The Triumph Of Love Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B C CDEFGHICJKLIIICMCF N MOCMPCQC N CIARCCCCFICSCC N KTOUVLWCC C XFYZ I OLA2IOA I LNHLB2 I QC2W I PL I D2E2IMCCC I D2CF2G2CC N DH2CNLMI2CIJ2K2IICCC NCL2 N IQM2FLIAMN2O2P2 C CFQ2FR2 C E2IS2ICWCCMCT2MIMU2M V2MCQW2X2Y2Z2A3B3 N CCC3ICDCCIC3FCC3D3N N NMCCC3C3E3C3C3C3E3D3 E3ACC3CC3C3C C C3MD3IC3CC3C3C3 C IC3CE3C3C3C3C

IA
-
Sun blazed over Romsley a livid rain scarpB
-
XIIIC
-
Whose lives are hidden in God WhoseC
Who can now tell what was taken or whereD
or how or whether it was receivedE
how ditched divested clamped sifted overF
laid raked over grassed over spread aroundG
rotted down with leafmould acceptedH
as civic concrete reinforceableI
base cinderblocksC
tipped into Danube Rhine Vistula dredged upJ
with the Baltic and the Pontic sludgeK
committed in absentia to solemn elevationL
Trauermusik musique fun bre funeralI
music for male and femaleI
voices ringingly a cappellaI
made for double string choirs congregated brassC
choice performers on baroque trumpets heftingM
like glassblowers inventionsC
of supreme orderF
-
XIVN
-
As to bad faith Malebranche might argueM
it rests with inattention StupidityO
is not admissible However the statusC
of apprehension remains at issueM
Some qualities are bestP
left unrecognized Needless to sayC
unrecognized is notQ
unacknowledged Unnamed is not namelessC
-
XVIIN
-
If the gospel is heard all else followsC
the scattering the diasporaI
the shtetlach ash pits pits of indigo dyeA
Penitence can be spoken of it is saidR
but is itself beyond wordsC
even broken speech presumes Those Christian JewsC
of the first Church huddled sabbath survivorsC
keepers of the word silent inside twenty yearsC
doubly outcast even so I would rememberF
the scattering the diasporaI
We do not know the saintsC
His mercy is greater even than his wisdomS
If the gospel is heard all else followsC
We shall rise again clutching our woundsC
-
XXXVN
-
Even now I tell myself there is a languageK
to which I might speak and whichT
would rightly hear meO
responding with eloquence in its turnU
negotiating sense without insultV
given or injury takenL
Familiar to those who already know itW
elsewhere as justiceC
it is met also in the form of silenceC
-
XXIXC
-
Rancorous narcissistic old sod whatX
makes him go on We thought hoped ratherF
he might be dead Too bad So howY
much more does he have of injury timeZ
-
XLI
-
For wordly read worldly for in equity inequityO
for religious read religiose for distinctionL
detestation Take accessible to meanA2
acceptable accommodating openly servileI
Is that right Missis or is that right I don tO
care what I say do IA
-
XLII
-
For iconic priesthood read worldly pique and ambitionL
Change insightfully caring to pruriently intrusiveN
Delete chastened and humbled Insert humiliatedH
Interpret slain in the spirit as browbeaten to exhaustionL
For hardness of heart read costly dislike of cantB2
-
XLIII
-
Excuse me excuse me I did notQ
say the pain is lifting I said the pain is inC2
the lifting No please forget itW
-
XLIIII
-
This is quite dreadful he s become obsessedP
There you go there you go narrow it down to obsessionL
-
LII
-
Whatever may be meant by moral landscapeD2
it is for me increasingly a terrainE2
seen in cross section igneous sedimentaryI
conglomerate metamorphic rockM
strata in which particular graceC
individual love decency enduranceC
are traceable across the faultsC
-
LIII
-
Admittedly at times this moral landscapeD2
to my exasperated ear emitsC
archaic burrings like a small high fencedF2
electricity sub station of uncertain ageG2
in a field corner where the fliesC
gather and old horses shake their sidesC
-
LXVIN
-
Christ has risen yet again to theirD
ritual supplication It seems weirdH2
that the comedy never self destructsC
Actually it is strengthened ifN
attenuation is strength DonneL
said as much of gold Come backM
Donne I forgive you and lovely HerbertI2
But what strange guild is thisC
that practises dailyI
synchronized genuflection and takes prideJ2
in hazing my Jewish wife If ChristK2
be not risen Christians are pettyI
temple schismatics justlyI
cast out of the law Worse thingsC
have befallen Israel But since he isC
risen he is risen even for theseC
high handed underlings of selfN
worship who as by obedienceC
proclaim him risen indeedL2
-
LXVIIN
-
Instruct me further in your travailI
blind interpreter Suppose I cannotQ
unearth what it was they buried researchM2
is not anamnesis Nor is this a primerF
of innocence exactly Did the centurionL
see nothing irregular before the abnormalI
light seared his eyeballs Why do IA
take as my gift a wounded and woundingM
introspection The rule is clear enough lastN2
alleluias forte followed by indifferentO2
coffee and fellowshipP2
-
LXIXC
-
What choice do you have These are false questionsC
Fear is your absolute yet in each featureF
infinitely variable Manichean beyond disputeQ2
for you alone the skeletal maple a loose wireF
tapping the windR2
-
LXXC
-
Active virtue that which shall containE2
its own passion in the public wealI
do you follow or can you at leastS2
take the drift of the thing The struggleI
for a noble vernacular thisC
did not end with Petrarch But where is itW
Where has it got us Does it stop in our caseC
with Dryden or perhapsC
Milton s political sonnets the cherished stockM
hacked into ransom and ruin the voicesC
of distinction far back indistinctT2
Still I m convinced that shapingM
voicing are types of civic action Or slightlyI
to refashion this that Wordsworth s twoM
Prefaces stand with his great tractU2
on the Convention of Cintra witnessingM
to the praesidium in the sacred nameV2
of things betrayed Intrinsic valueM
I am somewhat less sure of It seemsC
implicate with active virtue but I cannotQ
say how precisely Partaking of bothW2
fact and recognition it must be thereforeX2
in effect at once agent and predicateY2
imponderables brought homeZ2
to the brute mass and detail of the worldA3
there by some to be ponderedB3
-
XCVIN
-
Ignorant assured there comes to us a voiceC
Unchallengeable of the foundationsC
distinct authority devotedC3
to indistinction With what proximityI
to justice stands the record of mischanceC
heroic hit or miss the airD
so full of flak and tracer legend saysC
you pray to live unnoticed Mr IvesC
took Emersonian self reliance the wholeI
way on that Melville half immolatedC3
rebuilt the pyre Hoist some time laterF
stumbled on dharma What can I sayC
At worst and best a blind ennoblementC3
flood water hunched shouldering at the weirD3
the hatred that is in the nature of loveN
-
CXVIIIN
-
By default as it so happens here we haveN
good and bad angels caught burningM
themselves characteristic antiphonsC
and here the true and the falseC
shepherds discoveredC3
already deep into their hollow debateC3
Is that all No add spinners of fineE3
calumny confectioners of sugaredC3
malice add those who find sincerityC3
in heartless weeping Add the painedC3
painful clowns brinksmen of perditionE3
Sidney best realizer and arguerD3
of music that divineE3
striker upon the senses steady myA
music to your Augustinian grace notesC
with your high craft of fret I am gladC3
to have learned how it goesC
with you and with ItalianateC3
Hebraic Milton your voices pitched exactlyC3
somewhere between Laus Deo and defianceC
-
CXIXC
-
And yes bugger you MacSikker et al I doC3
mourn and resent your desolation of learningM
Scientia that enabled if it did not secureD3
forms of understanding far from despicableI
and furthest now as they are most despisedC3
By understanding I understand diligenceC
and attention appropriately understoodC3
as actuated self knowledge a daily acknowledgementC3
of what is owed the deadC3
-
CXXC
-
As with the Gospels which it is allowed to resembleI
in Measure for Measure moral upliftC3
is not the issue Scrupulosity diffidenceC
shrill spirituality conviction free expressionE3
come off as poorly as deceit or lustC3
The ethical motiv is so we may hazardC3
opportunism redemptive and redeemedC3
case hardened on caseC

Geoffrey Hill



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