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 AAJ2K2J2K2SSVAAAVSAOne 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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