The Young Princess -- A Ballad Of Old Laws Of Love Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDDC A BEFFE A BGHHG H BIJKI H BLMML H BMNOM H PIMMI H IHQQH H IMRRM H ISHHS H MIIII H TIIII H UIVVI H MHIIH M WXHHX M IIMMI M MCMMC H YZA2A2Z H IB2DDB2 H CC2MMD2 H IME2E2M H IIF2F2I H HMDDM H HRIIR H IIIII M G2IH2H2I H XVMMV H IHIIH H I2MVYM H IZIIZ H J2MHHM H INIIO H MB2K2K2B2 H IL2M2M2L2 M IIMMI M MNN2N2N M IO2MMO2 M BVMMV| I | A |
| - | |
| When the South sang like a nightingale | B |
| Above a bower in May | C |
| The training of Love's vine of flame | D |
| Was writ in laws for lord and dame | D |
| To say their yea and nay | C |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| When the South sang like a nightingale | B |
| Across the flowering night | E |
| And lord and dame held gentle sport | F |
| There came a young princess to Court | F |
| A frost of beauty white | E |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| The South sang like a nightingale | B |
| To thaw her glittering dream | G |
| No vine of Love her bosom gave | H |
| She drank no wine of Love but grave | H |
| She held them to Love's theme | G |
| - | |
| IV | H |
| - | |
| The South grew all a nightingale | B |
| Beneath a moon unmoved | I |
| Like the banner of war she led them on | J |
| She left them to lie like the light that has gone | K |
| From wine cups overproved | I |
| - | |
| V | H |
| - | |
| When the South was a fervid nightingale | B |
| And she a chilling moon | L |
| 'Twas pity to see on the garden swards | M |
| Against Love's laws those rival lords | M |
| As willow wands lie strewn | L |
| - | |
| VI | H |
| - | |
| The South had throat of a nightingale | B |
| For her the young princess | M |
| She gave no vine of Love to rear | N |
| Love's wine drank not yet bent her ear | O |
| To themes of Love no less | M |
| - | |
| I | H |
| - | |
| The lords of the Court they sighed heart sick | P |
| Heart free Lord Dusiote laughed | I |
| I prize her no more than a fling o' the dice | M |
| But or shame to my manhood a lady of ice | M |
| We master her by craft | I |
| - | |
| II | H |
| - | |
| Heart sick the lords of joyance yawned | I |
| Lord Dusiote laughed heart free | H |
| I count her as much as a crack o' my thumb | Q |
| But or shame of my manhood to me she shall come | Q |
| Like the bird to roost in the tree | H |
| - | |
| III | H |
| - | |
| At dead of night when the palace guard | I |
| Had passed the measured rounds | M |
| The young princess awoke to feel | R |
| A shudder of blood at the crackle of steel | R |
| Within the garden bounds | M |
| - | |
| IV | H |
| - | |
| It ceased and she thought of whom was need | I |
| The friar or the leech | S |
| When lo stood her tirewoman breathless by | H |
| Lord Dusiote madam to death is nigh | H |
| Of you he would have speech | S |
| - | |
| V | H |
| - | |
| He prays you of your gentleness | M |
| To light him to his dark end | I |
| The princess rose and forth she went | I |
| For charity was her intent | I |
| Devoutly to befriend | I |
| - | |
| VI | H |
| - | |
| Lord Dusiote hung on his good squire's arm | T |
| The priest beside him knelt | I |
| A weeping handkerchief was pressed | I |
| To stay the red flood at his breast | I |
| And bid cold ladies melt | I |
| - | |
| VII | H |
| - | |
| O lady though you are ice to men | U |
| All pure to heaven as light | I |
| Within the dew within the flower | V |
| Of you 'tis whispered that love has power | V |
| When secret is the night | I |
| - | |
| VIII | H |
| - | |
| I have silenced the slanderers peace to their souls | M |
| Save one was too cunning for me | H |
| I die whose love is late avowed | I |
| He lives who boasts the lily has bowed | I |
| To the oath of a bended knee | H |
| - | |
| IX | M |
| - | |
| Lord Dusiote drew breath with pain | W |
| And she with pain drew breath | X |
| On him she looked on his like above | H |
| She flew in the folds of a marvel of love | H |
| Revealed to pass to death | X |
| - | |
| X | M |
| - | |
| You are dying O great hearted lord | I |
| You are dying for me she cried | I |
| O take my hand O take my kiss | M |
| And take of your right for love like this | M |
| The vow that plights me bride | I |
| - | |
| XI | M |
| - | |
| She bade the priest recite his words | M |
| While hand in hand were they | C |
| Lord Dusiote's soul to waft to bliss | M |
| He had her hand her vow her kiss | M |
| And his body was borne away | C |
| - | |
| I | H |
| - | |
| Lord Dusiote sprang from priest and squire | Y |
| He gazed at her lighted room | Z |
| The laughter in his heart grew slack | A2 |
| He knew not the force that pushed him back | A2 |
| From her and the morn in bloom | Z |
| - | |
| II | H |
| - | |
| Like a drowned man's length on the strong flood tide | I |
| Like the shade of a bird in the sun | B2 |
| He fled from his lady whom he might claim | D |
| As ghost and who made the daybeams flame | D |
| To scare what he had done | B2 |
| - | |
| III | H |
| - | |
| There was grief at Court for one so gay | C |
| Though he was a lord less keen | C2 |
| For training the vine than at vintage press | M |
| But in her soul the young princess | M |
| Believed that love had been | D2 |
| - | |
| IV | H |
| - | |
| Lord Dusiote fled the Court and land | I |
| He crossed the woeful seas | M |
| Till his traitorous doing seemed clearer to burn | E2 |
| And the lady beloved drew his heart for return | E2 |
| Like the banner of war in the breeze | M |
| - | |
| V | H |
| - | |
| He neared the palace he spied the Court | I |
| And music he heard and they told | I |
| Of foreign lords arrived to bring | F2 |
| The nuptial gifts of a bridegroom king | F2 |
| To the princess grave and cold | I |
| - | |
| VI | H |
| - | |
| The masque and the dance were cloud on wave | H |
| And down the masque and the dance | M |
| Lord Dusiote stepped from dame to dame | D |
| And to the young princess he came | D |
| With a bow and a burning glance | M |
| - | |
| VII | H |
| - | |
| Do you take a new husband to morrow lady | H |
| She shrank as at prick of steel | R |
| Must the first yield place to the second he sighed | I |
| Her eyes were like the grave that is wide | I |
| For the corpse from head to heel | R |
| - | |
| VIII | H |
| - | |
| My lady my love that little hand | I |
| Has mine ringed fast in plight | I |
| I bear for your lips a lawful thirst | I |
| And as justly the second should follow the first | I |
| I come to your door this night | I |
| - | |
| IX | M |
| - | |
| If a ghost should come a ghost will go | G2 |
| No more the lady said | I |
| Save that ever when he in wrath began | H2 |
| To swear by the faith of a living man | H2 |
| She answered him You are dead | I |
| - | |
| I | H |
| - | |
| The soft night wind went laden to death | X |
| With smell of the orange in flower | V |
| The light leaves prattled to neighbour ears | M |
| The bird of the passion sang over his tears | M |
| The night named hour by hour | V |
| - | |
| II | H |
| - | |
| Sang loud sang low the rapturous bird | I |
| Till the yellow hour was nigh | H |
| Behind the folds of a darker cloud | I |
| He chuckled he sobbed alow aloud | I |
| The voice between earth and sky | H |
| - | |
| III | H |
| - | |
| O will you will you women are weak | I2 |
| The proudest are yielding mates | M |
| For a forward foot and a tongue of fire | V |
| So thought Lord Dusiote's trusty squire | Y |
| At watch by the palace gates | M |
| - | |
| IV | H |
| - | |
| The song of the bird was wine in his blood | I |
| And woman the odorous bloom | Z |
| His master's great adventure stirred | I |
| Within him to mingle the bloom and bird | I |
| And morn ere its coming illume | Z |
| - | |
| V | H |
| - | |
| Beside him strangely a piece of the dark | J2 |
| Had moved and the undertones | M |
| Of a priest in prayer like a cavernous wave | H |
| He heard as were there a soul to save | H |
| For urgency now in the groans | M |
| - | |
| VI | H |
| - | |
| No priest was hired for the play this night | I |
| And the squire tossed head like a deer | N |
| At sniff of the tainted wind he gazed | I |
| Where cresset lamps in a door were raised | I |
| Belike on a passing bier | O |
| - | |
| VII | H |
| - | |
| All cloaked and masked with naked blades | M |
| That flashed of a judgement done | B2 |
| The lords of the Court from the palace door | K2 |
| Came issuing silently bearers four | K2 |
| And flat on their shoulders one | B2 |
| - | |
| VIII | H |
| - | |
| They marched the body to squire and priest | I |
| They lowered it sad to earth | L2 |
| The priest they gave the burial dole | M2 |
| Bade wrestle hourly for his soul | M2 |
| Who was a lord of worth | L2 |
| - | |
| IX | M |
| - | |
| One said farewell to a gallant knight | I |
| And one but a restless ghost | I |
| 'Tis a year and a day since in this place | M |
| He died sped high by a lady of grace | M |
| To join the blissful host | I |
| - | |
| X | M |
| - | |
| Not vainly on us she charged her cause | M |
| The lady whom we revere | N |
| For faith in the mask of a love untrue | N2 |
| To the Love we honour the Love her due | N2 |
| The Love we have vowed to rear | N |
| - | |
| XI | M |
| - | |
| A trap for the sweet tooth lures for the light | I |
| For the fortress defiant a mine | O2 |
| Right well But not in the South princess | M |
| Shall the lady snared of her nobleness | M |
| Ever shamed or a captive pine | O2 |
| - | |
| XII | M |
| - | |
| When the South had voice of a nightingale | B |
| Above a Maying bower | V |
| On the heights of Love walked radiant peers | M |
| The bird of the passion sang over his tears | M |
| To the breeze and the orange flower | V |
George Meredith
(1)
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About The Young Princess -- A Ballad Of Old Laws Of Love
The Young Princess -- A Ballad Of Old Laws Of Love is a poem by George Meredith. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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