The Lady Of Provence Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AAAB BACA DDEECFGCHHIIAA JJKLAAMMNNOOPPQQRSSR BBAA TRRUUV PPKLRWXXSSY ZWBW A2A2B2B2KKC2C2BB SSRD2BRE2F2SSG2H2BBI 2I2J2J2 K2K2KKBB KKBBBL2M2JBBKKK2K2EB E LSZN2LS O2O2TTUU P2P2BBQ2Q2AACC RRGGN2N2K2 DR2DR2 BBL2L2 RRSSYYS2S2P2P2CC T2T2CCKCD2BQQ OOEEIIU2U2B2B2CCC2C2 CCV2W2Q EC

'Courage was cast about her like a dressA
Of solemn comelinessA
A gathered mind and an untroubled faceA
Did give her dangers grace ' DonneB
-
-
The war note of the SaracenB
Was on the winds of FranceA
It had stilled the harp of the TroubadourC
And the clash of the tourney's lanceA
-
The sounds of the sea and the sounds of the nightD
And the hollow echoes of charge and flightD
Were around Clotilde as she knelt to prayE
In a chapel where the mighty layE
On the old Provencal shoreC
Many a Chatillon beneathF
Unstirred by the ringing trumpet's breathG
His shroud of armour woreC
And the glimpses of moonlight that went and cameH
Through the clouds like bursts of a dying flameH
Gave quivering life to the slumber paleI
Of stern forms crouched in their marble mailI
At rest on the tombs of the knightly raceA
The silent throngs of that burial placeA
-
They were imaged there with helm and spearJ
As leaders in many a bold careerJ
And haughty their stillness looked and highK
Like a sleep whose dreams were of victoryL
But meekly the voice of the lady roseA
Through the trophies of their proud reposeA
Meekly yet fervantly calling down aidM
Under their banners of battle she prayedM
With her pale fair brow and her eyes of loveN
Upraised to the Virgin's portrayed aboveN
And her hair flung back till it swept the graveO
Of a Chatillon with its gleamy waveO
And her fragile frame at every blastP
That full of the savage war horn passedP
Trembling as trembles a bird's quick heartQ
When it vainly strives from its cage to partQ
So knelt she in her woeR
A weeper alone with the tearless deadS
Oh they reck not of tears o'er their quiet shedS
Or the dust that stirred belowR
-
Hark a swift step she hath caught its toneB
Through the dash of the sea through the wild wind's moanB
Is her lord returned with his conquering bandsA
No a breathless vassal before her standsA
'Hast thou been on the field Art thou come from the host '-
'from the slaughter lady All all is lostT
Our banners are taken our knights laid lowR
Our spearmen chased by the Paynim foeR
And thy lord ' his voice took a sadder soundU
'Thy lord he is not on the bloody groundU
There are those who tell that the leader's plumeV
Was seen on the flight through the gathering gloom '-
A change o'er her mien and her spirit passedP
She ruled the heart which had beat so fastP
She dashed the tears from her kindling eyeK
With a glance as of sudden royaltyL
The proud blood sprang in a fiery flowR
Quick o'er bosom and cheek and browW
And her young voice rose till the peasant shookX
At the thrilling tone and the falcon lookX
'dost thou stand by the tombs of the glorious deadS
And fear not to say that their son hath fledS
Away he is lying by lance and shieldY
Point me the path to his battle field '-
-
The shadows of the forestZ
Are about the lady nowW
She is hurrying through the midnight onB
Beneath the dark pine boughW
-
There's a murmur of omens in every leafA2
There's a wail in the stream like the dirge of a chiefA2
The branches that rock to the tempest strifeB2
Are groaning like things of troubled lifeB2
The wind from the battle seems rushing byK
With a funeral march through the gloomy skyK
The pathway is rugged and wild and longC2
But her fame in the daring of love is strongC2
And her soul as on swelling seas upborneB
And girded all fearful things to scornB
-
And fearful things were around her spreadS
When she reached the field of the warrior deadS
There lay the noble the valiant lowR
Ay butD2
oneB
word speaks of deeper woeR
There lay theE2
lovedF2
on each fallen headS
Mothers' vain blessings and tears had shedS
Sisters were watching in many a homeG2
For the fettered footstep no more to comeH2
Names in the prayer of that night were spokenB
Whose claim unto kindred prayer was brokenB
And the fire was heaped and the bright wine pouredI2
For those now needing nor hearth nor boardI2
Only a requiem a shroud a knellJ2
And oh ye beloved of women farewellJ2
-
Silently with lips compressedK2
Pale hands clasped above her breastK2
Stately brow of anguish highK
Deathlike cheek but dauntless eyeK
Silently o'er that red plainB
Moved the lady 'midst the slainB
-
Sometimes it seemed as a charging cryK
Or the ringing tramp of a steed came nighK
Sometimes a blast of the Paynim hornB
Sudden and shrill from the mountain's borneB
And her maidens trembled but onB
herL2
earM2
No meaning fell with those sounds of fearJ
They had less of mastery to shake her nowB
Than the quivering erewhile of an aspen boughB
She searched into many an unclosed eyeK
That looked without soul to the starry skyK
She bowed down o'er many a shattered breastK2
She lifted up helmet and cloven crestK2
Not there not there he layE
'Lead where the most hath been dared and doneB
Where the heart of the battle hath bled lead on '-
And the vassal took the wayE
-
He turned to a dark and lonely treeL
That waved o'er a fountain redS
Oh swiftestZ
thereN2
had the currents freeL
From noble veins been shedS
-
Thickest there the spear heads gleamedO2
And the scattered plumage streamedO2
And the broken shields were tossedT
And the shivered lances crossedT
And the mail clad sleepers roundU
Made the harvest of that groundU
-
He was there the leader amidst his bandP2
Where the faithful had made their last vain standP2
He was there but affection's glance aloneB
The darkly changed in that hour had knownB
With the falchion yet in his cold hand graspedQ2
And a banner of France to his bosom claspedQ2
And the form that of conflict bore fearful traceA
And the face oh speak not of that dead faceA
As it lay to answer love's look no moreC
Yet never so proudly loved beforeC
-
She quelled in her soul the deep floods of woeR
The time was not yet for their waves to flowR
She felt the full presence the might of deathG
Yet there came no sob with her struggling breathG
And a proud smile shone o'er her pale despairN2
As she turned to his follower 'Your lord is thereN2
Look on him know him by scarf and crestK2
Bear him away with his sires to rest '-
-
Another day another nightD
And the sailor on the deepR2
Hears the low chant of a funeral riteD
From the lordly chapel sweepR2
-
It comes with a broken and muffled toneB
As if that rite were in terror doneB
Yet the song 'midst the seas hath a thrilling powerL2
And he knows 'tis a chieftain's burial hourL2
-
Hurriedly in fear and woeR
Through the aisle the mourners goR
With a hushed and stealthy treadS
Bearing on the noble deadS
Sheathed in armour of the fieldY
Only his wan face revealedY
Whence the still and solemn gleamS2
Doth a strange sad contrast seemS2
To the anxious eyes of that pale bandP2
With torches wavering in every handP2
For they dread each moment the shout of warC
And the burst of the Moslem scimitarC
-
There is no plumed head o'er the bier to bendT2
No brother of battle no princely friendT2
No sound comes back like the sounds of yoreC
Unto sweeping swords from the marble floorC
By the red fountain the valiant lieK
The flower of Provencal chivalryC
ButD2
oneB
free step and one lofty heartQ
Bear through that scene to the last their partQ
-
She hath led the death train of the braveO
To the verge of his own ancestral graveO
She hath held o'er her spirit long rigid swayE
But the struggling passion must now have wayE
In the cheek half seen through her mourning veilI
By turns does the swift blood flush and failI
The pride on the lip is lingering stillU2
But it shakes as a flame to the blast might thrillU2
Anguish and triumph are met at strifeB2
Rending the cords of her frail young lifeB2
And she sinks at last on her warrior's bierC
Lifting her voice as if death might hearC
'I have won thy fame from the breath of wrongC2
My soul hath risen for thy glory strongC2
Now call me hence by thy side to beC
The world thou leavest has no place for meC
The light goes with thee the joy the worthV2
Faithful and tender Oh call me forthW2
Give me my home on thy noble heartQ
Well have we loved let us both depart '-
And pale on the breast of the dead she layE
The living cC

Felicia Dorothea Hemans



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