The Widow Of Crescentius : Part I. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDE FFGGHHIIJJ KKLMHHNNOOPPQQ RRSSTTUUVV WWXXYYZZA2A2OB2C2C2U USS HHD2D2E2E2F2F2 G2G2H2H2ZZHHI2I2J2J2 UUG2K2OQOO HHFFD2D2D2D2HHPPL2M2 KKPP B2B2OON2N2HHO2O2HHFF D2D2FFFF B2P2HHP2P2D2D2HHB2B2 D2D2Q2Q2 G2HD2D2D2D2D2D2HHHHF FN2N2HHL2L2 A2A2G2N2PPD2D2HHD2D2 D2D2D2D2D2D2D2D2 D2D2D2D2G2N2D2D2D2D2 PPFFBBG2N2HH HHG2G2D2D2D2D2FFD2D2 HHR2R2FFD2D2N2'Midst Tivoli's luxuriant glades | A |
Bright foaming falls and olive shades | A |
Where dwelt in days departed long | B |
The sons of battle and of song | B |
No tree no shrub its foliage rears | C |
But o'er the wrecks of other years | C |
Temples and domes which long have been | D |
The soil of that enchanted scene | E |
- | |
There the wild fig tree and the vine | F |
O'er Hadrian's mouldering villa twine | F |
The cypress in funeral grace | G |
Usurps the vanished column's place | G |
O'er fallen shrine and ruined frieze | H |
The wall flower rustles in the breeze | H |
Acanthus leaves the marble hide | I |
They once adorned in sculptured pride | I |
And nature hath resumed her throne | J |
O'er the vast works of ages flown | J |
- | |
Was it for this that many a pile | K |
Pride of Hissus and of Nile | K |
To Anio's banks the image lent | L |
Of each imperial monument | M |
Now Athens weeps her shattered fanes | H |
Thy temples Egypt strew thy plains | H |
And the proud fabrics Hadrian reared | N |
From Tibur's vale have disappeared | N |
We need no prescient sibyl there | O |
The doom of grandeur to declare | O |
Each stone where weeds and ivy climb | P |
Reveals some oracle of Time | P |
Each relic utters Fate's decree | Q |
The future as the past shall be | Q |
- | |
Halls of the dead in Tibur's vale | R |
Who now shall tell your lofty tale | R |
Who trace the high patrician's dome | S |
The bard's retreat the hero's home | S |
When moss clad wrecks alone record | T |
There dwelt the world's departed lord | T |
In scenes where verdure's rich array | U |
Still sheds young beauty o'er decay | U |
And sunshine on each glowing hill | V |
'Midst ruins finds a dwelling still | V |
- | |
Sunk is thy palace but thy tomb | W |
Hadrian hath shared a prouder doom | W |
Though vanished with the days of old | X |
Its pillars of Corinthian mould | X |
And the fair forms by sculpture wrought | Y |
Each bodying some immortal thought | Y |
Which o'er that temple of the dead | Z |
Serene but solemn beauty shed | Z |
Have found like glory's self a grave | A2 |
In Time's abyss or Tiber's wave | A2 |
Yet dreams more lofty and more fair | O |
Than art's bold hand hath imaged e'er | B2 |
High thoughts of many a mighty mind | C2 |
Expanding when all else declined | C2 |
In twilight years when only they | U |
Recalled the radiance passed away | U |
Have made that ancient pile their home | S |
Fortress of freedom and of Rome | S |
- | |
There he who strove in evil days | H |
Again to kindle glory's rays | H |
Whose spirit sought a path of light | D2 |
For whose dim ages far too bright | D2 |
Crescentius long maintained the strife | E2 |
Which closed but with its martyr's life | E2 |
And left the imperial tomb a name | F2 |
A heritage of holier fame | F2 |
- | |
There closed De Brescia's mission high | G2 |
From thence the patriot came to die | G2 |
And thou whose Roman soul the last | H2 |
Spoke with the voice of ages past | H2 |
Whose thoughts so long from earth had fled | Z |
To mingle with the glorious dead | Z |
That 'midst the world's degenerate race | H |
They vainly sought a dwelling place | H |
Within that house of death didst brood | I2 |
O'er visions to thy ruin wooed | I2 |
Yet worthy of a brighter lot | J2 |
Rienzi be thy faults forgot | J2 |
For thou when all around thee lay | U |
Chained in the slumbers of decay | U |
So sunk each heart that mortal eye | G2 |
Had scarce a | K2 |
tear | O |
for liberty | Q |
Alone amidst the darkness there | O |
Couldst gaze on Rome yet not despair | O |
- | |
'Tis morn and Nature's richest dyes | H |
Are floating o'er Italian skies | H |
Tints of transparent lustre shine | F |
Along the snow clad Appennine | F |
The clouds have left Soracte's height | D2 |
And yellow Tiber winds in light | D2 |
Where tombs and fallen fanes have strewed | D2 |
The wide Campagna's solitude | D2 |
'Tis sad amidst that scene to trace | H |
Those relics of a vanished race | H |
Yet o'er the ravaged path of time | P |
Such glory sheds that brilliant clime | P |
Where Nature still though empires fall | L2 |
Holds her triumphant festival | M2 |
E'en Desolation wears a smile | K |
Where skies and sunbeams laugh the while | K |
And heaven's own light earth's richest bloom | P |
Array the ruin and the tomb | P |
- | |
But she who from yon convent tower | B2 |
Breathes the pure freshness of the hour | B2 |
She whose rich flow of raven hair | O |
Streams wildly on the morning air | O |
Heeds not how fair the scene below | N2 |
Robed in Italia's brightest glow | N2 |
Though throned 'midst Latium's classic plains | H |
The Eternal City's towers and fanes | H |
And they the Pleiades of earth | O2 |
The seven proud hills of Empire's birth | O2 |
Lie spread beneath not now her glance | H |
Roves o'er that vast sublime expanse | H |
Inspired and bright with hope 'tis thrown | F |
On Adrian's massy tomb alone | F |
There from the storm when Freedom fled | D2 |
His faithful crew Crescentius led | D2 |
While she his anxious bride who now | F |
Bends o'er the scene her youthful brow | F |
Sought refuge in the hallowed fane | F |
Which then conflict shelter not in vain | F |
- | |
But now the lofty strife is o'er | B2 |
And Liberty shall weep no more | P2 |
At length Imperial Otho's voice | H |
Bids her devoted sons rejoice | H |
And he who battled to restore | P2 |
The glories and the rights of yore | P2 |
Whose accents like the clarion's sound | D2 |
Could burst the dead repose around | D2 |
Again his native Rome shall see | H |
The sceptred city of the free | H |
And youth Stephania waits the hour | B2 |
When leaves her lord his fortress tower | B2 |
Her ardent heart with joy elate | D2 |
That seems beyond the reach of fate | D2 |
Her mien like creature from above | Q2 |
All vivified with hope and love | Q2 |
- | |
Fair is her form and in her eye | G2 |
Lives all the soul of Italy | H |
A meaning lofty and inspired | D2 |
As by her native day star fired | D2 |
Such wild and high expression fraught | D2 |
With glances of impassioned thought | D2 |
As fancy sheds in visions bright | D2 |
O'er priestess of the God of Light | D2 |
And the dark locks that lend her face | H |
A youthful and luxuriant grace | H |
Wave o'er her cheek whose kindling dyes | H |
Seem from the fire within to rise | H |
But deepened by the burning heaven | F |
To her own land of sunbeams given | F |
Italian art that fervid glow | N2 |
Would o'er ideal beauty throw | N2 |
And with such ardent life express | H |
Her high wrought dreams of loveliness | H |
Dreams which surviving Empire's fall | L2 |
The shade of glory still recall | L2 |
- | |
But see the banner of the brave | A2 |
O'er Adrian's tomb hath ceased to wave | A2 |
'Tis lowered and now Stephania's eye | G2 |
Can well the martial train descry | N2 |
Who issuing from that ancient dome | P |
Pour through the crowded streets of Rome | P |
Now from her watch tower on the height | D2 |
With step as fabled wood nymph's light | D2 |
She flies and swift her way pursues | H |
Through the lone convent's avenues | H |
Dark cypress groves and fields o'erspread | D2 |
With records of the conquering dead | D2 |
And paths which track a glowing waste | D2 |
She traverses in breathless haste | D2 |
And by the tombs where dust is shrined | D2 |
Once tenanted by loftiest mind | D2 |
Still passing on hath reached the gate | D2 |
Of Rome the proud the desolate | D2 |
Thronged are the streets and still renewed | D2 |
Rush on the gathering multitude | D2 |
- | |
Is it their high souled chief to greet | D2 |
That thus the Roman thousands meet | D2 |
With names that bid their thoughts ascend | D2 |
Crescentius thine in song to blend | D2 |
And of triumphal days gone by | G2 |
Recall the inspiring pageantry | N2 |
There is an air of breathless dread | D2 |
An eager glance a hurrying tread | D2 |
And now a fearful silence round | D2 |
And now a fitful murmuring sound | D2 |
'Midst the pale crowds that almost seem | P |
Phantoms of some tumultuous dream | P |
Quick is each step and wild each mien | F |
Portentous of some awful scene | F |
Bride of Crescentius as the throng | B |
Bore thee with whelming force along | B |
How did thine anxious heart beat high | G2 |
Till rose suspense to agony | N2 |
Too brief suspense that soon shall close | H |
And leave thy heart to deeper woes | H |
- | |
Who 'midst yon guarded precinct stands | H |
With fearless mien but fettered hands | H |
The ministers of death are nigh | G2 |
Yet a calm grandeur lights his eye | G2 |
And in his glance there lives a mind | D2 |
Which was not formed for chains to bind | D2 |
But cast in such heroic mould | D2 |
As theirs the ascendant ones of old | D2 |
Crescentius freedom's daring son | F |
Is this the guerdon thou hast won | F |
O worthy to have lived and died | D2 |
In the bright days of Latium's pride | D2 |
Thus must the beam of glory close | H |
O'er the seven hills again that rose | H |
When at thy voice to burst the yoke | R2 |
The soul of Rome indignant woke | R2 |
Vain dream the sacred shields are gone | F |
Sunk is the crowning city's throne | F |
The illusions that around her cast | D2 |
Their guardian spells have long been past | D2 |
Thy life hath been a shor | N2 |
Felicia Dorothea Hemans
(1)
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