And Cyril whispered 'Take me with you too '-
Then laughing 'what if these weird seizures comeN2
Upon you in those lands and no one nearF2
To point you out the shadow from the truthO2
Take me I'll serve you better in a straitV
I grate on rusty hinges here ' but 'No '-
Roared the rough king 'you shall not we ourselfP2
Will crush her pretty maiden fancies deadV
In iron gauntlets break the council up '-
-
But when the council broke I rose and pastV
Through the wild woods that hung about the townQ2
Found a still place and plucked her likeness outV
Laid it on flowers and watched it lying bathedV
In the green gleam of dewy tasselled treesO
What were those fancies wherefore break her trothB2
Proud looked the lips but while I meditatedV
A wind arose and rushed upon the SouthA2
And shook the songs the whispers and the shrieksO
Of the wild woods together and a VoiceO
Went with it 'Follow follow thou shalt win '-
-
Then ere the silver sickle of that monthR2
Became her golden shield I stole from courtV
With Cyril and with Florian unperceivedV
Cat footed through the town and half in dreadV
To hear my father's clamour at our backsO
With Ho from some bay window shake the nightV
But all was quiet from the bastioned wallsO
Like threaded spiders one by one we droptV
And flying reached the frontier then we crostV
To a livelier land and so by tilth and grangeS2
And vines and blowing bosks of wildernessO
We gained the mother city thick with towersO
And in the imperial palace found the kingT
-
His name was Gama cracked and small his voiceO
But bland the smile that like a wrinkling windV
On glassy water drove his cheek in linesO
A little dry old man without a starF2
Not like a king three days he feasted usO
And on the fourth I spake of why we cameG2
And my bethrothed 'You do us Prince ' he saidV
Airing a snowy hand and signet gemT2
'All honour We remember love ourselvesO
In our sweet youth there did a compact passO
Long summers back a kind of ceremonyX
I think the year in which our olives failedV
I would you had her Prince with all my heartV
With my full heart but there were widows hereF2
Two widows Lady Psyche Lady BlancheU2
They fed her theories in and out of placeO
Maintaining that with equal husbandryX
The woman were an equal to the manK
They harped on this with this our banquets rangV2
Our dances broke and buzzed in knots of talkW2
Nothing but this my very ears were hotV
To hear them knowledge so my daughter heldV
Was all in all they had but been she thoughtV
As children they must lose the child assumeE2
The woman then Sir awful odes she wroteV
Too awful sure for what they treated ofX2
But all she is and does is awful odesO
About this losing of the child and rhymesO
And dismal lyrics prophesying changeS2
Beyond all reason these the women sangV2
And they that know such things I sought but peaceO
No critic I would call them masterpiecesO
They mastered me At last she begged a boonJ2
A certain summer palace which I haveY2
Hard by your father's frontier I said noH
Yet being an easy man gave it and thereF2
All wild to found an UniversityX
For maidens on the spur she fled and moreF2
We know not only this they see no menL2
Not even her brother Arac nor the twinsO
Her brethren though they love her look upon herF2
As on a kind of paragon and II2
Pardon me saying it were much loth to breedV
Dispute betwixt myself and mine but sinceO
And I confess with right you think me boundV
In some sort I can give you letters to herF2
And yet to speak the truth I rate your chanceO
Almost at naked nothing '-
Thus the kingT
And I though nettled that he seemed to slurF2
With garrulous ease and oily courtesiesO
Our formal compact yet not less all fretsO
But chafing me on fire to find my brideV
Went forth again with both my friends We rodeV
Many a long league back to the North At lastV
From hills that looked across a land of hopeZ2
We dropt with evening on a rustic townQ2
Set in a gleaming river's crescent curveA3
Close at the boundary of the libertiesO
There entered an old hostel called mine hostV
To council plied him with his richest winesO
And showed the late writ letters of the kingT
-
He with a long low sibilation staredV
As blank as death in marble then exclaimedV
Averring it was clear against all rulesO
For any man to go but as his brainQ
Began to mellow 'If the king ' he saidV
'Had given us letters was he bound to speakB3
The king would bear him out ' and at the lastV
The summer of the vine in all his veinsO
'No doubt that we might make it worth his whileC3
She once had past that way he heard her speakB3
She scared him life he never saw the likeD3
She looked as grand as doomsday and as graveE3
And he he reverenced his liege lady thereF2
He always made a point to post with maresO
His daughter and his housemaid were the boysO
The land he understood for miles aboutV
Was tilled by women all the swine were sowsO
And all the dogs'O
But while he jested thusO
A thought flashed through me which I clothed in actV
Remembering how we three presented MaidV
Or Nymph or Goddess at high tide of feastV
In masque or pageant at my father's courtV
We sent mine host to purchase female gearF2
He brought it and himself a sight to shakeF3
The midriff of despair with laughter holpZ2
To lace us up till each in maiden plumesO
We rustled him we gave a costly bribeG3
To guerdon silence mounted our good steedsO
And boldly ventured on the libertiesO
-
We followed up the river as we rodeV
And rode till midnight when the college lightsO
Began to glitter firefly like in copseO
And linden alley then we past an archH3
Whereon a woman statue rose with wingsO
From four winged horses dark against the starsO
And some inscription ran along the frontV
But deep in shadow further on we gainedV
A little street half garden and half houseO
But scarce could hear each other speak for noiseO
Of clocks and chimes like silver hammers fallingT
On silver anvils and the splash and stirF2
Of fountains spouted up and showering downQ2
In meshes of the jasmine and the roseO
And all about us pealed the nightingaleI3
Rapt in her song and careless of the snareF2
-
There stood a bust of Pallas for a signJ3
By two sphere lamps blazoned like Heaven and EarthK3
With constellation and with continentV
Above an entry riding in we calledV
A plump armed Ostleress and a stable wenchH3
Came running at the call and helped us downQ2
Then stept a buxom hostess forth and sailedV
Full blown before us into rooms which gaveE3
Upon a pillared porch the bases lostV
In laurel her we asked of that and thisO
And who were tutors 'Lady Blanche' she saidV
'And Lady Psyche ' 'Which was prettiestV
Best natured ' 'Lady Psyche ' 'Hers are we '-
One voice we cried and I sat down and wroteV
In such a hand as when a field of cornL3
Bows all its ears before the roaring EastV
-
'Three ladies of the Northern empire prayF2
Your Highness would enroll them with your ownH2
As Lady Psyche's pupils '-
This I sealedV
The seal was Cupid bent above a scrollM3
And o'er his head Uranian Venus hungN3
And raised the blinding bandage from his eyesO
I gave the letter to be sent with dawnO3
And then to bed where half in doze I seemedV
To float about a glimmering night and watchH3
A full sea glazed with muffled moonlight swellP3
On some dark shore just seen that it was richH3
-
-
As through the land at eve we wentV
And plucked the ripened earsO
We fell out my wife and II2
O we fell out I know not whyI2
And kissed again with tearsO
And blessings on the falling outV
That all the more endearsO
When we fall out with those we loveX2
And kiss again with tearsO
For when we came where lies the childV
We lost in other yearsO
There above the little graveE3
O there above the little graveE3
We kissed again with tearsO

Alfred Lord Tennyson



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