Curtius Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMDNOPQRJ GSTUQVWXIQJYXZQA2QQQ DDB2QB2C2QD2QB2E2JF2 DB2B2G2H2I2QI2QJ2K2Q B2D2QB2QCQB2SQJL2M2N 2O2B2DQP2QQQ2B2QB2B2 B2QD2H2B2R2QSS2B2QQA T2QQB2B2R2B2JB2U2KJ2 V2QQQQQW2QB2B2X2DQHow spake the Oracle my Curtius how | A |
Methought while on the shadow'd terraces | B |
I walked and looked towards Rome an echo came | C |
Of legion wails blent into one deep cry | D |
O Jove I thought the Oracles have said | E |
And saying touched some swiftly answering chord | F |
Gen'ral to ev'ry soul And then my heart | G |
I being here alone beat strangely loud | H |
Responsive to the cry and my still soul | I |
Inform'd me thus Not such a harmony | J |
Could spring from aught within the souls of men | K |
But that which is most common to all souls | L |
Lo that is sorrow Nay Curtius I could smile | M |
To tell thee as I listen'd to the cry | D |
How on the silver flax which blew about | N |
The ivory distaff in my languid hand | O |
I found large tears such big and rounded drops | P |
As gather thro' dark nights on cypress boughs | Q |
And I was sudden anger'd for I thought | R |
Why should a gen'ral wail come home to me | J |
With such vibration in my trembling heart | G |
That such great tears should rise and overflow | S |
Then shook them on the marble where I pac'd | T |
Where instantly they vanished in the sun | U |
As di'monds fade in flames 'twas foolish Curtius | Q |
And then methought how strange and lone it seem'd | V |
For till thou cam'st I seem'd to be alone | W |
On the vin'd terrace prison'd in the gold | X |
Of that still noontide hour No widows stole | I |
Up the snow glimmering marble of the steps | Q |
To take my alms and bless the Gods and me | J |
No orphans touched the fringes of my robe | Y |
With innocent babe fingers nor dropped the gold | X |
I laid in their soft palms to laugh and stroke | Z |
The jewels on my neck or touch the rose | Q |
Thou sayest Curtius lives upon my cheek | A2 |
Perchance all lingered in the Roman streets | Q |
To catch first tidings from the Oracles | Q |
The very peacocks drows'd in distant shades | Q |
Nor sought my hand for honey'd cake and high | D |
A hawk sailed blackly in the clear blue sky | D |
And kept my doves from cooing at my feet | B2 |
My lute lay there bound with the small white buds | Q |
Which laughing this bright morn thou brought and wreath'd | B2 |
Around it as I sang but with that wail | C2 |
Dying across the vines and purple slopes | Q |
And breaking on its strings I did not care | D2 |
To waken music nor in truth could force | Q |
My voice or fingers to it so I stray'd | B2 |
Where hangs thy best loved armour on the wall | E2 |
And pleased myself by filling it with thee | J |
'Tis yet the goodliest armour in proud Rome | F2 |
Say all the armourers all Rome and I | D |
Know thee the lordliest bearer of a sword | B2 |
Yet Curtius stay there is a rivet lost | B2 |
From out the helmet and a ruby gone | G2 |
From the short sword hilt trifles both which can | H2 |
Be righted by to morrow's noon to morrow's noon | I2 |
Was there a change my Curtius in my voice | Q |
When spake I those three words to morrow's noon | I2 |
O I am full of dreams methought there was | Q |
Why love how darkly gaze thine eyes in mine | J2 |
If lov'd I dismal thoughts I well could deem | K2 |
Thou saw'st not the blue of my fond eyes | Q |
But looked between the lips of that dread pit | B2 |
O Jove to name it seems to curse the air | D2 |
With chills of death we'll not speak of it Curtius | Q |
When I had dimm'd thy shield with kissing it | B2 |
I went between the olives to the stalls | Q |
White Audax neigh'd out to me as I came | C |
As I had been Hippona to his eyes | Q |
New dazzling from the one small mystic cloud | B2 |
That like a silver chariot floated low | S |
In the ripe blue of noon and seem'd to pause | Q |
Stay'd by the hilly round of yon aged tree | J |
He stretch'd the ivory arch of his vast neck | L2 |
Smiting sharp thunders from the marble floor | M2 |
With hoofs impatient of a peaceful earth | N2 |
Shook the long silver of his burnish'd mane | O2 |
Until the sunbeams smote it into light | B2 |
Such as a comet trails across the sky | D |
I love him Curtius Such magnanimous fires | Q |
Leap from his eyes I do truly think | P2 |
That with thee seated on him thy strong knees | Q |
Against his sides the bridle in his jaws | Q |
In thy lov'd hand to pleasure thee he'd spring | Q2 |
Sheer from the verge of Earth into the breast | B2 |
Of Death and Chaos of Death and Chaos | Q |
What omens seem to strike my soul to day | B2 |
What is there in this blossom hour should knit | B2 |
An omen in with ev'ry simple word | B2 |
Should make yon willows with their hanging locks | Q |
Dusk sybils mutt'ring sorrows to the air | D2 |
The roses clamb'ring round yon marble Pan | H2 |
Wave like red banners floating o'er the dead | B2 |
The dead there 'tis again My Curtius come | R2 |
And thou shalt tell me of the Oracles | Q |
And what sent hither that long cry of woe | S |
Yet wait yet wait I care not much to hear | S2 |
While on thy charger's throbbing neck I lean'd | B2 |
Romeward there pass'd across the violet slopes | Q |
Five sacrificial bulls with silver hides | Q |
And horns as cusp'd and white as Dian's bow | A |
And lordly breasts which laid the honey'd thyme | T2 |
Into long swarths whence smoke of yellow bees | Q |
Rose up in puffs dispersing as it rose | Q |
For the great temple they and as they pass'd | B2 |
With quiet gait I heard their drivers say | B2 |
The bulls were for the Altars when should come | R2 |
Word from the Oracles as to the Pit | B2 |
O Curtius Curtius in my soul I see | J |
How black and fearful is its glutton throat | B2 |
I will not look | U2 |
O Soul be blind and see not Then the men | K |
Wav'd their long goads still juicy from the vine | J2 |
And plum'd with bronzy leaves and each to each | V2 |
Showed the sleek beauty of the rounded sides | Q |
The mighty curving of the lordly breasts | Q |
The level lines of backs the small fine heads | Q |
And laugh'd and said The Gods will have it thus | Q |
The choicest of the earth for sacrifice | Q |
Let it be man or maid or lowing bull | W2 |
Where lay the witchcraft in their clownish words | Q |
To shake my heart I know not but it thrill'd | B2 |
As Daphne's leaves thrill to a wind so soft | B2 |
One might not feel it on the open palm | X2 |
I cannot choose but laugh for what have I | D |
To do with altars and with sacrifice | Q |
Isabella Valancy Crawford
(1)
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