Cleopatra Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABA CDCDC EFEFE GHGHG IJIJI KLMLK NONON PQRQR STSTS NUNUU EUEUE EVEVE EWEXE EYEYE UGUGU IEIES UYUYU UZUZU AMAMA ZEZEZ

HER mouth is fragrant as a vineA
A vine with birds in all its boughsB
Serpent and scarab for a signA
Between the beauty of her browsB
And the amorous deep lids divineA
-
Her great curled hair makes luminousC
Her cheeks her lifted throat and chinD
Shall she not have the hearts of usC
To shatter and the loves thereinD
To shred between her fingers thusC
-
Small ruined broken strays of lightE
Pearl after pearl she shreds them throughF
Her long sweet sleepy fingers whiteE
As any pearl's heart veined with blueF
And soft as dew on a soft nightE
-
As if the very eyes of loveG
Shone through her shutting lids and stoleH
The slow looks of a snake or doveG
As if her lips absorbed the wholeH
Of love her soul the soul thereofG
-
Lost all the lordly pearls that wereI
Wrung from the sea's heart from the greenJ
Coasts of the Indian gulf riverI
Lost all the loves of the world so keenJ
Towards this queen for love of herI
-
You see against her throat the smallK
Sharp glittering shadows of them shakeL
And through her hair the imperialM
Curled likeness of the river snakeL
Whose bite shall make an end of allK
-
Through the scales sheathing him like wingsN
Through hieroglyphs of gold and gemO
The strong sense of her beauty stingsN
Like a keen pulse of love in themO
A running flame through all his ringsN
-
Under those low large lids of hersP
She hath the histories of all timeQ
The fruit of foliage stricken yearsR
The old seasons with their heavy chimeQ
That leaves its rhyme in the world's earsR
-
She sees the hand of death made bareS
The ravelled riddle of the skiesT
The faces faded that were fairS
The mouths made speechless that were wiseT
The hollow eyes and dusty hairS
-
The shape and shadow of mystic thingsN
Things that fate fashions or forbidsU
The staff of time forgotten KingsN
Whose name falls off the PyramidsU
Their coffin lids and grave clothingsU
-
Dank dregs the scum of pool or clodE
God spawn of lizard footed clansU
And those dog headed hulks that trodE
Swart necks of the old EgyptiansU
Raw draughts of man's beginning GodE
-
The poised hawk quivering ere he smoteE
With plume like gems on breast and backV
The asps and water worms afloatE
Between the rush flowers moist and slackV
The cat's warm black bright rising throatE
-
The purple days of drouth expandE
Like a scroll opened out againW
The molten heaven drier than sandE
The hot red heaven without rainX
Sheds iron pain on the empty landE
-
All Egypt aches in the sun's sightE
The lips of men are harsh for drouthY
The fierce air leaves their cheeks burnt whiteE
Charred by the bitter blowing southY
Whose dusty mouth is sharp to biteE
-
All this she dreams of and her eyesU
Are wrought after the sense hereofG
There is no heart in her for sighsU
The face of her is more than loveG
A name above the PtolemiesU
-
Her great grave beauty covers herI
As that sleek spoil beneath her feetE
Clothed once the anointed soothsayerI
The hallowing is gone forth from itE
Now made unmeet for priests to wearS
-
She treads on gods and god like thingsU
On fate and fear and life and deathY
On hate that cleaves and love that clingsU
All that is brought forth of man's breathY
And perisheth with what it bringsU
-
She holds her future close her lipsU
Hold fast the face of things to beZ
Actium and sound of war that dipsU
Down the blown valleys of the seaZ
Far sails that flee and storms of shipsU
-
The laughing red sweet mouth of wineA
At ending of life's festivalM
That spice of cerecloths and the fineA
White bitter dust funerealM
Sprinkled on all things for a signA
-
His face who was and was not heZ
In whom alive her life abodeE
The end when she gained heart to seeZ
Those ways of death wherein she trodE
Goddess by god with AntonyZ

Algernon Charles Swinburne



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