The Angel In The House. Book Ii. Canto Xi. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDCEFGFGHIHIJKJKLMN M OPNPQCRCSTUTVWHWH XYZYZA2CB2CC2D2C2D2Z ZZZ ZCE2CD2 F2 G2ZG2ZZZZZH2ZH2ZCPCP E2ZE2Z ZCZC I2J2I2J2D2ZD2ZK2BK2B L2ZL2ZZM2ZN2QZQZ O2ZBZA2PA2PP2Q2P2Q2R 2QR2QE2NE2N E2ZS2ZT2U2ZU2Z E2ZV2ZOPreludes | A |
- | |
I Platonic Love | B |
Right art thou who wouldst rather be | C |
A doorkeeper in Love's fair house | D |
Than lead the wretched revelry | C |
Where fools at swinish troughs carouse | E |
But do not boast of being least | F |
And if to kiss thy Mistress' skirt | G |
Amaze thy brain scorn not the Priest | F |
Whom greater honours do not hurt | G |
Stand off and gaze if more than this | H |
Be more than thou canst understand | I |
Revering him whose power of bliss | H |
Angelic dares to seize her hand | I |
Or whose seraphic love makes flight | J |
To the apprehension of her lips | K |
And think the sun of such delight | J |
From thine own darkness takes eclipse | K |
And wouldst thou to the same aspire | L |
This is the art thou must employ | M |
Live greatly so shalt thou acquire | N |
Unknown capacities of joy | M |
- | |
- | |
II A Demonstration | O |
Nature with endless being rife | P |
Parts each thing into him and her | N |
And in the arithmetic of life | P |
The smallest unit is a pair | Q |
And thus oh strange sweet half of me | C |
If I confess a loftier flame | R |
If more I love high Heaven than thee | C |
I more than love thee thee I am | S |
And if the world's not built of lies | T |
Nor all a cheat the Gospel tells | U |
If that which from the dead shall rise | T |
Be I indeed not something else | V |
There's no position more secure | W |
In reason or in faith than this | H |
That those conditions must endure | W |
Which wanting I myself should miss | H |
- | |
III The Symbol | X |
As if I chafed the sparks from glass | Y |
And said It lightens hitherto | Z |
The songs I've made of love may pass | Y |
For all but for proportion true | Z |
But likeness and proportion both | A2 |
Now fail as if a child in glee | C |
Catching the flakes of the salt froth | B2 |
Cried Look my mother here's the sea | C |
Yet by the help of what's so weak | C2 |
But not diverse to those who know | D2 |
And only unto those I speak | C2 |
May far inferring fancy show | D2 |
Love's living sea by coasts uncurb'd | Z |
Its depth its mystery and its might | Z |
Its indignation if disturb'd | Z |
The glittering peace of its delight | Z |
- | |
IV Constancy rewarded | Z |
I vow'd unvarying faith and she | C |
To whom in full I pay that vow | E2 |
Rewards me with variety | C |
Which men who change can never know | D2 |
- | |
- | |
The Wedding | F2 |
- | |
I | - |
Life smitten with a feverish chill | G2 |
The brain too tired to understand | Z |
In apathy of heart and will | G2 |
I took the woman from the hand | Z |
Of him who stood for God and heard | Z |
Of Christ and of the Church his Bride | Z |
The Feast by presence of the Lord | Z |
And his first Wonder beautified | Z |
The mystic sense to Christian men | H2 |
The bonds in innocency made | Z |
And gravely to be enter'd then | H2 |
For children godliness and aid | Z |
And honour'd and kept free from smirch | C |
And how a man must love his wife | P |
No less than Christ did love His Church | C |
If need be giving her his life | P |
And vowing then the mutual vow | E2 |
The tongue spoke but intention slept | Z |
'Tis well for us Heaven asks not how | E2 |
We take this oath but how 'tis kept | Z |
- | |
II | - |
O bold seal of a bashful bond | Z |
Which makes the marriage day to be | C |
To those before it and beyond | Z |
An iceberg in an Indian sea | C |
- | |
III | - |
Now while she's changing said the Dean | I2 |
Her bridal for her travelling dress | J2 |
I'll preach allegiance to your queen | I2 |
Preaching's the thing which I profess | J2 |
And one more minute's mine You know | D2 |
I've paid my girl a father's debt | Z |
And this last charge is all I owe | D2 |
She's your's but I love more than yet | Z |
You can such fondness only wakes | K2 |
When time has raised the heart above | B |
The prejudice of youth which makes | K2 |
Beauty conditional to love | B |
Prepare to meet the weak alarms | L2 |
Of novel nearness recollect | Z |
The eye which magnifies her charms | L2 |
Is microscopic for defect | Z |
Fear comes at first but soon rejoiced | Z |
You'll find your strong and tender loves | M2 |
Like holy rocks by Druids poised | Z |
The least force shakes but none removes | N2 |
Her strength is your esteem beware | Q |
Of finding fault her will's unnerv'd | Z |
By blame from you 'twould be despair | Q |
But praise that is not quite deserv'd | Z |
- | |
- | |
Will all her noble nature move | O2 |
To make your utmost wishes true | Z |
Yet think while mending thus your Love | B |
Of matching her ideal too | Z |
The death of nuptial joy is sloth | A2 |
To keep your mistress in your wife | P |
Keep to the very height your oath | A2 |
And honour her with arduous life | P |
Lastly no personal reverence doff | P2 |
Life's all externals unto those | Q2 |
Who pluck the blushing petals off | P2 |
To find the secret of the rose | Q2 |
How long she's tarrying Green's Hotel | R2 |
I'm sure you'll like The charge is fair | Q |
The wines good I remember well | R2 |
I stay'd once with her Mother there | Q |
A tender conscience of her vow | E2 |
That Mother had She's so like her | N |
But Mrs Fife much flurried now | E2 |
Whisper'd Miss Honor's ready Sir | N |
- | |
- | |
IV | E2 |
Whirl'd off at last for speech I sought | Z |
To keep shy Love in countenance | S2 |
But whilst I vainly tax'd my thought | Z |
Her voice deliver'd mine from trance | T2 |
Look is not this a pretty shawl | U2 |
Aunt's parting gift She's always kind | Z |
The new wing spoils Sir John's old Hall | U2 |
You'll see it if you pull the blind | Z |
- | |
- | |
V | E2 |
I drew the silk in heaven the night | Z |
Was dawning lovely Venus shone | V2 |
In languishment of tearful light | Z |
Swathed by the red breath of the sun | O |
Coventry Patmore
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Angel In The House. Book Ii. Canto Xi. poem by Coventry Patmore
Best Poems of Coventry Patmore