Lara Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDDEEFFGH ICJJKKLLIIMMNN OOEEPPQQRRSSPPMMTT Q UVWXYYZZRRRR RRA2A2RRB2B2C2C2 Q D2E2F2F2FFG2G2H2H2I2 I2J2K2RRQQMM Q F2F2L2L2M2M2JJQQ Q IIOOZZPPN2N2CCL2L2QQ O2O2KK Q QQQQJJP2P2Q2Q2QQRRR2 R2 M M2M2ZZS2S2I2I2L2L2D2 E2S2S2ZZKKT2T2MMDD M RRZZQQQQQQR2U2LARA | A |
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CANTO THE FIRST | B |
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I | - |
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The Serfs are glad through Lara's wide domain | C |
And slavery half forgets her feudal chain | C |
He their unhoped but unforgotten lord | D |
The long self exiled chieftain is restored | D |
There be bright faces in the busy hall | E |
Bowls on the board and banners on the wall | E |
Far chequering o'er the pictured window plays | F |
The unwonted fagots' hospitable blaze | F |
And gay retainers gather round the hearth | G |
With tongues all loudness and with eyes all mirth | H |
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II | - |
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The chief of Lara is return'd again | I |
And why had Lara cross'd the bounding main | C |
Left by his sire too young such loss to know | J |
Lord of himself that heritage of woe | J |
That fearful empire which the human breast | K |
But holds to rob the heart within of rest | K |
With none to check and few to point in time | L |
The thousand paths that slope the way to crime | L |
Then when he most required commandment then | I |
Had Lara's daring boyhood govern'd men | I |
It skills not boots not step by step to trace | M |
His youth through all the mazes of its race | M |
Short was the course his restlessness had run | N |
But long enough to leave him half undone | N |
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III | - |
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And Lara left in youth his fatherland | O |
But from the hour he waved his parting hand | O |
Each trace wax'd fainter of his course till all | E |
Had nearly ceased his memory to recall | E |
His sire was dust his vassals could declare | P |
'Twas all they knew that Lara was not there | P |
Nor sent nor came he till conjecture grew | Q |
Cold in the many anxious in the few | Q |
His hall scarce echoes with his wonted name | R |
His portrait darkens in its fading frame | R |
Another chief consoled his destined bride | S |
The young forgot him and the old had died | S |
Yet doth he live exclaims the impatient heir | P |
And sighs for sables which he must not wear | P |
A hundred scutcheons deck with gloomy grace | M |
The Laras' last and longest dwelling place | M |
But one is absent from the mouldering file | T |
That now were welcome to that Gothic pile | T |
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IV | Q |
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He comes at last in sudden loneliness | U |
And whence they know not why they need not guess | V |
They more might marvel when the greeting's o'er | W |
Not that he came but came not long before | X |
No train is his beyond a single page | Y |
Of foreign aspect and of tender age | Y |
Years had roll'd on and fast they speed away | Z |
To those that wander as to those that stay | Z |
But lack of tidings from another clime | R |
Had lent a flagging wing to weary Time | R |
They see they recognise yet almost deem | R |
The present dubious or the past a dream | R |
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He lives nor yet is past his manhood's prime | R |
Though sear'd by toil and something touch'd by time | R |
His faults whate'er they were if scarce forgot | A2 |
Might be untaught him by his varied lot | A2 |
Nor good nor ill of late were known his name | R |
Might yet uphold his patrimonial fame | R |
His soul in youth was haughty but his sins | B2 |
No more than pleasure from the stripling wins | B2 |
And such if not yet harden'd in their course | C2 |
Might be redeem'd nor ask a long remorse | C2 |
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V | Q |
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And they indeed were changed 'tis quickly seen | D2 |
Whate'er he be 'twas not what he had been | E2 |
That brow in furrow'd lines had fix'd at last | F2 |
And spake of passions but of passion past | F2 |
The pride but not the fire of early days | F |
Coldness of mien and carelessness of praise | F |
A high demeanour and a glance that took | G2 |
Their thoughts from others by a single look | G2 |
And that sarcastic levity of tongue | H2 |
The stinging of a heart the world hath stung | H2 |
That darts in seeming playfulness around | I2 |
And makes those feel that will not own the wound | I2 |
All these seem'd his and something more beneath | J2 |
Than glance could well reveal or accent breathe | K2 |
Ambition glory love the common aim | R |
That some can conquer and that all would claim | R |
Within his breast appear'd no more to strive | Q |
Yet seem'd as lately they had been alive | Q |
And some deep feeling it were vain to trace | M |
At moments lighten'd o'er his livid face | M |
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VI | Q |
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Not much he loved long question of the past | F2 |
Nor told of wondrous wilds and deserts vast | F2 |
In those far lands where he had wander'd lone | L2 |
And as himself would have it seem unknown | L2 |
Yet these in vain his eye could scarcely scan | M2 |
Nor glean experience from his fellow man | M2 |
But what he had beheld he shunn'd to show | J |
As hardly worth a stranger's care to know | J |
If still more prying such inquiry grew | Q |
His brow fell darker and his words more few | Q |
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VII | Q |
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Not unrejoiced to see him once again | I |
Warm was his welcome to the haunts of men | I |
Born of high lineage link'd in high command | O |
He mingled with the magnates of his land | O |
Join'd the carousals of the great and gay | Z |
And saw them smile or sigh their hours away | Z |
But still he only saw and did not share | P |
The common pleasure or the general care | P |
He did not follow what they all pursued | N2 |
With hope still baffled still to be renew'd | N2 |
Nor shadowy honour nor substantial gain | C |
Nor beauty's preference and the rival's pain | C |
Around him some mysterious circle thrown | L2 |
Repell'd approach and showed him still alone | L2 |
Upon his eye sate something of reproof | Q |
That kept at least frivolity aloof | Q |
And things more timid that beheld him near | O2 |
In silence gazed or whisper'd mutual fear | O2 |
And they the wiser friendlier few confess'd | K |
They deem'd him better than his air express'd | K |
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VIII | Q |
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'Twas strange in youth all action and all life | Q |
Burning for pleasure not averse from strife | Q |
Woman the field the ocean all that gave | Q |
Promise of gladness peril of a grave | Q |
In turn he tried he ransack'd all below | J |
And found his recompence in joy or woe | J |
No tame trite medium for his feelings sought | P2 |
In that intenseness an escape from thought | P2 |
The tempest of his heart in scorn had gazed | Q2 |
On that the feebler elements hath raised | Q2 |
The rapture of his heart had look'd on high | Q |
And ask'd if greater dwelt beyond the sky | Q |
Chain'd to excess the slave of each extreme | R |
How woke he from the wildness of that dream | R |
Alas he told not but he did awake | R2 |
To curse the wither'd heart that would not break | R2 |
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IX | M |
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Books for his volume heretofore was Man | M2 |
With eye more curious he appear'd to scan | M2 |
And oft in sudden mood for many a day | Z |
From all communion he would start away | Z |
And then his rarely call'd attendants said | S2 |
Through night's long hours would sound his hurried tread | S2 |
O'er the dark gallery where his fathers frown'd | I2 |
In rude but antique portraiture around | I2 |
They heard but whisper'd that must not be known | L2 |
The sound of words less earthly than his own | L2 |
Yes they who chose might smile but some had seen | D2 |
They scarce knew what but more than should have been | E2 |
Why gazed he so upon the ghastly head | S2 |
Which hands profane had gather'd from the dead | S2 |
That still beside his open'd volume lay | Z |
As if to startle all save him away | Z |
Why slept he not when others were at rest | K |
Why heard no music and received no guest | K |
All was not well they deem'd but where the wrong | T2 |
Some knew perchance but 'twere a tale too long | T2 |
And such besides were too discreetly wise | M |
To more than hint their knowledge in surmise | M |
But if they would they could around the board | D |
Thus Lara's vassals prattled of their lord | D |
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X | M |
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It was the night and Lara's glassy stream | R |
The stars are studding each with imaged beam | R |
So calm the waters scarcely seem to stray | Z |
And yet they glide like happiness away | Z |
Reflecting far and fairy like from high | Q |
The immortal lights that live along the sky | Q |
Its banks are fringed with many a goodly tree | Q |
And flowers the fairest that may feast the bee | Q |
Such in her chaplet infant Dian wove | Q |
And Innocence would offer to her love | Q |
These deck the shore the waves their channel make | R2 |
In windings bright and mazy like th | U2 |
George Gordon Byron
(1)
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