The Student's Tale - The Wayside Inn - Part Third Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCDAAEEAAFF GGHHAAII JJEEAAKK AAAAAA LLAAMM AAGGAAEEAAJJNNOOAAAA PPAAAAAAAAQQRR SSSS SSSSSS SSAAAAAA TTSSUU UUVVPPAAAA WWXXYYFFEEEE SSAAZZYYUUA2A2AASS EEB2B2EEHHYYSSPPAAC2 C2 D2D2AAEE A2DEERR EEAAAA E SAAAAA2A2YY E2E2GGOOAAAAEE AAPPEEEEYY A F2RRSSF2 AAAVAVAAEEAEEAAE EAEAA2A2G2AAUH2H2 AAAAAAAAAA SSI2GXGAAAAAAAAAAEAA AEAE AF2F2F2F2AF2ASSF2AA EUUEAAEMMA AND EGINHARD | A |
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When Alcuin taught the sons of Charlemagne | B |
In the free schools of Aix how kings should reign | B |
And with them taught the children of the poor | C |
How subjects should be patient and endure | D |
He touched the lips of some as best befit | A |
With honey from the hives of Holy Writ | A |
Others intoxicated with the wine | E |
Of ancient history sweet but less divine | E |
Some with the wholesome fruits of grammar fed | A |
Others with mysteries of the stars o'er head | A |
That hang suspended in the vaulted sky | F |
Like lamps in some fair palace vast and high | F |
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In sooth it was a pleasant sight to see | G |
That Saxon monk with hood and rosary | G |
With inkhorn at his belt and pen and book | H |
And mingled lore and reverence in his look | H |
Or hear the cloister and the court repeat | A |
The measured footfalls of his sandaled feet | A |
Or watch him with the pupils of his school | I |
Gentle of speech but absolute of rule | I |
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Among them always earliest in his place | J |
Was Eginhard a youth of Frankish race | J |
Whose face was bright with flashes that forerun | E |
The splendors of a yet unrisen sun | E |
To him all things were possible and seemed | A |
Not what he had accomplished but had dreamed | A |
And what were tasks to others were his play | K |
The pastime of an idle holiday | K |
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Smaragdo Abbot of St Michael's said | A |
With many a shrug and shaking of the head | A |
Surely some demon must possess the lad | A |
Who showed more wit than ever schoolboy had | A |
And learned his Trivium thus without the rod | A |
But Alcuin said it was the grace of God | A |
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Thus he grew up in Logic point device | L |
Perfect in Grammar and in Rhetoric nice | L |
Science of Numbers Geometric art | A |
And lore of Stars and Music knew by heart | A |
A Minnesinger long before the times | M |
Of those who sang their love in Suabian rhymes | M |
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The Emperor when he heard this good report | A |
Of Eginhard much buzzed about the court | A |
Said to himself This stripling seems to be | G |
Purposely sent into the world for me | G |
He shall become my scribe and shall be schooled | A |
In all the arts whereby the world is ruled | A |
Thus did the gentle Eginhard attain | E |
To honor in the court of Charlemagne | E |
Became the sovereign's favorite his right hand | A |
So that his fame was great in all the land | A |
And all men loved him for his modest grace | J |
And comeliness of figure and of face | J |
An inmate of the palace yet recluse | N |
A man of books yet sacred from abuse | N |
Among the armed knights with spur on heel | O |
The tramp of horses and the clang of steel | O |
And as the Emperor promised he was schooled | A |
In all the arts by which the world is ruled | A |
But the one art supreme whose law is fate | A |
The Emperor never dreamed of till too late | A |
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Home from her convent to the palace came | P |
The lovely Princess Emma whose sweet name | P |
Whispered by seneschal or sung by bard | A |
Had often touched the soul of Eginhard | A |
He saw her from his window as in state | A |
She came by knights attended through the gate | A |
He saw her at the banquet of that day | A |
Fresh as the morn and beautiful as May | A |
He saw her in the garden as she strayed | A |
Among the flowers of summer with her maid | A |
And said to him O Eginhard disclose | Q |
The meaning and the mystery of the rose | Q |
And trembling he made answer In good sooth | R |
Its mystery is love its meaning youth | R |
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How can I tell the signals and the signs | S |
By which one heart another heart divines | S |
How can I tell the many thousand ways | S |
By which it keeps the secret it betrays | S |
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O mystery of love O strange romance | S |
Among the Peers and Paladins of France | S |
Shining in steel and prancing on gay steeds | S |
Noble by birth yet nobler by great deeds | S |
The Princess Emma had no words nor looks | S |
But for this clerk this man of thought and books | S |
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The summer passed the autumn came the stalks | S |
Of lilies blackened in the garden walks | S |
The leaves fell russet golden and blood red | A |
Love letters thought the poet fancy led | A |
Or Jove descending in a shower of gold | A |
Into the lap of Danae of old | A |
For poets cherish many a strange conceit | A |
And love transmutes all nature by its heat | A |
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No more the garden lessons nor the dark | T |
And hurried meetings in the twilight park | T |
But now the studious lamp and the delights | S |
Of firesides in the silent winter nights | S |
And watching from his window hour by hour | U |
The light that burned in Princess Emma's tower | U |
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At length one night while musing by the fire | U |
O'ercome at last by his insane desire | U |
For what will reckless love not do and dare | V |
He crossed the court and climbed the winding stair | V |
With some feigned message in the Emperor's name | P |
But when he to the lady's presence came | P |
He knelt down at her feet until she laid | A |
Her hand upon him like a naked blade | A |
And whispered in his ear Arise Sir Knight | A |
To my heart's level O my heart's delight | A |
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And there he lingered till the crowing cock | W |
The Alectryon of the farmyard and the flock | W |
Sang his aubade with lusty voice and clear | X |
To tell the sleeping world that dawn was near | X |
And then they parted but at parting lo | Y |
They saw the palace courtyard white with snow | Y |
And placid as a nun the moon on high | F |
Gazing from cloudy cloisters of the sky | F |
Alas he said how hide the fatal line | E |
Of footprints leading from thy door to mine | E |
And none returning Ah he little knew | E |
What woman's wit when put to proof can do | E |
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That night the Emperor sleepless with the cares | S |
And troubles that attend on state affairs | S |
Had risen before the dawn and musing gazed | A |
Into the silent night as one amazed | A |
To see the calm that reigned o'er all supreme | Z |
When his own reign was but a troubled dream | Z |
The moon lit up the gables capped with snow | Y |
And the white roofs and half the court below | Y |
And he beheld a form that seemed to cower | U |
Beneath a burden come from Emma's tower | U |
A woman who upon her shoulders bore | A2 |
Clerk Eginhard to his own private door | A2 |
And then returned in haste but still essayed | A |
To tread the footprints she herself had made | A |
And as she passed across the lighted space | S |
The Emperor saw his daughter Emma's face | S |
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He started not he did not speak or moan | E |
But seemed as one who hath been turned to stone | E |
And stood there like a statue nor awoke | B2 |
Out of his trance of pain till morning broke | B2 |
Till the stars faded and the moon went down | E |
And o'er the towers and steeples of the town | E |
Came the gray daylight then the sun who took | H |
The empire of the world with sovereign look | H |
Suffusing with a soft and golden glow | Y |
All the dead landscape in its shroud of snow | Y |
Touching with flame the tapering chapel spires | S |
Windows and roofs and smoke of household fires | S |
And kindling park and palace as he came | P |
The stork's nest on the chimney seemed in flame | P |
And thus he stood till Eginhard appeared | A |
Demure and modest with his comely beard | A |
And flowing flaxen tresses come to ask | C2 |
As was his wont the day's appointed task | C2 |
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The Emperor looked upon him with a smile | D2 |
And gently said My son wait yet awhile | D2 |
This hour my council meets upon some great | A |
And very urgent business of the state | A |
Come back within the hour On thy return | E |
The work appointed for thee shalt thou learn | E |
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Having dismissed this gallant Troubadour | A2 |
He summoned straight his council and secure | D |
And steadfast in his purpose from the throne | E |
All the adventure of the night made known | E |
Then asked for sentence and with eager breath | R |
Some answered banishment and others death | R |
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Then spake the king Your sentence is not mine | E |
Life is the gift of God and is divine | E |
Nor from these palace walls shall one depart | A |
Who carries such a secret in his heart | A |
My better judgment points another way | A |
Good Alcuin I remember how one day | A |
When my Pepino asked you 'What are men ' | - |
You wrote upon his tablets with your pen | E |
'Guests of the grave and travellers that pass ' | - |
This being true of all men we alas | S |
Being all fashioned of the selfsame dust | A |
Let us be merciful as well as just | A |
This passing traveller who hath stolen away | A |
The brightest jewel of my crown to day | A |
Shall of himself the precious gem restore | A2 |
By giving it I make it mine once more | A2 |
Over those fatal footprints I will throw | Y |
My ermine mantle like another snow | Y |
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Then Eginhard was summoned to the hall | E2 |
And entered and in presence of them all | E2 |
The Emperor said My son for thou to me | G |
Hast been a son and evermore shalt be | G |
Long hast thou served thy sovereign and thy zeal | O |
Pleads to me with importunate appeal | O |
While I have been forgetful to requite | A |
Thy service and affection as was right | A |
But now the hour is come when I thy Lord | A |
Will crown thy love with such supreme reward | A |
A gift so precious kings have striven in vain | E |
To win it from the hands of Charlemagne | E |
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Then sprang the portals of the chamber wide | A |
And Princess Emma entered in the pride | A |
Of birth and beauty that in part o'er came | P |
The conscious terror and the blush of shame | P |
And the good Emperor rose up from his throne | E |
And taking her white hand within his own | E |
Placed it in Eginhard's and said My son | E |
This is the gift thy constant zeal hath won | E |
Thus I repay the royal debt I owe | Y |
And cover up the footprints in the snow | Y |
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INTERLUDE | A |
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Thus ran the Student's pleasant rhyme | F2 |
Of Eginhard and love and youth | R |
Some doubted its historic truth | R |
But while they doubted ne'ertheless | S |
Saw in it gleams of truthfulness | S |
And thanked the Monk of Lauresheim | F2 |
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This they discussed in various mood | A |
Then in the silence that ensued | A |
Was heard a sharp and sudden sound | A |
As of a bowstring snapped in air | V |
And the Musician with a bound | A |
Sprang up in terror from his chair | V |
And for a moment listening stood | A |
Then strode across the room and found | A |
His dear his darling violin | E |
Still lying safe asleep within | E |
Its little cradle like a child | A |
That gives a sudden cry of pain | E |
And wakes to fall asleep again | E |
And as he looked at it and smiled | A |
By the uncertain light beguiled | A |
Despair two strings were broken in twain | E |
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While all lamented and made moan | E |
With many a sympathetic word | A |
As if the loss had been their own | E |
Deeming the tones they might have heard | A |
Sweeter than they had heard before | A2 |
They saw the Landlord at the door | A2 |
The missing man the portly Squire | G2 |
He had not entered but he stood | A |
With both arms full of seasoned wood | A |
To feed the much devouring fire | U |
That like a lion in a cage | H2 |
Lashed its long tail and roared with rage | H2 |
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The missing man Ah yes they said | A |
Missing but whither had he fled | A |
Where had he hidden himself away | A |
No farther than the barn or shed | A |
He had not hidden himself nor fled | A |
How should he pass the rainy day | A |
But in his barn with hens and hay | A |
Or mending harness cart or sled | A |
Now having come he needs must stay | A |
And tell his tale as well as they | A |
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The Landlord answered only These | S |
Are logs from the dead apple trees | S |
Of the old orchard planted here | I2 |
By the first Howe of Sudbury | G |
Nor oak nor maple has so clear | X |
A flame or burns so quietly | G |
Or leaves an ash so clean and white | A |
Thinking by this to put aside | A |
The impending tale that terrified | A |
When suddenly to his delight | A |
The Theologian interposed | A |
Saying that when the door was closed | A |
And they had stopped that draft of cold | A |
Unpleasant night air he proposed | A |
To tell a tale world wide apart | A |
From that the Student had just told | A |
World wide apart and yet akin | E |
As showing that the human heart | A |
Beats on forever as of old | A |
As well beneath the snow white fold | A |
Of Quaker kerchief as within | E |
Sendal or silk or cloth of gold | A |
And without preface would begin | E |
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And then the clamorous clock struck eight | A |
Deliberate with sonorous chime | F2 |
Slow measuring out the march of time | F2 |
Like some grave Consul of old Rome | F2 |
In Jupiter's temple driving home | F2 |
The nails that marked the year and date | A |
Thus interrupted in his rhyme | F2 |
The Theologian needs must wait | A |
But quoted Horace where he sings | S |
The dire Necessity of things | S |
That drives into the roofs sublime | F2 |
Of new built houses of the great | A |
The adamantine nails of Fate | A |
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When ceased the little carillon | E |
To herald from its wooden tower | U |
The important transit of the hour | U |
The Theologian hastened on | E |
Content to be all owed at last | A |
To sing his Idyl of the Past | A |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1)
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