The Last Song Of Sappho Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFGHIGJKKLMNN OPQGRSQTUVQQWQXQTT QYQZA2B2SVQFULC2QAWD 2D2 E2F2C2QD2KBG2GH2H2AW I2J2K2L2L2| Thou tranquil night and thou O gentle ray | A |
| Of the declining moon and thou that o'er | B |
| The rock appearest 'mid the silent grove | C |
| The messenger of day how dear ye were | B |
| And how delightful to these eyes while yet | D |
| Unknown the furies and grim Fate But now | E |
| No gentle sight can soothe this wounded soul | F |
| Then only can forgotten joy revive | G |
| When through the air and o'er the trembling fields | H |
| The raging south wind whirls its clouds of dust | I |
| And when the car the pondrous car of Jove | G |
| Omnipotent high thundering o'er our heads | J |
| A pathway cleaves athwart the dusky sky | K |
| Then would I love with storm charged clouds to fly | K |
| Along the cliffs along the valleys deep | L |
| The headlong flight of frightened flocks to watch | M |
| Or hear upon some swollen river's shore | N |
| The angry billows' loud triumphant roar | N |
| - | |
| How beautiful thou art O heaven divine | O |
| And thou O dewy earth Alas no part | P |
| Of all this beauty infinite the gods | Q |
| And cruel fate to wretched Sappho gave | G |
| To thy proud realms O Nature I a poor | R |
| Unwelcome guest rejected lover come | S |
| To all thy varied forms of loveliness | Q |
| My heart and eyes a suppliant lift in vain | T |
| The sun lit shore hath smiles no more for me | U |
| Nor radiant morning light at heaven's gate | V |
| The birds no longer greet me with their songs | Q |
| Nor whispering trees with gracious messages | Q |
| And where beneath the bending willows' shade | W |
| The limpid stream its bosom pure displays | Q |
| As I with trembling and uncertain foot | X |
| Oppressed with grief upon its margin pause | Q |
| The dimpled waves recoil as in disdain | T |
| And urge their flight along the flowery plain | T |
| - | |
| What fearful crime what hideous excess | Q |
| Have so defiled me e'en before my birth | Y |
| That heaven and fortune frown upon me thus | Q |
| Wherein have I offended as a child | Z |
| When we of evil deeds are ignorant | A2 |
| That thus disfigured of the bloom of youth | B2 |
| Bereft my little thread of life has from | S |
| The spindle of the unrelenting Fate | V |
| Been drawn Alas incautious are thy words | Q |
| Mysterious counsels all events control | F |
| And all except our grief is mystery | U |
| Deserted children we were born to weep | L |
| But why is known to those above alone | C2 |
| O vain the cares the hopes of earlier years | Q |
| To idle shows Jove gives eternal sway | A |
| O'er human hearts Unless in shining robes arrayed | W |
| All manly deeds in arms or art or song | D2 |
| Appeal in vain unto the vulgar throng | D2 |
| - | |
| I die This wretched veil to earth I cast | E2 |
| And for my naked soul a refuge seek | F2 |
| Below and for the cruel faults atone | C2 |
| Of gods the blind dispensers of events | Q |
| And thou to whom I have been bound so long | D2 |
| By hopeless love and lasting faith and by | K |
| The frenzy vain of unappeased desire | B |
| Live live and if thou canst be happy here | G2 |
| My cup o'erflows with bitterness and Jove | G |
| Has from his vase no drop of sweetness shed | H2 |
| For all my childhood's hopes and dreams have fled | H2 |
| The happiest day the soonest fades away | A |
| And then succeed disease old age the shade | W |
| Of icy death Behold alas Of all | I2 |
| My longed for laurels my illusions dear | J2 |
| The end the gulf of hell My spirit proud | K2 |
| Must to the realm of Proserpine descend | L2 |
| The Stygian shore the night that knows no end | L2 |
Count Giacomo Leopardi
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