Lara. A Tale Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEF GHAIIJJKKHHLLMM GNNCCOOPPQQRROOLLSS PTUVWXXYYQQQQ QQZZQQA2A2B2B2 PC2D2E2E2DDF2F2G2G2H 2H2I2J2QQPPLL PE2E2K2K2L2L2IIPP PHHNNYYOOM2M2AAK2K2P PN2N2JJ PPPPPIIO2O2P2P2PPQQQ 2Q2 LL2L2YYR2R2H2H2K2K2C 2D2R2R2YYJJS2S2LLBB LQQYYPPPPPPQ2Q2OOT2T 2U2U2| The Serfs are glad through Lara's wide domain | A |
| And slavery half forgets her feudal chain | A |
| He their unhoped but unforgotten lord | B |
| The long self exiled chieftain is restored | B |
| There be bright faces in the busy hall | C |
| Bowls on the board and banners on the wall | C |
| Far chequering o'er the pictured window plays | D |
| The unwonted fagots' hospitable blaze | D |
| And gay retainers gather round the hearth | E |
| With tongues all loudness and with eyes all mirth | F |
| - | |
| II | G |
| The chief of Lara is return'd again | H |
| And why had Lara cross'd the bounding main | A |
| Left by his sire too young such loss to know | I |
| Lord of himself that heritage of woe | I |
| That fearful empire which the human breast | J |
| But holds to rob the heart within of rest | J |
| With none to check and few to point in time | K |
| The thousand paths that slope the way to crime | K |
| Then when he most required commandment then | H |
| Had Lara's daring boyhood govern'd men | H |
| It skills not boots not step by step to trace | L |
| His youth through all the mazes of its race | L |
| Short was the course his restlessness had run | M |
| But long enough to leave him half undone | M |
| - | |
| III | G |
| And Lara left in youth his fatherland | N |
| But from the hour he waved his parting hand | N |
| Each trace wax'd fainter of his course till all | C |
| Had nearly ceased his memory to recall | C |
| His sire was dust his vassals could declare | O |
| 'Twas all they knew that Lara was not there | O |
| Nor sent nor came he till conjecture grew | P |
| Cold in the many anxious in the few | P |
| His hall scarce echoes with his wonted name | Q |
| His portrait darkens in its fading frame | Q |
| Another chief consoled his destined bride | R |
| The young forgot him and the old had died | R |
| 'Yet doth he live ' exclaims the impatient heir | O |
| And sighs for sables which he must not wear | O |
| A hundred scutcheons deck with gloomy grace | L |
| The Laras' last and longest dwelling place | L |
| But one is absent from the mouldering file | S |
| That now were welcome to that Gothic pile | S |
| - | |
| IV | P |
| He comes at last in sudden loneliness | T |
| And whence they know not why they need not guess | U |
| They more might marvel when the greeting's o'er | V |
| Not that he came but came not long before | W |
| No train is his beyond a single page | X |
| Of foreign aspect and of tender age | X |
| Years had roll'd on and fast they speed away | Y |
| To those that wander as to those that stay | Y |
| But lack of tidings from another clime | Q |
| Had lent a flagging wing to weary Time | Q |
| They see they recognise yet almost deem | Q |
| The present dubious or the past a dream | Q |
| - | |
| He lives nor yet is past his manhood's prime | Q |
| Though sear'd by toil and something touch'd by time | Q |
| His faults whate'er they were if scarce forgot | Z |
| Might be untaught him by his varied lot | Z |
| Nor good nor ill of late were known his name | Q |
| Might yet uphold his patrimonial fame | Q |
| His soul in youth was haughty but his sins | A2 |
| No more than pleasure from the stripling wins | A2 |
| And such if not yet harden'd in their course | B2 |
| Might be redeem'd nor ask a long remorse | B2 |
| - | |
| V | P |
| And they indeed were changed 'tis quickly seen | C2 |
| Whate'er he be 'twas not what he had been | D2 |
| That brow in furrow'd lines had fix'd at last | E2 |
| And spake of passions but of passion past | E2 |
| The pride but not the fire of early days | D |
| Coldness of mien and carelessness of praise | D |
| A high demeanour and a glance that took | F2 |
| Their thoughts from others by a single look | F2 |
| And that sarcastic levity of tongue | G2 |
| The stinging of a heart the world hath stung | G2 |
| That darts in seeming playfulness around | H2 |
| And makes those feel that will not own the wound | H2 |
| All these seem'd his and something more beneath | I2 |
| Than glance could well reveal or accent breathe | J2 |
| Ambition glory love the common aim | Q |
| That some can conquer and that all would claim | Q |
| Within his breast appear'd no more to strive | P |
| Yet seem'd as lately they had been alive | P |
| And some deep feeling it were vain to trace | L |
| At moments lighten'd o'er his livid face | L |
| - | |
| VI | P |
| Not much he loved long question of the past | E2 |
| Nor told of wondrous wilds and deserts vast | E2 |
| In those far lands where he had wander'd lone | K2 |
| And as himself would have it seem unknown | K2 |
| Yet these in vain his eye could scarcely scan | L2 |
| Nor glean experience from his fellow man | L2 |
| But what he had beheld he shunn'd to show | I |
| As hardly worth a stranger's care to know | I |
| If still more prying such inquiry grew | P |
| His brow fell darker and his words more few | P |
| - | |
| VII | P |
| Not unrejoiced to see him once again | H |
| Warm was his welcome to the haunts of men | H |
| Born of high lineage link'd in high command | N |
| He mingled with the magnates of his land | N |
| Join'd the carousals of the great and gay | Y |
| And saw them smile or sigh their hours away | Y |
| But still he only saw and did not share | O |
| The common pleasure or the general care | O |
| He did not follow what they all pursued | M2 |
| With hope still baffled still to be renew'd | M2 |
| Nor shadowy honour nor substantial gain | A |
| Nor beauty's preference and the rival's pain | A |
| Around him some mysterious circle thrown | K2 |
| Repell'd approach and showed him still alone | K2 |
| Upon his eye sate something of reproof | P |
| That kept at least frivolity aloof | P |
| And things more timid that beheld him near | N2 |
| In silence gazed or whisper'd mutual fear | N2 |
| And they the wiser friendlier few confess'd | J |
| They deem'd him better than his air express'd | J |
| - | |
| VIII | P |
| 'Twas strange in youth all action and all life | P |
| Burning for pleasure not averse from strife | P |
| Woman the field the ocean all that gave | P |
| Promise of gladness peril of a grave | P |
| In turn he tried he ransack'd all below | I |
| And found his recompence in joy or woe | I |
| No tame trite medium for his feelings sought | O2 |
| In that intenseness an escape from thought | O2 |
| The tempest of his heart in scorn had gazed | P2 |
| On that the feebler elements hath raised | P2 |
| The rapture of his heart had look'd on high | P |
| And ask'd if greater dwelt beyond the sky | P |
| Chain'd to excess the slave of each extreme | Q |
| How woke he from the wildness of that dream | Q |
| Alas he told not but he did awake | Q2 |
| To curse the wither'd heart that would not break | Q2 |
| - | |
| IX | L |
| Books for his volume heretofore was Man | L2 |
| With eye more curious he appear'd to scan | L2 |
| And oft in sudden mood for many a day | Y |
| From all communion he would start away | Y |
| And then his rarely call'd attendants said | R2 |
| Through night's long hours would sound his hurried tread | R2 |
| O'er the dark gallery where his fathers frown'd | H2 |
| In rude but antique portraiture around | H2 |
| They heard but whisper'd 'that must not be known | K2 |
| The sound of words less earthly than his own | K2 |
| Yes they who chose might smile but some had seen | C2 |
| They scarce knew what but more than should have been | D2 |
| Why gazed he so upon the ghastly head | R2 |
| Which hands profane had gather'd from the dead | R2 |
| That still beside his open'd volume lay | Y |
| As if to startle all save him away | Y |
| Why slept he not when others were at rest | J |
| Why heard no music and received no guest | J |
| All was not well they deem'd but where the wrong | S2 |
| Some knew perchance but 'twere a tale too long | S2 |
| And such besides were too discreetly wise | L |
| To more than hint their knowledge in surmise | L |
| But if they would they could' around the board | B |
| Thus Lara's vassals prattled of their lord | B |
| - | |
| X | L |
| It was the night and Lara's glassy stream | Q |
| The stars are studding each with imaged beam | Q |
| So calm the waters scarcely seem to stray | Y |
| And yet they glide like happiness away | Y |
| Reflecting far and fairy like from high | P |
| The immortal lights that live along the sky | P |
| Its banks are fringed with many a goodly tree | P |
| And flowers the fairest that may feast the bee | P |
| Such in her chaplet infant Dian wove | P |
| And Innocence would offer to her love | P |
| These deck the shore the waves their channel make | Q2 |
| In windings bright and mazy like the snake | Q2 |
| All was so still so soft in earth and air | O |
| You scarce would start to meet a spirit there | O |
| Secure that nought of evil could delight | T2 |
| To walk in such a scene on such a night | T2 |
| It was a moment only for the good | U2 |
| So Lara deem'd nor longer there he sto | U2 |
George Gordon Byron
(1)
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