Bianca Among The Nightingales Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDC EFEFGHGHC IJI CKCKC LMLMNONOC PCPCQRQRC STUTVWWWC XNXNWYWZC A2B2A2B2QCQCC WCWCWWWWC WOWOWC2WC2C WWWWQWD2WC E2D2E2D2CF2CF2C G2H2G2H2WWWWC CCCCI2WI2WC I2II2J2CE2CE2E2 E2K2E2K2WL2WL2E2

The cypress stood up like a churchA
That night we felt our love would holdB
And saintly moonlight seemed to searchA
And wash the whole world clean as goldB
The olives crystallized the vales'C
Broad slopes until the hills grew strongD
The fireflies and the nightingalesC
Throbbed each to either flame and songD
The nightingales the nightingalesC
-
Upon the angle of its shadeE
The cypress stood self balanced highF
Half up half down as double madeE
Along the ground against the skyF
And we too from such soul height wentG
Such leaps of blood so blindly drivenH
We scarce knew if our nature meantG
Most passionate earth or intense heavenH
The nightingales the nightingalesC
-
We paled with love we shook with loveI
We kissed so close we could not vowJ
Till Giulio whispered 'Sweet aboveI
God's Ever guarantees this Now '-
And through his words the nightingalesC
Drove straight and full their long clear callK
Like arrows through heroic mailsC
And love was awful in it allK
The nightingales the nightingalesC
-
O cold white moonlight of the northL
Refresh these pulses quench this hellM
O coverture of death drawn forthL
Across this garden chamber wellM
But what have nightingales to doN
In gloomy England called the freeO
Yes free to die in when we twoN
Are sundered singing still to meO
And still they sing the nightingalesC
-
I think I hear him how he criedP
'My own soul's life' between their notesC
Each man has but one soul suppliedP
And that's immortal Though his throat'sC
On fire with passion now to herQ
He can't say what to me he saidR
And yet he moves her they averQ
The nightingales sing through my headR
The nightingales the nightingalesC
-
He says to her what moves her mostS
He would not name his soul withinT
Her hearing rather pays her costU
With praises to her lips and chinT
Man has but one soul 'tis ordainedV
And each soul but one love I addW
Yet souls are damned and love's profanedW
These nightingales will sing me madW
The nightingales the nightingalesC
-
I marvel how the birds can singX
There's little difference in their viewN
Betwixt our Tuscan trees that springX
As vital flames into the blueN
And dull round blots of foliage meantW
Like saturated sponges hereY
To suck the fogs up As contentW
Is he too in this land 'tis clearZ
And still they sing the nightingalesC
-
My native Florence dear forgoneA2
I see across the Alpine ridgeB2
How the last feast day of Saint JohnA2
Shot rockets from Carraia bridgeB2
The luminous city tall with fireQ
Trod deep down in that river of oursC
While many a boat with lamp and choirQ
Skimmed birdlike over glittering towersC
I will not hear these nightingalesC
-
I seem to float we seem to floatW
Down Arno's stream in festive guiseC
A boat strikes flame into our boatW
And up that lady seems to riseC
As then she rose The shock had flashedW
A vision on us What a headW
What leaping eyeballs beauty dashedW
To splendour by a sudden dreadW
And still they sing the nightingalesC
-
Too bold to sin too weak to dieW
Such women are so As for meO
I would we had drowned there he and IW
That moment loving perfectlyO
He had not caught her with her loosedW
Gold ringlets rarer in the southC2
Nor heard the 'Grazie tanto' bruisedW
To sweetness by her English mouthC2
And still they sing the nightingalesC
-
She had not reached him at my heartW
With her fine tongue as snakes indeedW
Kill flies nor had I for my partW
Yearned after in my desperate needW
And followed him as he did herQ
To coasts left bitter by the tideW
Whose very nightingales elsewhereD2
Delighting torture and derideW
For still they sing the nightingalesC
-
A worthless woman mere cold clayE2
As all false things are but so fairD2
She takes the breath of men awayE2
Who gaze upon her unawareD2
I would not play her larcenous tricksC
To have her looks She lied and stoleF2
And spat into my love's pure pyxC
The rank saliva of her soulF2
And still they sing the nightingalesC
-
I would not for her white and pinkG2
Though such he likes her grace of limbH2
Though such he has praised nor yet I thinkG2
For life itself though spent with himH2
Commit such sacrilege affrontW
God's nature which is love intrudeW
'Twixt two affianced souls and huntW
Like spiders in the altar's woodW
I cannot bear these nightingalesC
-
If she chose sin some gentler guiseC
She might have sinned in so it seemsC
She might have pricked out both my eyesC
And I still seen him in my dreamsC
Or drugged me in my soup or wineI2
Nor left me angry afterwardW
To die here with his hand in mineI2
His breath upon me were not hardW
Our Lady hush these nightingalesC
-
But set a springe for him 'mio ben'I2
My only good my first last loveI
Though Christ knows well what sin is whenI2
He sees some things done they must moveJ2
Himself to wonder Let her passC
I think of her by night and dayE2
Must I too join her out alasC
With Giulio in each word I sayE2
And evermore the nightingalesE2
-
Giulio my Giulio sing they soE2
And you be silent Do I speakK2
And you not hear An arm you throwE2
Round some one and I feel so weakK2
Oh owl like birds They sing for spiteW
They sing for hate they sing for doomL2
They'll sing through death who sing through nightW
They'll sing and stun me in the tombL2
The nightingales the nightingalesE2

Elizabeth Barrett Browning



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