The Bride's Prelude Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAAACDAAAEFGGGHAAAA IJCCCKALMLNOAAABCAAA MPAAAQRSSSANTTTLUAAA VWXYYAZJJJA2SB2B2B2C 2AD2D2D2B2AE2E2E2AF2 G2G2G2AAMMMIB2AAAALA AABAWWWBH2I2I2I2MJ2A AAAAB2B2B2K2AUUL2ACM 2M2M2N2O2P2P2P2TAMMM Q2AAAACAAAAAAZZZAR2S 2E2T2AL2U2U2U2O2G2A2 A2A2G2MAAAAMV2W2W2W2 X2AAAAY2Z2E2Z2G2F2LL LMA3M2M2M2OG2B3B3B3A C3AAAAD3AAAM2AAHSister said busy Amelotte | A |
To listless Alo se | B |
Along your wedding road the wheat | A |
Bends as to hear your horse's feet | A |
And the noonday stands still for heat | A |
Amelotte laughed into the air | C |
With eyes that sought the sun | D |
But where the walls in long brocade | A |
Were screened as one who is afraid | A |
Sat Alo se within the shade | A |
And even in shade was gleam enough | E |
To shut out full repose | F |
From the bride's 'tiring chamber which | G |
Was like the inner altar niche | G |
Whose dimness worship has made rich | G |
Within the window's heaped recess | H |
The light was counterchanged | A |
In blent reflexes manifold | A |
From perfume caskets of wrought gold | A |
And gems the bride's hair could not hold | A |
All thrust together and with these | I |
A slim curved lute which now | J |
At Amelotte's sudden passing there | C |
Was swept in somewise unaware | C |
And shook to music the close air | C |
Against the haloed lattice panes | K |
The bridesmaid sunned her breast | A |
Then to the glass turned tall and free | L |
And braced and shifted daintily | M |
Her loin belt through her c te hardie | L |
The belt was silver and the clasp | N |
Of lozenged arm bearings | O |
A world of mirrored tints minute | A |
The rippling sunshine wrought into 't | A |
That flushed her hand and warmed her foot | A |
At least an hour had Alo se | B |
Her jewels in her hair | C |
Her white gown as became a bride | A |
Quartered in silver at each side | A |
Sat thus aloof as if to hide | A |
Over her bosom that lay still | M |
The vest was rich in grain | P |
With close pearls wholly overset | A |
Around her throat the fastenings met | A |
Of chevesayle and mantelet | A |
Her arms were laid along her lap | Q |
With the hands open life | R |
Itself did seem at fault in her | S |
Beneath the drooping brows the stir | S |
Of thought made noonday heavier | S |
Long sat she silent and then raised | A |
Her head with such a gasp | N |
As while she summoned breath to speak | T |
Fanned high that furnace in the cheek | T |
But sucked the heart pulse cold and weak | T |
Oh gather round her now all ye | L |
Past seasons of her fear | U |
Sick springs and summers deadly cold | A |
To flight your hovering wings unfold | A |
For now your secret shall be told | A |
Ye many sunlights barbed with darts | V |
Of dread detecting flame | W |
Gaunt moonlights that like sentinels | X |
Went past with iron clank of bells | Y |
Draw round and render up your spells | Y |
Sister said Alo se I had | A |
A thing to tell thee of | Z |
Long since and could not But do thou | J |
Kneel first in prayer awhile and bow | J |
Thine heart and I will tell thee now | J |
Amelotte wondered with her eyes | A2 |
But her heart said in her | S |
Dear Alo se would have me pray | B2 |
Because the awe she feels to day | B2 |
Must need more prayers than she can say | B2 |
So Amelotte put by the folds | C2 |
That covered up her feet | A |
And knelt beyond the arras'd gloom | D2 |
And the hot window's dull perfume | D2 |
Where day was stillest in the room | D2 |
Queen Mary hear she said and say | B2 |
To Jesus the Lord Christ | A |
This bride's new joy which He confers | E2 |
New joy to many ministers | E2 |
And many griefs are bound in hers | E2 |
The bride turned in her chair and hid | A |
Her face against the back | F2 |
And took her pearl girt elbows in | G2 |
Her hands and could not yet begin | G2 |
But shuddering uttered Urscelyn | G2 |
Most weak she was for as she pressed | A |
Her hand against her throat | A |
Along the arras she let trail | M |
Her face as if all heart did fail | M |
And sat with shut eyes dumb and pale | M |
Amelotte still was on her knees | I |
As she had kneeled to pray | B2 |
Deeming her sister swooned she thought | A |
At first some succour to have brought | A |
But Alo se rocked as one distraught | A |
She would have pushed the lattice wide | A |
To gain what breeze might be | L |
But marking that no leaf once beat | A |
The outside casement it seemed meet | A |
Not to bring in more scent and heat | A |
So she said only Alo se | B |
Sister when happened it | A |
At any time that the bride came | W |
To ill or spoke in fear of shame | W |
When speaking first the bridegroom's name | W |
A bird had out its song and ceased | B |
Ere the bride spoke At length | H2 |
She said The name is as the thing | I2 |
Sin hath no second christening | I2 |
And shame is all that shame can bring | I2 |
In divers places many an while | M |
I would have told thee this | J2 |
But faintness took me or a fit | A |
Like fever God would not permit | A |
That I should change thine eyes with it | A |
Yet once I spoke hadst thou but heard | A |
That time we wandered out | A |
All the sun's hours but missed our way | B2 |
When evening darkened and so lay | B2 |
The whole night covered up in hay | B2 |
At last my face was hidden so | K2 |
Having God's hint I paused | A |
Not long but drew myself more near | U |
Where thou wast laid and shook off fear | U |
And whispered quick into thine ear | L2 |
Something of the whole tale At first | A |
I lay and bit my hair | C |
For the sore silence thou didst keep | M2 |
Till as thy breath came long and deep | M2 |
I knew that thou hadst been asleep | M2 |
The moon was covered but the stars | N2 |
Lasted till morning broke | O2 |
Awake thou told'st me that thy dream | P2 |
Had been of me that all did seem | P2 |
At jar but that it was a dream | P2 |
I knew God's hand and might not speak | T |
After that night I kept | A |
Silence and let the record swell | M |
Till now there is much more to tell | M |
Which must be told out ill or well | M |
She paused then weary with dry lips | Q2 |
Apart From the outside | A |
By fits there boomed a dull report | A |
From where i' the hanging tennis court | A |
The bridegroom's retinue made sport | A |
The room lay still in dusty glare | C |
Having no sound through it | A |
Except the chirp of a caged bird | A |
That came and ceased and if she stirred | A |
Amelotte's raiment could be heard | A |
Quoth Amelotte The night this chanced | A |
Was a late summer night | A |
Last year What secret for Christ's love | Z |
Keep'st thou since then Mary above | Z |
What thing is this thou speakest of | Z |
Mary and Christ Lest when 'tis told | A |
I should be prone to wrath | R2 |
This prayer beforehand How she errs | S2 |
Soe'er take count of grief like hers | E2 |
Whereof the days are turned to years | T2 |
She bowed her neck and having said | A |
Kept on her knees to hear | L2 |
And then because strained thought demands | U2 |
Quiet before it understands | U2 |
Darkened her eyesight with her hands | U2 |
So when at last her sister spoke | O2 |
She did not see the pain | G2 |
O' the mouth nor the asham d eyes | A2 |
But marked the breath that came in sighs | A2 |
And the half pausing for replies | A2 |
This was the bride's sad prelude strain | G2 |
I' the convent where a girl | M |
I dwelt till near my womanhood | A |
I had but preachings of the rood | A |
And Aves told in solitude | A |
To spend my heart on and my hand | A |
Had but the weary skill | M |
To eke out upon silken cloth | V2 |
Christ's visage or the long bright growth | W2 |
Of Mary's hair or Satan wroth | W2 |
So when at last I went and thou | W2 |
A child not known before | X2 |
Didst come to take the place I left | A |
My limbs after such lifelong theft | A |
Of life could be but little deft | A |
In all that ministers delight | A |
To noble women I | Y2 |
Had learned no word of youth's discourse | Z2 |
Nor gazed on games of warriors | E2 |
Nor trained a hound nor ruled a horse | Z2 |
Besides the daily life i' the sun | G2 |
Made me at first hold back | F2 |
To thee this came at once to me | L |
It crept with pauses timidly | L |
I am not blithe and strong like thee | L |
Yet my feet liked the dances well | M |
The songs went to my voice | A3 |
The music made me shake and weep | M2 |
And often all night long my sleep | M2 |
Gave dreams I had been fain to keep | M2 |
But though I loved not holy things | O |
To hear them scorned brought pain | G2 |
They were my childhood and these dames | B3 |
Were merely perjured in saints' names | B3 |
And fixed upon saints' days for games | B3 |
And sometimes when my father rode | A |
To hunt with his loud friends | C3 |
I dared not bring him to be quaff'd | A |
As my wont was his stirrup draught | A |
Because they jested so and laughed | A |
At last one day my brothers said | A |
The girl must not grow thus | D3 |
Bring her a jennet she shall ride | A |
They helped my mounting and I tried | A |
To laugh with them and keep their side | A |
But brakes were rough and bents were steep | M2 |
Upon our path that day | A |
My palfrey threw me and I went | A |
Upon men's shoulders home sore s | H |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1)
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