The Student's Tale - The Falcon Of Ser Federigo - The Wayside Inn - Part First Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBAAAACCDDAAAAEE FFCCAAGGHHIIAA AAAAAAAACCJJKK LLMMAANNOOAAMM AAKKPP AAMMAAGGMMAA QQRRMMSSAAKKPPTTSSUU AAAAPPVVAA WWXXKKAAAAOOSSYYAAAA AAMMZZ SSCCAAAASS MMA2A2CCB2B2AAAA C2C2AASSMM AAMMGGAAAASSAAMM NNAAAAAAKKSSAA D2D2E2E2AAVVAASS AAAAAAMM F2F2WWPPSSSSMM MMSSMMMMRRAAAAG2H2 MMI2I2SSAAVVAA KKYYAAAA WWAAQQGGRRAACCAAAA A AAMAAM AASAAASASMSMM AMAVAMJ2J2AV AAJ2K2J2K2SSVAAAVSA

One summer morning when the sun was hot	A
Weary with labor in his garden plot	A
On a rude bench beneath his cottage eaves	B
Ser Federigo sat among the leaves	B
Of a huge vine that with its arms outspread	A
Hung its delicious clusters overhead	A
Below him through the lovely valley flowed	A
The river Arno like a winding road	A
And from its banks were lifted high in air	C
The spires and roofs of Florence called the Fair	C
To him a marble tomb that rose above	D
His wasted fortunes and his buried love	D
For there in banquet and in tournament	A
His wealth had lavished been his substance spent	A
To woo and lose since ill his wooing sped	A
Monna Giovanna who his rival wed	A
Yet ever in his fancy reigned supreme	E
The ideal woman of a young man's dream	E
	-
Then he withdrew in poverty and pain	F
To this small farm the last of his domain	F
His only comfort and his only care	C
To prune his vines and plant the fig and pear	C
His only forester and only guest	A
His falcon faithful to him when the rest	A
Whose willing hands had found so light of yore	G
The brazen knocker of his palace door	G
Had now no strength to lift the wooden latch	H
That entrance gave beneath a roof of thatch	H
Companion of his solitary ways	I
Purveyor of his feasts on holidays	I
On him this melancholy man bestowed	A
The love with which his nature overflowed	A
	-
And so the empty handed years went round	A
Vacant though voiceful with prophetic sound	A
And so that summer morn he sat and mused	A
With folded patient hands as he was used	A
And dreamily before his half closed sight	A
Floated the vision of his lost delight	A
Beside him motionless the drowsy bird	A
Dreamed of the chase and in his slumber heard	A
The sudden scythe like sweep of wings that dare	C
The headlong plunge thro' eddying gulfs of air	C
Then starting broad awake upon his perch	J
Tinkled his bells like mass bells in a church	J
And looking at his master seemed to say	K
Ser Federigo shall we hunt to day	K
	-
Ser Federigo thought not of the chase	L
The tender vision of her lovely face	L
I will not say he seems to see he sees	M
In the leaf shadows of the trellises	M
Herself yet not herself a lovely child	A
With flowing tresses and eyes wide and wild	A
Coming undaunted up the garden walk	N
And looking not at him but at the hawk	N
Beautiful falcon said he would that I	O
Might hold thee on my wrist or see thee fly	O
The voice was hers and made strange echoes start	A
Through all the haunted chambers of his heart	A
As an aeolian harp through gusty doors	M
Of some old ruin its wild music pours	M
	-
Who is thy mother my fair boy he said	A
His hand laid softly on that shining head	A
Monna Giovanna Will you let me stay	K
A little while and with your falcon play	K
We live there just beyond your garden wall	P
In the great house behind the poplars tall	P
	-
So he spake on and Federigo heard	A
As from afar each softly uttered word	A
And drifted onward through the golden gleams	M
And shadows of the misty sea of dreams	M
As mariners becalmed through vapors drift	A
And feel the sea beneath them sink and lift	A
And hear far off the mournful breakers roar	G
And voices calling faintly from the shore	G
Then waking from his pleasant reveries	M
He took the little boy upon his knees	M
And told him stories of his gallant bird	A
Till in their friendship he became a third	A
	-
Monna Giovanna widowed in her prime	Q
Had come with friends to pass the summer time	Q
In her grand villa half way up the hill	R
O'erlooking Florence but retired and still	R
With iron gates that opened through long lines	M
Of sacred ilex and centennial pines	M
And terraced gardens and broad steps of stone	S
And sylvan deities with moss o'ergrown	S
And fountains palpitating in the heat	A
And all Val d'Arno stretched beneath its feet	A
Here in seclusion as a widow may	K
The lovely lady whiled the hours away	K
Pacing in sable robes the statued hall	P
Herself the stateliest statue among all	P
And seeing more and more with secret joy	T
Her husband risen and living in her boy	T
Till the lost sense of life returned again	S
Not as delight but as relief from pain	S
Meanwhile the boy rejoicing in his strength	U
Stormed down the terraces from length to length	U
The screaming peacock chased in hot pursuit	A
And climbed the garden trellises for fruit	A
But his chief pastime was to watch the flight	A
Of a gerfalcon soaring into sight	A
Beyond the trees that fringed the garden wall	P
Then downward stooping at some distant call	P
And as he gazed full often wondered he	V
Who might the master of the falcon be	V
Until that happy morning when he found	A
Master and falcon in the cottage ground	A
	-
And now a shadow and a terror fell	W
On the great house as if a passing bell	W
Tolled from the tower and filled each spacious room	X
With secret awe and preternatural gloom	X
The petted boy grew ill and day by day	K
Pined with mysterious malady away	K
The mother's heart would not be comforted	A
Her darling seemed to her already dead	A
And often sitting by the sufferer's side	A
What can I do to comfort thee she cried	A
At first the silent lips made no reply	O
But moved at length by her importunate cry	O
Give me he answered with imploring tone	S
Ser Federigo's falcon for my own	S
No answer could the astonished mother make	Y
How could she ask e'en for her darling's sake	Y
Such favor at a luckless lover's hand	A
Well knowing that to ask was to command	A
Well knowing what all falconers confessed	A
In all the land that falcon was the best	A
The master's pride and passion and delight	A
And the sole pursuivant of this poor knight	A
But yet for her child's sake she could no less	M
Than give assent to soothe his restlessness	M
So promised and then promising to keep	Z
Her promise sacred saw him fall asleep	Z
	-
The morrow was a bright September morn	S
The earth was beautiful as if new born	S
There was that nameless splendor everywhere	C
That wild exhilaration in the air	C
Which makes the passers in the city street	A
Congratulate each other as they meet	A
Two lovely ladies clothed in cloak and hood	A
Passed through the garden gate into the wood	A
Under the lustrous leaves and through the sheen	S
Of dewy sunshine showering down between	S
	-
The one close hooded had the attractive grace	M
Which sorrow sometimes lends a woman's face	M
Her dark eyes moistened with the mists that roll	A2
From the gulf stream of passion in the soul	A2
The other with her hood thrown back her hair	C
Making a golden glory in the air	C
Her cheeks suffused with an auroral blush	B2
Her young heart singing louder than the thrush	B2
So walked that morn through mingled light and shade	A
Each by the other's presence lovelier made	A
Monna Giovanna and her bosom friend	A
Intent upon their errand and its end	A
	-
They found Ser Federigo at his toil	C2
Like banished Adam delving in the soil	C2
And when he looked and these fair women spied	A
The garden suddenly was glorified	A
His long lost Eden was restored again	S
And the strange river winding through the plain	S
No longer was the Arno to his eyes	M
But the Euphrates watering Paradise	M
	-
Monna Giovanna raised her stately head	A
And with fair words of salutation said	A
Ser Federigo we come here as friends	M
Hoping in this to make some poor amends	M
For past unkindness I who ne'er before	G
Would even cross the threshold of your door	G
I who in happier days such pride maintained	A
Refused your banquets and your gifts disdained	A
This morning come a self invited guest	A
To put your generous nature to the test	A
And breakfast with you under your own vine	S
To which he answered Poor desert of mine	S
Not your unkindness call it for if aught	A
Is good in me of feeling or of thought	A
From you it comes and this last grace outweighs	M
All sorrows all regrets of other days	M
	-
And after further compliment and talk	N
Among the asters in the garden walk	N
He left his guests and to his cottage turned	A
And as he entered for a moment yearned	A
For the lost splendors of the days of old	A
The ruby glass the silver and the gold	A
And felt how piercing is the sting of pride	A
By want embittered and intensified	A
He looked about him for some means or way	K
To keep this unexpected holiday	K
Searched every cupboard and then searched again	S
Summoned the maid who came but came in vain	S
The Signor did not hunt to day she said	A
There's nothing in the house but wine and bread	A
	-
Then suddenly the drowsy falcon shook	D2
His little bells with that sagacious look	D2
Which said as plain as language to the ear	E2
If anything is wanting I am here	E2
Yes everything is wanting gallant bird	A
The master seized thee without further word	A
Like thine own lure he whirled thee round ah me	V
The pomp and flutter of brave falconry	V
The bells the jesses the bright scarlet hood	A
The flight and the pursuit o'er field and wood	A
All these forevermore are ended now	S
No longer victor but the victim thou	S
	-
Then on the board a snow white cloth he spread	A
Laid on its wooden dish the loaf of bread	A
Brought purple grapes with autumn sunshine hot	A
The fragrant peach the juicy bergamot	A
Then in the midst a flask of wine he placed	A
And with autumnal flowers the banquet graced	A
Ser Federigo would not these suffice	M
Without thy falcon stuffed with cloves and spice	M
	-
When all was ready and the courtly dame	F2
With her companion to the cottage came	F2
Upon Ser Federigo's brain there fell	W
The wild enchantment of a magic spell	W
The room they entered mean and low and small	P
Was changed into a sumptuous banquet hall	P
With fanfares by aerial trumpets blown	S
The rustic chair she sat on was a throne	S
He ate celestial food and a divine	S
Flavor was given to his country wine	S
And the poor falcon fragrant with his spice	M
A peacock was or bird of paradise	M
	-
When the repast was ended they arose	M
And passed again into the garden close	M
Then said the lady Far too well I know	S
Remembering still the days of long ago	S
Though you betray it not with what surprise	M
You see me here in this familiar wise	M
You have no children and you cannot guess	M
What anguish what unspeakable distress	M
A mother feels whose child is lying ill	R
Nor how her heart anticipates his will	R
And yet for this you see me lay aside	A
All womanly reserve and check of pride	A
And ask the thing most precious in your sight	A
Your falcon your sole comfort and delight	A
Which if you find it in your heart to give	G2
My poor unhappy boy perchance may live	H2
	-
Ser Federigo listens and replies	M
With tears of love and pity in his eyes	M
Alas dear lady there can be no task	I2
So sweet to me as giving when you ask	I2
One little hour ago if I had known	S
This wish of yours it would have been my own	S
But thinking in what manner I could best	A
Do honor to the presence of my guest	A
I deemed that nothing worthier could be	V
Than what most dear and precious was to me	V
And so my gallant falcon breathed his last	A
To furnish forth this morning our repast	A
	-
In mute contrition mingled with dismay	K
The gentle lady tuned her eyes away	K
Grieving that he such sacrifice should make	Y
And kill his falcon for a woman's sake	Y
Yet feeling in her heart a woman's pride	A
That nothing she could ask for was denied	A
Then took her leave and passed out at the gate	A
With footstep slow and soul disconsolate	A
	-
Three days went by and lo a passing bell	W
Tolled from the little chapel in the dell	W
Ten strokes Ser Federigo heard and said	A
Breathing a prayer Alas her child is dead	A
Three months went by and lo a merrier chime	Q
Rang from the chapel bells at Christmas time	Q
The cottage was deserted and no more	G
Ser Federigo sat beside its door	G
But now with servitors to do his will	R
In the grand villa half way up the hill	R
Sat at the Christmas feast and at his side	A
Monna Giovanna his beloved bride	A
Never so beautiful so kind so fair	C
Enthroned once more in the old rustic chair	C
High perched upon the back of which there stood	A
The image of a falcon carved in wood	A
And underneath the inscription with date	A
All things come round to him who will but wait	A
	-
	-
INTERLUDE	A
	-
Soon as the story reached its end	A
One over eager to commend	A
Crowned it with injudicious praise	M
And then the voice of blame found vent	A
And fanned the embers of dissent	A
Into a somewhat lively blaze	M
	-
The Theologian shook his head	A
These old Italian tales he said	A
From the much praised Decameron down	S
Through all the rabble of the rest	A
Are either trifling dull or lewd	A
The gossip of a neighborhood	A
In some remote provincial town	S
A scandalous chronicle at best	A
They seem to me a stagnant fen	S
Grown rank with rushes and with reeds	M
Where a white lily now and then	S
Blooms in the midst of noxious weeds	M
And deadly nightshade on its banks	M
	-
To this the Student straight replied	A
For the white lily many thanks	M
One should not say with too much pride	A
Fountain I will not drink of thee	V
Nor were it grateful to forget	A
That from these reservoirs and tanks	M
Even imperial Shakespeare drew	J2
His Moor of Venice and the Jew	J2
And Romeo and Juliet	A
And many a famous comedy	V
	-
Then a long pause till some one said	A
An Angel is flying overhead	A
At these words spake the Spanish Jew	J2
And murmured with an inward breath	K2
God grant if what you say be true	J2
It may not be the Angel of Death	K2
And then another pause and then	S
Stroking his beard he said again	S
This brings back to my memory	V
A story in the Talmud told	A
That book of gems that book of gold	A
Of wonders many and manifold	A
A tale that often comes to me	V
And fills my heart and haunts my brain	S
And never wearies nor grows old	A

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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The Student's Tale - The Falcon Of Ser Federigo - The Wayside Inn - Part First is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.

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