Xantippe Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJJKLMNOPQRST UQCAVDWXYZA2B2ZC2D2E 2ZF2ZZG2CZZZZZH2ZI2J 2E2K2ZZZL2ZZM2N2O2P2 Q2R2FS2T2A2ZU2V2W2MZ O2X2FLY2Z2ZU2A3GB3S2 A3X2C3QFD3E3CZD2ZF3Y K2ZA2EQZZEV2G3H3I3EQ E2BJ3EK3ZL3K2FM3N3ZO 3QP3EN2EAJ3Q3ZZZX2ZR 3BS3T3G3ZJ2U3N3V3ZJ2 ZZZ2W3ZL3ZU2C3X3ZY3Z 3ZZAA2ZCA4FZB2 B4C4D4E4QZ3E4Zi A Fragment i | A |
- | |
- | |
What have I waked again I never thought | B |
To see the rosy dawn or ev'n this grey | C |
Dull solemn stillness ere the dawn has come | D |
The lamp burns low low burns the lamp of life | E |
The still morn stays expectant and my soul | F |
All weighted with a passive wonderment | G |
Waiteth and watcheth waiteth for the dawn | H |
Come hither maids too soundly have ye slept | I |
That should have watched me nay I would not chide | J |
Oft have I chidden yet I would not chide | J |
In this last hour now all should be at peace | K |
I have been dreaming in a troubled sleep | L |
Of weary days I thought not to recall | M |
Of stormy days whose storms are hushed long since | N |
Of gladsome days of sunny days alas | O |
In dreaming all their sunshine seem'd so sad | P |
As though the current of the dark To Be | Q |
Had flow'd prophetic through the happy hours | R |
And yet full well I know it was not thus | S |
I mind me sweetly of the summer days | T |
When leaning from the lattice I have caught | U |
The fair far glimpses of a shining sea | Q |
And nearer of tall ships which thronged the bay | C |
And stood out blackly from a tender sky | A |
All flecked with sulphur azure and bright gold | V |
And in the still clear air have heard the hum | D |
Of distant voices and methinks there rose | W |
No darker fount to mar or stain the joy | X |
Which sprang ecstatic in my maiden breast | Y |
Than just those vague desires those hopes and fears | Z |
Those eager longings strong though undefined | A2 |
Whose very sadness makes them seem so sweet | B2 |
What cared I for the merry mockeries | Z |
Of other maidens sitting at the loom | C2 |
Or for sharp voices bidding me return | D2 |
To maiden labour Were we not apart | E2 |
I and my high thoughts and my golden dreams | Z |
My soul which yearned for knowledge for a tongue | F2 |
That should proclaim the stately mysteries | Z |
Of this fair world and of the holy gods | Z |
Then followed days of sadness as I grew | G2 |
To learn my woman mind had gone astray | C |
And I was sinning in those very thoughts | Z |
For maidens mark such are not woman's thoughts | Z |
And yet 'tis strange the gods who fashion us | Z |
Have given us such promptings | Z |
Fled the years | Z |
Till seventeen had found me tall and strong | H2 |
And fairer runs it than Athenian maids | Z |
Are wont to seem I had not learnt it well | I2 |
My lesson of dumb patience and I stood | J2 |
At Life's great threshold with a beating heart | E2 |
And soul resolved to conquer and attain | K2 |
Once walking 'thwart the crowded market place | Z |
With other maidens bearing in the twigs | Z |
White doves for Aphrodite's sacrifice | Z |
I saw him all ungainly and uncouth | L2 |
Yet many gathered round to hear his words | Z |
Tall youths and stranger maidens Sokrates | Z |
I saw his face and marked it half with awe | M2 |
Half with a quick repulsion at the shape | N2 |
The richest gem lies hidden furthest down | O2 |
And is the dearer for the weary search | P2 |
We grasp the shining shells which strew the shore | Q2 |
Yet swift we fling them from us but the gem | R2 |
We keep for aye and cherish So a soul | F |
Found after weary searching in the flesh | S2 |
Which half repelled our senses is more dear | T2 |
For that same seeking than the sunny mind | A2 |
Which lavish Nature marks with thousand hints | Z |
Upon a brow of beauty We are prone | U2 |
To overweigh such subtle hints then deem | V2 |
In after disappointment we are fooled | W2 |
And when at length my father told me all | M |
That I should wed me with great Sokrates | Z |
I foolish wept to see at once cast down | O2 |
The maiden image of a future love | X2 |
Where perfect body matched the perfect soul | F |
But slowly softly did I cease to weep | L |
Slowly I 'gan to mark the magic flash | Y2 |
Leap to the eyes to watch the sudden smile | Z2 |
Break round the mouth and linger in the eyes | Z |
To listen for the voice's lightest tone | U2 |
Great voice whose cunning modulations seemed | A3 |
Like to the notes of some sweet instrument | G |
So did I reach and strain until at last | B3 |
I caught the soul athwart the grosser flesh | S2 |
Again of thee sweet Hope my spirit dreamed | A3 |
I guided by his wisdom and his love | X2 |
Led by his words and counselled by his care | C3 |
Should lift the shrouding veil from things which be | Q |
And at the flowing fountain of his soul | F |
Refresh my thirsting spirit | D3 |
And indeed | E3 |
In those long days which followed that strange day | C |
When rites and song and sacrifice and flow'rs | Z |
Proclaimed that we were wedded did I learn | D2 |
In sooth a many lessons bitter ones | Z |
Which sorrow taught me and not love inspired | F3 |
Which deeper knowledge of my kind impressed | Y |
With dark insistence on reluctant brain | K2 |
But that great wisdom deeper which dispels | Z |
Narrowed conclusions of a half grown mind | A2 |
And sees athwart the littleness of life | E |
Nature's divineness and her harmony | Q |
Was never poor Xantippe's | Z |
I would pause | Z |
And would recall no more no more of life | E |
Than just the incomplete imperfect dream | V2 |
Of early summers with their light and shade | G3 |
Their blossom hopes whose fruit was never ripe | H3 |
But something strong within me some sad chord | I3 |
Which loudly echoes to the later life | E |
Me to unfold the after misery | Q |
Urges with plaintive wailing in my heart | E2 |
Yet maidens mark I would not that ye thought | B |
I blame my lord departed for he meant | J3 |
No evil so I take it to his wife | E |
'Twas only that the high philosopher | K3 |
Pregnant with noble theories and great thoughts | Z |
Deigned not to stoop to touch so slight a thing | L3 |
As the fine fabric of a woman's brain | K2 |
So subtle as a passionate woman's soul | F |
I think if he had stooped a little and cared | M3 |
I might have risen nearer to his height | N3 |
And not lain shattered neither fit for use | Z |
As goodly household vessel nor for that | O3 |
Far finer thing which I had hoped to be | Q |
Death holding high his retrospective lamp | P3 |
Shows me those first far years of wedded life | E |
Ere I had learnt to grasp the barren shape | N2 |
Of what the Fates had destined for my life | E |
Then as all youthful spirits are was I | A |
Wholly incredulous that Nature meant | J3 |
So little who had promised me so much | Q3 |
At first I fought my fate with gentle words | Z |
With high endeavours after greater things | Z |
Striving to win the soul of Sokrates | Z |
Like some slight bird who sings her burning love | X2 |
To human master till at length she finds | Z |
Her tender language wholly misconceived | R3 |
And that same hand whose kind caress she sought | B |
With fingers flippant flings the careless corn | S3 |
I do remember how one summer's eve | T3 |
He seated in an arbour's leafy shade | G3 |
Had bade me bring fresh wine skins | Z |
As I stood | J2 |
Ling'ring upon the threshold half concealed | U3 |
By tender foliage and my spirit light | N3 |
With draughts of sunny weather did I mark | V3 |
An instant the gay group before mine eyes | Z |
Deepest in shade and facing where I stood | J2 |
Sat Plato with his calm face and low brows | Z |
Which met above the narrow Grecian eyes | Z |
The pale thin lips just parted to the smile | Z2 |
Which dimpled that smooth olive of his cheek | W3 |
His head a little bent sat Sokrates | Z |
With one swart finger raised admonishing | L3 |
And on the air were borne his changing tones | Z |
Low lounging at his feet one fair arm thrown | U2 |
Around his knee the other high in air | C3 |
Brandish'd a brazen amphor which yet rained | X3 |
Bright drops of ruby on the golden locks | Z |
And temples with their fillets of the vine | Y3 |
Lay Alkibiades the beautiful | Z3 |
And thus with solemn tone spake Sokrates | Z |
' This fair Aspasia which our Perikles | Z |
Hath brought from realms afar and set on high | A |
In our Athenian city hath a mind | A2 |
I doubt not of a strength beyond her race | Z |
And makes employ of it beyond the way | C |
Of women nobly gifted woman's frail | A4 |
Her body rarely stands the test of soul | F |
She grows intoxicate with knowledge throws | Z |
The laws of custom order 'neath her feet | B2 |
Feasting at life's great banquet with wide throat ' | - |
Then sudden stepping from my leafy screen | B4 |
Holding the swelling wine skin o'er my head | C4 |
With breast that heaved and eyes and cheeks aflame | D4 |
Lit by a fury and a thought I spake | E4 |
' By all great powers around us can it be | Q |
That we poor women are empirical | Z3 |
That gods who fashioned us did strive to make | E4 |
Beings | Z |
Amy Levy
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Xantippe poem by Amy Levy
Best Poems of Amy Levy