The Colloquy Of Monos And Una Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B C BDAA E FGFHAIJ KLKABMKIAAC I NO O PFQA I OAO O A I A O QIARIQH I OIOMBIIIAAQDSTAHAMOM QOAAAIQTAABBIAIAUMQO QIOBVABBMIHRROWAIHQQ XAHIIUIOTYZAIAA2QIB2 BRHIMIHAC2C2D2E2MF2A IAO BMIOG2QAQAQVO O QMMMAIOIQV I MAH2TC2OBIFM HQAAIRI AIIIMIFHHRAOII2J2QK2 IMQL2ABIABABMF2AFQMO HIAATM2ON2AIQI L2AIMUOMA O2QOAIAAP2IOAQ2AOO2M OAAIMQAAIAOR2 IMQOIAHIMIOQFQIE2BHI QIQIHAHS2AQM IAFAOAHP2FIMMMI IIT2IBFIE2J2M2AAU2 TAAAA OAMIOIETAOQPRIRMAMQV 2AQAW2IJ2AAI

Greek Mellonta sauta'A
-
These things are in the futureB
-
Sophocles 'Antig '-
-
'Una '-
-
Born againC
-
'Monos '-
-
Yes fairest and best beloved Una born again These wereB
the words upon whose mystical meaning I had so longD
pondered rejecting the explanations of the priesthoodA
until Death itself resolved for me the secretA
-
'Una '-
-
DeathE
-
'Monos '-
-
How strangely sweet Una you echo my words IF
observe too a vacillation in your step a joyousG
inquietude in your eyes You are confused and oppressed byF
the majestic novelty of the Life Eternal Yes it was ofH
Death I spoke And here how singularly sounds that wordA
which of old was wont to bring terror to all heartsI
throwing a mildew upon all pleasuresJ
-
'Una '-
-
Ah Death the spectre which sate at all feasts How oftenK
Monos did we lose ourselves in speculations upon itsL
nature How mysteriously did it act as a check to humanK
bliss saying unto it thus far and no farther ThatA
earnest mutual love my own Monos which burned within ourB
bosoms how vainly did we flatter ourselves feeling happyM
in its first upspringing that our happiness would strengthenK
with its strength Alas as it grew so grew in our heartsI
the dread of that evil hour which was hurrying to separateA
us forever Thus in time it became painful to love HateA
would have been mercy thenC
-
'Monos'I
-
Speak not here of these griefs dear Una mine mineN
forever nowO
-
'Una'O
-
But the memory of past sorrow is it not present joy I haveP
much to say yet of the things which have been Above all IF
burn to know the incidents of your own passage through theQ
dark Valley and ShadowA
-
'Monos'I
-
And when did the radiant Una ask anything of her Monos inO
vain I will be minute in relating all but at what pointA
shall the weird narrative beginO
-
'Una'O
-
At what pointA
-
'Monos'I
-
You have saidA
-
'Una'O
-
Monos I comprehend you In Death we have both learned theQ
propensity of man to define the indefinable I will not sayI
then commence with the moment of life's cessation butA
commence with that sad sad instant when the fever havingR
abandoned you you sank into a breathless and motionlessI
torpor and I pressed down your pallid eyelids with theQ
passionate fingers of loveH
-
'Monos'I
-
One word first my Una in regard to man's general conditionO
at this epoch You will remember that one or two of the wiseI
among our forefathers wise in fact although not inO
the world's esteem had ventured to doubt the proprietyM
of the term improvement as applied to the progress of ourB
civilization There were periods in each of the five or sixI
centuries immediately preceding our dissolution when aroseI
some vigorous intellect boldly contending for thoseI
principles whose truth appears now to our disenfranchisedA
reason so utterly obvious principles which shouldA
have taught our race to submit to the guidance of theQ
natural laws rather than attempt their control At longD
intervals some master minds appeared looking upon eachS
advance in practical science as a retrogradation in the trueT
utility Occasionally the poetic intellect thatA
intellect which we now feel to have been the most exalted ofH
all since those truths which to us were of the mostA
enduring importance could only be reached by that analogyM
which speaks in proof tones to the imagination aloneO
and to the unaided reason bears no weight occasionallyM
did this poetic intellect proceed a step farther in theQ
evolving of the vague idea of the philosophic and find inO
the mystic parable that tells of the tree of knowledge andA
of its forbidden fruit death producing a distinctA
intimation that knowledge was not meet for man in the infantA
condition of his soul And these men the poetsI
living and perishing amid the scorn of theQ
utilitarians of rough pedants who arrogated toT
themselves a title which could have been properly appliedA
only to the scorned these men the poets ponderedA
piningly yet not unwisely upon the ancient days when ourB
wants were not more simple than our enjoyments wereB
keen days when mirth was a word unknown soI
solemnly deep toned was happiness holy august andA
blissful days blue rivers ran undammed between hillsI
unhewn into far forest solitudes primeval odorous andA
unexplored Yet these noble exceptions from the generalU
misrule served but to strengthen it by opposition Alas weM
had fallen upon the most evil of all our evil days TheQ
great movement that was the cant term went onO
a diseased commotion moral and physical Art theQ
Arts arose supreme and once enthroned cast chainsI
upon the intellect which had elevated them to power ManO
because he could not but acknowledge the majesty of NatureB
fell into childish exultation at his acquired and stillV
increasing dominion over her elements Even while he stalkedA
a God in his own fancy an infantine imbecility came overB
him As might be supposed from the origin of his disorderB
he grew infected with system and with abstraction HeM
enwrapped himself in generalities Among other odd ideasI
that of universal equality gained ground and in the face ofH
analogy and of God in despite of the loud warningR
voice of the laws of gradation so visibly pervadingR
all things in Earth and Heaven wild attempts at anO
omniprevalent Democracy were made Yet this evil sprangW
necessarily from the leading evil Knowledge Man could notA
both know and succumb Meantime huge smoking cities aroseI
innumerable Green leaves shrank before the hot breath ofH
furnaces The fair face of Nature was deformed as with theQ
ravages of some loathsome disease And methinks sweet UnaQ
even our slumbering sense of the forced and of the farX
fetched might have arrested us here But now it appears thatA
we had worked out our own destruction in the perversion ofH
our taste or rather in the blind neglect of itsI
culture in the schools For in truth it was at this crisisI
that taste alone that faculty which holding a middleU
position between the pure intellect and the moral senseI
could never safely have been disregarded it was nowO
that taste alone could have led us gently back to Beauty toT
Nature and to Life But alas for the pure contemplativeY
spirit and majestic intuition of Plato Alas for the GreekZ
mousichae which he justly regarded as an all sufficientA
education for the soul Alas for him and for it sinceI
both were most desperately needed when both were mostA
entirely forgotten or despised Pascal a philosopher whomA2
we both love has said how truly Que tout notreQ
raisonnement se reduit a ceder au sentiment and it isI
not impossible that the sentiment of the natural had timeB2
permitted it would have regained its old ascendency overB
the harsh mathematical reason of the schools But this thingR
was not to be Prematurely induced by intemperance ofH
knowledge the old age of the world drew near This the massI
of mankind saw not or living lustily although unhappilyM
affected not to see But for myself the Earth's recordsI
had taught me to look for widest ruin as the price ofH
highest civilization I had imbibed a prescience of our FateA
from comparison of China the simple and enduring withC2
Assyria the architect with Egypt the astrologer withC2
Nubia more crafty than either the turbulent mother of allD2
Arts In the history of these regions I met with a ray fromE2
the Future The individual artificialities of the threeM
latter were local diseases of the Earth and in theirF2
individual overthrows we had seen local remedies appliedA
but for the infected world at large I could anticipate noI
regeneration save in death That man as a race should notA
become extinct I saw that he must be born againO
-
And now it was fairest and dearest that we wrapped ourB
spirits daily in dreams Now it was that in twilight weM
discoursed of the days to come when the Art scarred surfaceI
of the Earth having undergone that purification which aloneO
could efface its rectangular obscenities should clotheG2
itself anew in the verdure and the mountain slopes and theQ
smiling waters of Paradise and be rendered at length a fitA
dwelling place for man for man theQ
Death purged for man to whose now exalted intellectA
there should be poison in knowledge no more for theQ
redeemed regenerated blissful and now immortal but stillV
for the material manO
-
'Una'O
-
Well do I remember these conversations dear Monos but theQ
epoch of the fiery overthrow was not so near at hand as weM
believed and as the corruption you indicate did surelyM
warrant us in believing Men lived and died individuallyM
You yourself sickened and passed into the grave andA
thither your constant Una speedily followed you And thoughI
the century which has since elapsed and whose conclusionO
brings up together once more tortured our slumbering sensesI
with no impatience of duration yet my Monos it was aQ
century stillV
-
'Monos'I
-
Say rather a point in the vague infinity UnquestionablyM
it was in the Earth's dotage that I died Wearied at heartA
with anxieties which had their origin in the general turmoilH2
and decay I succumbed to the fierce fever After some fewT
days of pain and many of dreamy delirium replete withC2
ecstasy the manifestations of which you mistook for painO
while I longed but was impotent to undeceive you afterB
some days there came upon me as you have said a breathlessI
and motionless torpor and this was termed Death byF
those who stood around meM
-
Words are vague things My condition did not deprive me ofH
sentience It appeared to me not greatly dissimilar to theQ
extreme quiescence of him who having slumbered long andA
profoundly lying motionless and fully prostrate in a midA
summer noon begins to steal slowly back into consciousnessI
through the mere sufficiency of his sleep and without beingR
awakened by external disturbancesI
-
I breathed no longer The pulses were still The heart hadA
ceased to beat Volition had not departed but wasI
powerless The senses were unusually active althoughI
eccentrically so assuming often each other's functionsI
at random The taste and the smell were inextricablyM
confounded and became one sentiment abnormal and intenseI
The rose water with which your tenderness had moistened myF
lips to the last affected me with sweet fancies ofH
flowers fantastic flowers far more lovely than any ofH
the old Earth but whose prototypes we have here bloomingR
around us The eye lids transparent and bloodless offeredA
no complete impediment to vision As volition was inO
abeyance the balls could not roll in their socketsI
but all objects within the range of the visual hemisphereI2
were seen with more or less distinctness the rays whichJ2
fell upon the external retina or into the corner of theQ
eye producing a more vivid effect than those which struckK2
the front or interior surface Yet in the former instanceI
this effect was so far anomalous that I appreciated it onlyM
as sound sound sweet or discordant as theQ
matters presenting themselves at my side were light or darkL2
in shade curved or angular in outline The hearing atA
the same time although excited in degree was not irregularB
in action estimating real sounds with an extravaganceI
of precision not less than of sensibility Touch hadA
undergone a modification more peculiar Its impressions wereB
tardily received but pertinaciously retained and resultedA
always in the highest physical pleasure Thus the pressureB
of your sweet fingers upon my eyelids at first onlyM
recognized through vision at length long after theirF2
removal filled my whole being with a sensual delightA
immeasurable I say with a sensual delight All myF
perceptions were purely sensual The materials furnished theQ
passive brain by the senses were not in the least degreeM
wrought into shape by the deceased understanding Of painO
there was some little of pleasure there was much but ofH
moral pain or pleasure none at all Thus your wild sobsI
floated into my ear with all their mournful cadences andA
were appreciated in their every variation of sad tone butA
they were soft musical sounds and no more they conveyed toT
the extinct reason no intimation of the sorrows which gaveM2
them birth while large and constant tears which fell uponO
my face telling the bystanders of a heart which brokeN2
thrilled every fibre of my frame with ecstasy alone AndA
this was in truth the Death of which these bystandersI
spoke reverently in low whispers you sweet UnaQ
gaspingly with loud criesI
-
They attired me for the coffin three or four darkL2
figures which flitted busily to and fro As these crossedA
the direct line of my vision they affected me as formsI
but upon passing to my side their images impressed meM
with the idea of shrieks groans and other dismalU
expressions of terror of horror or of woe You aloneO
habited in a white robe passed in all directions musicallyM
aboutA
-
The day waned and as its light faded away I becameO2
possessed by a vague uneasiness an anxiety such as theQ
sleeper feels when sad real sounds fall continuously withinO
his ear low distant bell tones solemn at long butA
equal intervals and commingling with melancholy dreamsI
Night arrived and with its shadows a heavy discomfort ItA
oppressed my limbs with the oppression of some dull weightA
and was palpable There was also a moaning sound not unlikeP2
the distant reverberation of surf but more continuousI
which beginning with the first twilight had grown inO
strength with the darkness Suddenly lights were broughtA
into the rooms and this reverberation became forthwithQ2
interrupted into frequent unequal bursts of the same soundA
but less dreary and less distinct The ponderous oppressionO
was in a great measure relieved and issuing from the flameO2
of each lamp for there were many there flowed unbrokenlyM
into my ears a strain of melodious monotone And when nowO
dear Una approaching the bed upon which I lay outstretchedA
you sat gently by my side breathing odor from your sweetA
lips and pressing them upon my brow there aroseI
tremulously within my bosom and mingling with the merelyM
physical sensations which circumstances had called forth aQ
something akin to sentiment itself a feeling thatA
half appreciating half responded to your earnest love andA
sorrow but this feeling took no root in the pulselessI
heart and seemed indeed rather a shadow than a reality andA
faded quickly away first into extreme quiescence and thenO
into a purely sensual pleasure as beforeR2
-
And now from the wreck and the chaos of the usual sensesI
there appeared to have arisen within me a sixth allM
perfect In its exercise I found a wild delight yet aQ
delight still physical inasmuch as the understanding had inO
it no part Motion in the animal frame had fully ceased NoI
muscle quivered no nerve thrilled no artery throbbed ButA
there seemed to have sprung up in the brain that ofH
which no words could convey to the merely human intelligenceI
even an indistinct conception Let me term it a mentalM
pendulous pulsation It was the moral embodiment of man'sI
abstract idea of Time By the absolute equalizationO
of this movement or of such as this had theQ
cycles of the firmamental orbs themselves been adjusted ByF
its aid I measured the irregularities of the clock upon theQ
mantel and of the watches of the attendants Their tickingsI
came sonorously to my ears The slightest deviations fromE2
the true proportion and these deviations wereB
omniprevalent affected me just as violations ofH
abstract truth were wont on earth to affect the moral senseI
Although no two of the timepieces in the chamber struck theQ
individual seconds accurately together yet I had noI
difficulty in holding steadily in mind the tones and theQ
respective momentary errors of each And this thisI
keen perfect self existing sentiment ofH
duration this sentiment existing as man couldA
not possibly have conceived it to exist independently ofH
any succession of events this idea this sixthS2
sense upspringing from the ashes of the rest was the firstA
obvious and certain step of the intemporal soul upon theQ
threshold of the temporal eternityM
-
It was midnight and you still sat by my side All othersI
had departed from the chamber of Death They had depositedA
me in the coffin The lamps burned flickeringly for this IF
knew by the tremulousness of the monotonous strains ButA
suddenly these strains diminished in distinctness and inO
volume Finally they ceased The perfume in my nostrils diedA
away Forms affected my vision no longer The oppression ofH
the Darkness uplifted itself from my bosom A dull shot likeP2
that of electricity pervaded my frame and was followed byF
total loss of the idea of contact All of what man hasI
termed sense was merged in the sole consciousness of entityM
and in the one abiding sentiment of duration The mortalM
body had been at length stricken with the hand of the deadlyM
DecayI
-
Yet had not all of sentience departed for the consciousnessI
and the sentiment remaining supplied some of its functionsI
by a lethargic intuition I appreciated the direful changeT2
now in operation upon the flesh and as the dreamer isI
sometimes aware of the bodily presence of one who leans overB
him so sweet Una I still dully felt that you sat by myF
side So too when the noon of the second day came I wasI
not unconscious of those movements which displaced you fromE2
my side which confined me within the coffin whichJ2
deposited me within the hearse which bore me to the graveM2
which lowered me within it which heaped heavily the mouldA
upon me and which thus left me in blackness andA
corruption to my sad and solemn slumbers with the wormU2
-
And here in the prison house which has few secrets toT
disclose there rolled away days and weeks and months andA
the soul watched narrowly each second as it flew andA
without effort took record of its flight withoutA
effort and without objectA
-
A year passed The consciousness of being had grownO
hourly more indistinct and that of mere locality hadA
in great measure usurped its position The idea of entityM
was becoming merged in that of place The narrowI
space immediately surrounding what had been the body was nowO
growing to be the body itself At length as often happensI
to the sleeper by sleep and its world alone is DeathE
imaged at length as sometimes happened on Earth toT
the deep slumberer when some flitting light half startledA
him into awaking yet left him half enveloped inO
dreams so to me in the strict embrace of theQ
Shadow came that light which alone might haveP
had power to startle the light of enduringR
Love Men toiled at the grave in which I layI
darkling They upthrew the damp earth Upon my moulderingR
bones there descended the coffin of Una And now again allM
was void That nebulous light had been extinguished ThatA
feeble thrill had vibrated itself into quiescence ManyM
lustra had supervened Dust had returned to dust TheQ
worm had food no more The sense of being had at lengthV2
utterly departed and there reigned in its steadA
instead of all things dominant and perpetual theQ
autocrats Place and Time For thatA
which was not for that which had no formW2
for that which had no thought for that which had noI
sentience for that which was soundless yet of whichJ2
matter formed no portion for all this nothingness yetA
for all this immortality the grave was still a home andA
the corrosive hours co matesI

Edgar Allan Poe



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