Fra Pedro Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCD EFFF GBCH IFBB IJKL FBMC NKFC OIFP BJFI COCQ IKRF FJII ICFB OFIS IFPT PHBI III FBPI PIII FPPBPFFF PBPP PCPM BPFF JPPI PCFF| Golden lights and lengthening shadows | A |
| Flings the splendid sun declining | B |
| O'er the monastery garden | C |
| Rich in flower fruit and foliage | D |
| - | |
| Through the avenue of nut trees | E |
| Pace two grave and ghostly friars | F |
| Snowy white their gowns and girdles | F |
| Black as night their cowls and mantles | F |
| - | |
| Lithe and ferret eyed the younger | G |
| Black his scapular denoting | B |
| A lay brother his companion | C |
| Large imperious towers above him | H |
| - | |
| 'T is the abbot great Fra Pedro | I |
| Famous through all Saragossa | F |
| For his quenchless zeal in crushing | B |
| Heresy amidst his townfolk | B |
| - | |
| Handsome still with hood and tonsure | I |
| E'en as when the boy Pedrillo | J |
| Insolent with youth and beauty | K |
| Who reviled the gentle Rabbi | L |
| - | |
| Lo the level sun strikes sparkles | F |
| From his dark eyes brightly flashing | B |
| Stern his voice These too shall perish | M |
| I have vowed extermination | C |
| - | |
| Tell not me of skill or virtue | N |
| Filial love or woman's beauty | K |
| Jews are Jews as serpents serpents | F |
| In themselves abomination | C |
| - | |
| Earnestly the other pleaded | O |
| If my zeal thrice reverend master | I |
| E'er afforded thee assistance | F |
| Serving thee as flesh serves spirit | P |
| - | |
| Hounding scourging flaying burning | B |
| Casting into chains or exile | J |
| At thy bidding these vile wretches | F |
| Hear and heed me now my master | I |
| - | |
| These be nowise like their brethren | C |
| Ben Jehudah is accounted | O |
| Saragossa's first physician | C |
| Loved by colleague as by patient | Q |
| - | |
| And his daughter Donna Zara | I |
| Is our city's pearl of beauty | K |
| Like the clusters of the vineyard | R |
| Droop the ringlets o'er her temples | F |
| - | |
| Like the moon in starry heavens | F |
| Shines her face among her people | J |
| And her form hath all the languor | I |
| Grace and glamour of the palm tree | I |
| - | |
| Well thou knowest thrice reverend master | I |
| This is not their first affliction | C |
| Was it not our Holy Office | F |
| Whose bribed menials fired their dwelling | B |
| - | |
| Ere dawn broke the smoke ascended | O |
| Choked the stairways filled the chambers | F |
| Waked the household to the terror | I |
| Of the flaming death that threatened | S |
| - | |
| Then the poor bed ridden mother | I |
| Knew her hour had come two daughters | F |
| Twinned in form and mind and spirit | P |
| And their father who would save them | T |
| - | |
| Towards her door sprang Ben Jehudah | P |
| Donna Zara flew behind him | H |
| Round his neck her white arms wreathing | B |
| Drew him from the burning chamber | I |
| - | |
| There within her sister Zillah | I |
| Stirred no limb to shun her torture | I |
| Held her mother's hand and kissed her | I |
| Saying 'We will go together ' | - |
| - | |
| This the outer throng could witness | F |
| As the flames enwound the dwelling | B |
| Like a glory they illumined | P |
| Awfully the martyred daughter | I |
| - | |
| Closer fiercer round they gathered | P |
| Not a natural cry escaped her | I |
| Helpless clung to her her mother | I |
| Hand in hand they went together | I |
| - | |
| Since that 'Act of Faith' three winters | F |
| Have rolled by yet on the forehead | P |
| Of Jehudah is imprinted | P |
| Still the horror of that morning | B |
| Saragossa hath respected | P |
| His false creed a man of sorrows | F |
| He hath walked secure among us | F |
| And his art repays our sufferance | F |
| - | |
| Thus he spoke and ceased The Abbot | P |
| Lent him an impatient hearing | B |
| Then outbroke with angry accent | P |
| We have borne three years thou sayest | P |
| - | |
| 'T is enough my vow is sacred | P |
| These shall perish with their brethren | C |
| Hark ye In my veins' pure current | P |
| Were a single drop found Jewish | M |
| - | |
| I would shrink not from outpouring | B |
| All my life blood but to purge it | P |
| Shall I gentler prove to others | F |
| Mercy would be sacrilegious | F |
| - | |
| Ne'er again at thy soul's peril | J |
| Speak to me of Jewish beauty | P |
| Jewish skill or Jewish virtue | P |
| I have said Do thou remember | I |
| - | |
| Down behind the purple hillside | P |
| Dropped the sun above the garden | C |
| Rang the Angelus' clear cadence | F |
| Summoning the monks to vespers | F |
Emma Lazarus
(1)
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