The Masque Of Pandora Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCAAADEFGAAGHAH AA AI AJA AA AKLMNADHOP AH A QARSTUVW N A NAAAAHKHK NHXXHHYXHAZAAZA XAFAFZHZH A2 A AANHB2FKC2AAHADUHD2E 2DXAF2ND2ATOG2 A2 A AXH2AI2XJ2XAD K2 NXAL2 AHI2M2A NAAN2 AN AA AA2A AO2ADB2NX AXAA AHX AAP2A AA AA AQ2HA AHX AAR2AS2 NXA AX NX AT2NU2HV2H AAX AWND AW2AXAX2 AP2AQAAAA AH2WHY2Z2 AR2OA3A NK ANB3A3A3 A X2TTAAXXXAA AC3DTHE WORKSHOP OF HEPHAESTUS | A |
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HEPHAESTUS standing before the statue of Pandora | B |
Not fashioned out of gold like Hera's throne | C |
Nor forged of iron like the thunderbolts | A |
Of Zeus omnipotent or other works | A |
Wrought by my hands at Lemnos or Olympus | A |
But moulded in soft clay that unresisting | D |
Yields itself to the touch this lovely form | E |
Before me stands perfect in every part | F |
Not Aphrodite's self appeared more fair | G |
When first upwafted by caressing winds | A |
She came to high Olympus and the gods | A |
Paid homage to her beauty Thus her hair | G |
Was cinctured thus her floating drapery | H |
Was like a cloud about her and her face | A |
Was radiant with the sunshine and the sea | H |
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THE VOICE OF ZEUS | A |
Is thy work done Hephaestus | A |
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HEPHAESTUS | A |
It is finished | I |
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THE VOICE | A |
Not finished till I breathe the breath of life | J |
Into her nostrils and she moves and speaks | A |
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HEPHAESTUS | A |
Will she become immortal like ourselves | A |
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THE VOICE | A |
The form that thou hast fashioned out of clay | K |
Is of the earth and mortal but the spirit | L |
The life the exhalation of my breath | M |
Is of diviner essence and immortal | N |
The gods shall shower on her their benefactions | A |
She shall possess all gifts the gift of song | D |
The gift of eloquence the gift of beauty | H |
The fascination and the nameless charm | O |
That shall lead all men captive | P |
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HEPHAESTUS | A |
Wherefore wherefore | H |
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A wind shakes the house | A |
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I hear the rushing of a mighty wind | Q |
Through all the halls and chambers of my house | A |
Her parted lips inhale it and her bosom | R |
Heaves with the inspiration As a reed | S |
Beside a river in the rippling current | T |
Bends to and fro she bows or lifts her head | U |
She gazes round about as if amazed | V |
She is alive she breathes but yet she speaks not | W |
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PANDORA descends from the pedestal | N |
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CHORUS OF THE GRACES | A |
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AGLAIA | N |
In the workshop of Hephaestus | A |
What is this I see | A |
Have the Gods to four increased us | A |
Who were only three | A |
Beautiful in form and feature | H |
Lovely as the day | K |
Can there be so fair a creature | H |
Formed of common clay | K |
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THALIA | N |
O sweet pale face O lovely eyes of azure | H |
Clear as the waters of a brook that run | X |
Limpid and laughing in the summer sun | X |
O golden hair that like a miser's treasure | H |
In its abundance overflows the measure | H |
O graceful form that cloudlike floatest on | Y |
With the soft undulating gait of one | X |
Who moveth as if motion were a pleasure | H |
By what name shall I call thee Nymph or Muse | A |
Callirrhoe or Urania Some sweet name | Z |
Whose every syllable is a caress | A |
Would best befit thee but I cannot choose | A |
Nor do I care to choose for still the same | Z |
Nameless or named will be thy loveliness | A |
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EUPHROSYNE | X |
Dowered with all celestial gifts | A |
Skilled in every art | F |
That ennobles and uplifts | A |
And delights the heart | F |
Fair on earth shall be thy fame | Z |
As thy face is fair | H |
And Pandora be the name | Z |
Thou henceforth shalt bear | H |
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II | A2 |
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OLYMPUS | A |
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HERMES putting on his sandals | A |
Much must he toil who serves the Immortal Gods | A |
And I who am their herald most of all | N |
No rest have I nor respite I no sooner | H |
Unclasp the winged sandals from my feet | B2 |
Than I again must clasp them and depart | F |
Upon some foolish errand But to day | K |
The errand is not foolish Never yet | C2 |
With greater joy did I obey the summons | A |
That sends me earthward I will fly so swiftly | A |
That my caduceus in the whistling air | H |
Shall make a sound like the Pandaean pipes | A |
Cheating the shepherds for to day I go | D |
Commissioned by high thundering Zeus to lead | U |
A maiden to Prometheus in his tower | H |
And by my cunning arguments persuade him | D2 |
To marry her What mischief lies concealed | E2 |
In this design I know not but I know | D |
Who thinks of marrying hath already taken | X |
One step upon the road to penitence | A |
Such embassies delight me Forth I launch | F2 |
On the sustaining air nor fear to fall | N |
Like Icarus nor swerve aside like him | D2 |
Who drove amiss Hyperion's fiery steeds | A |
I sink I fly The yielding element | T |
Folds itself round about me like an arm | O |
And holds me as a mother holds her child | G2 |
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III | A2 |
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TOWER OF PROMETHEUS ON MOUNT CAUCASUS | A |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
I hear the trumpet of Alectryon | X |
Proclaim the dawn The stars begin to fade | H2 |
And all the heavens are full of prophecies | A |
And evil auguries Blood red last night | I2 |
I saw great Kronos rise the crescent moon | X |
Sank through the mist as if it were the scythe | J2 |
His parricidal hand had flung far down | X |
The western steeps O ye Immortal Gods | A |
What evil are ye plotting and contriving | D |
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HERMES and PANDORA at the threshold | K2 |
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PANDORA | N |
I cannot cross the threshold An unseen | X |
And icy hand repels me These blank walls | A |
Oppress me with their weight | L2 |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
Powerful ye are | H |
But not omnipotent Ye cannot fight | I2 |
Against Necessity The Fates control you | M2 |
As they do us and so far we are equals | A |
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PANDORA | N |
Motionless passionless companionless | A |
He sits there muttering in his beard His voice | A |
Is like a river flowing underground | N2 |
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HERMES | A |
Prometheus hail | N |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
Who calls me | A |
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HERMES | A |
It is I | A2 |
Dost thou not know me | A |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
By thy winged cap | O2 |
And winged heels I know thee Thou art Hermes | A |
Captain of thieves Hast thou again been stealing | D |
The heifers of Admetus in the sweet | B2 |
Meadows of asphodel or Hera's girdle | N |
Or the earth shaking trident of Poseidon | X |
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HERMES | A |
And thou Prometheus say hast thou again | X |
Been stealing fire from Helios' chariot wheels | A |
To light thy furnaces | A |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
Why comest thou hither | H |
So early in the dawn | X |
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HERMES | A |
The Immortal Gods | A |
Know naught of late or early Zeus himself | P2 |
The omnipotent hath sent me | A |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
For what purpose | A |
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HERMES | A |
To bring this maiden to thee | A |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
I mistrust | Q2 |
The Gods and all their gifts If they have sent her | H |
It is for no good purpose | A |
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HERMES | A |
What disaster | H |
Could she bring on thy house who is a woman | X |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
The Gods are not my friends nor am I theirs | A |
Whatever comes from them though in a shape | R2 |
As beautiful as this is evil only | A |
Who art thou | S2 |
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PANDORA | N |
One who though to thee unknown | X |
Yet knoweth thee | A |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
How shouldst thou know me woman | X |
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PANDORA | N |
Who knoweth not Prometheus the humane | X |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
Prometheus the unfortunate to whom | T2 |
Both Gods and men have shown themselves ungrateful | N |
When every spark was quenched on every hearth | U2 |
Throughout the earth I brought to man the fire | H |
And all its ministrations My reward | V2 |
Hath been the rock and vulture | H |
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HERMES | A |
But the Gods | A |
At last relent and pardon | X |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
They relent not | W |
They pardon not they are implacable | N |
Revengeful unforgiving | D |
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HERMES | A |
As a pledge | W2 |
Of reconciliation they have sent to thee | A |
This divine being to be thy companion | X |
And bring into thy melancholy house | A |
The sunshine and the fragrance of her youth | X2 |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
I need them not I have within myself | P2 |
All that my heart desires the ideal beauty | A |
Which the creative faculty of mind | Q |
Fashions and follows in a thousand shapes | A |
More lovely than the real My own thoughts | A |
Are my companions my designs and labors | A |
And aspirations are my only friends | A |
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HERMES | A |
Decide not rashly The decision made | H2 |
Can never be recalled The Gods implore not | W |
Plead not solicit not they only offer | H |
Choice and occasion which once being passed | Y2 |
Return no more Dost thou accept the gift | Z2 |
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PROMETHEUS | A |
No gift of theirs in whatsoever shape | R2 |
It comes to me with whatsoever charm | O |
To fascinate my sense will I receive | A3 |
Leave me | A |
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PANDORA | N |
Let us go hence I will not stay | K |
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HERMES | A |
We leave thee to thy vacant dreams and all | N |
The silence and the solitude of thought | B3 |
The endless bitterness of unbelief | A3 |
The loneliness of existence without love | A3 |
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CHORUS OF THE FATES | A |
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CLOTHO | X2 |
How the Titan the defiant | T |
The self centred self reliant | T |
Wrapped in visions and illusions | A |
Robs himself of life's best gifts | A |
Till by all the storm winds shaken | X |
By the blast of fate o'ertaken | X |
Hopeless helpless and forsaken | X |
In the mists of his confusions | A |
To the reefs of doom he drifts | A |
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LACHESIS | A |
Sorely tried and sorely tempted | C3 |
Fro | D |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1)
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