Canto Iii Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDAEFDGDHHADICDA AIADDCDIJACKLMNIADOP DDIAQQRIHDDDSTDIDUIV ADLQWIICDDADATXDIDAW DDYDLDDCXLACDCDACCDD DYLACDLDDZDLLDDDDDDD AA2LDCB2DCQLQTDDLLHI TALC2ACID2ALDDLILDAD LE2I DDDDC2F2DDC2C2C2DDAD DL

Another's a half cracked fellow John HeydonA
Worker of miracles dealer in levitationA
In thoughts upon pure form in alchemyB
Seer of pretty visions 'servant of God and secretary of nature'C
Full of plaintive charm like Botticelli'sD
With half transparent forms lacking the vigor of godsD
Thus Heydon in a trance at BulvertonA
Had such a sightE
Decked all in green with sleeves of yellow silkF
Slit to the elbow slashed with various purplesD
Her eyes were green as glass her foot was leaf likeG
She was adorned with choicest emeraldsD
And promised him the way of holy wisdomH
'Pretty green bank ' began the half lost poemH
Take the old way say I met John HeydonA
Sought out the placeD
Lay on the bank was 'plung d deep in swevyn 'I
And saw the company Layamon ChaucerC
Pass each in his appropriate robesD
Conversed with each observed the varying fashionA
And then comes HeydonA
'I have seen John Heydon 'I
Let us hear John HeydonA
'OmniformisD
Omnis intellectus est' thus he begins by spouting half of PsellusD
Then comes a note my assiduous commentatorC
Not Psellus De Daemonibus but Porphyry's ChancesD
In the thirteenth chapter that 'every intellect is omni form 'I
Magnifico Lorenzo used the dodgeJ
Says that he met FicinoA
In some Wordsworthian false pastoral mannerC
And that they walked along stopped at a well headK
And heard deep platitudes about contentmentL
From some old codger with an endless beardM
'A daemon is not a particular intellectN
But is a substance differed from intellect 'I
Breaks in FicinoA
'Placed in the latitude or locus of souls'D
That's out of Proclus take your pick of themO
Valla more earth and sounder rhetoricP
Prefacing praise to his Pope NicholasD
'A man of parts skilled in the subtlest sciencesD
A patron of the arts of poetry and of a fine discernment 'I
Then comes a catalogue his jewels of conversationA
No you've not read your ElegantiaeQ
A dull book shook the churchQ
The prefaces cut clear and hardR
'Know then the Roman speech a sacrament 'I
Spread for the nations eucharist of wisdomH
Bread of the liberal artsD
Ha Sir BlancatzD
Sordello would have your heart to give to all the princesD
Valla the heart of RomeS
Sustaining speech set out before the peopleT
'Nec bonus Christianus ac bonusD
Tullianus 'I
Marius Du Bellay wept for the buildingsD
Baldassar Castiglione saw RaphaelU
'Lead back the soul into its dead waste dwelling 'I
Corpore laniato and Lorenzo VallaV
'Broken in middle life bent to submissionA
Took a fat living from the Papacy'D
That's in Villari but Burckhardt's statement is differentL
'More than the Roman city the Roman speech'Q
Holds fast its part among the ever livingW
'Not by the eagles only was Rome measured 'I
'Wherever the Roman speech was there was Rome 'I
Wherever the speech crept there was masteryC
Spoke with the law's voice while your Greek logiciansD
More Greeks than one Doughty's 'divine Homeros'D
Came before sophistry JustinopolitanA
Uncatalogued Andreas DivusD
Gave him in Latin in my edition the rest uncertainA
Caught up his cadence word and syllableT
'Down to the ships we went set mast and sailX
Black keel and beasts for bloody sacrificeD
Weeping we went 'I
I've strained my ear for ensa ombra and ensaD
And cracked my wit on delicate canzoniA
Here's but rough meaningW
'And then went down to the ship set keel to breakersD
Forth on the godly seaD
We set up mast and sail on the swarthy shipY
Sheep bore we aboard her and our bodies alsoD
Heavy with weeping And winds from sternwardL
Bore us out onward with bellying canvasD
Circe's this craft the trim coifed goddessD
Then sat we amidships wind jamming the tillerC
Thus with stretched sailX
We went over sea till day's endL
Sun to his slumber shadows o'er all the oceanA
Came we then to the bounds of deepest waterC
To the Kimmerian lands and peopled citiesD
Covered with close webbed mist unpierc d everC
With glitter of sun raysD
Nor with stars stretched nor looking back from heavenA
Swartest night stretched over wretched men thereC
Thither we in that ship unladed sheep thereC
The ocean flowing backward came we through to the placeD
Aforesaid by CirceD
Here did they rites Perimedes and EurylochusD
And drawing sword from my hipY
I dug the ell square pitkin poured we libations unto each the deadL
First mead and then sweet wineA
Water mixed with white flourC
Then prayed I many a prayer to the sickly death's headsD
As set in Ithaca sterile bulls of the bestL
For sacrifice heaping the pyre with goodsD
Sheep to Tiresias onlyD
Black and a bell sheepZ
Dark blood flowed in the fosseD
Souls out of Erebus cadaverous deadL
Of brides of youths and of many passing oldL
Virgins tender souls stained with recent tearsD
Many men mauled with bronze lance headsD
Battle spoil bearing yet dreary armsD
These many crowded about meD
With shouting pallor upon me cried to my men for more beastsD
Slaughtered the herds sheep slain of bronzeD
Poured ointment cried to the godsD
To Pluto the strong and praised ProserpineA
Unsheathed the narrow steelA2
I sat to keep off the impetuous impotent deadL
Till I should hear TiresiasD
But first Elpenor came our friend ElpenorC
Unburied cast on the wide earthB2
Limbs that we left in the house of CirceD
Unwept unwrapped in sepulchre since toils urged otherC
Pitiful spirit and I cried in hurried speechQ
'Elpenor how art thou come to this dark coastL
Cam'st thou afoot outstripping seamen ' And he in heavy speechQ
'Ill fate and abundant wine I slept in Circe's ingleT
Going down the long ladder unguarded I fell against the buttressD
Shattered the nape nerve the soul sought AvernusD
But thou O King I bid remember me unwept unburiedL
Heap up mine arms be tomb by the sea board and inscribedL
A man of no fortune and with a name to comeH
And set my oar up that I swung 'mid fellows 'I
Came then another ghost whom I beat off AnticleaT
And then Tiresias ThebanA
Holding his golden wand knew me and spoke firstL
'Man of ill hour why come a second timeC2
Leaving the sunlight facing the sunless dead and this joyless regionA
Stand from the fosse move back leave me my bloody beverC
And I will speak you true speeches 'I
'And I stepped backD2
Sheathing the yellow sword Dark blood he drank thenA
And spoke 'Lustrous Odysseus shaltL
Return through spiteful Neptune over dark seasD
Lose all companions ' Foretold me the ways and the signsD
Came then Anticlea to whom I answeredL
'Fate drives me on through these deeps I sought Tiresias 'I
I told her news of Troy and thrice her shadowL
Faded in my embraceD
Then had I news of many faded womenA
Tyro Alcmena ChlorisD
Heard out their tales by that dark fosse and sailedL
By sirens and thence outward and awayE2
And unto Circe buried Elpenor's corpse 'I
-
-
Lie quiet DivusD
In Officina Wechli ParisD
M D three X's Eight with Aldus on the FrogsD
And a certain Cretan'sD
Hymni DeorumC2
The thin clear Tuscan stuffF2
Gives way before the florid mellow phraseD
Take we the Goddess VenusD
VenerandamC2
Aurean coronam habentem pulchramC2
Cypri munimenta sortita est maritimeC2
Light on the foam breathed on by zephyrsD
And air tending hours Mirthful orichalciD
with goldenA
Girdles and breast bandsD
Thou with dark eye lidsD
Bearing the golden bough of ArgicidaL

Ezra Pound



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