Persephone Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CDCDAAE FEFEGGG HEHEIIE JEJEJJJ KLKLEEE EIEIEEE EEEEJJJ MJNJEEE IOIOEEE ILILEEE EIEIEEE OEOEJJJ LELEEEE ELELEEE ILILEEE JEJEJJJ| Written for THE PORTFOLIO SOCIETY January | A |
| - | |
| Subject given Light and Shade | B |
| - | |
| - | |
| She stepped upon Sicilian grass | C |
| Demeter's daughter fresh and fair | D |
| A child of light a radiant lass | C |
| And gamesome as the morning air | D |
| The daffodils were fair to see | A |
| They nodded lightly on the lea | A |
| Persephone Persephone | E |
| - | |
| Lo one she marked of rarer growth | F |
| Than orchis or anemone | E |
| For it the maiden left them both | F |
| And parted from her company | E |
| Drawn nigh she deemed it fairer still | G |
| And stooped to gather by the rill | G |
| The daffodil the daffodil | G |
| - | |
| What ailed the meadow that it shook | H |
| What ailed the air of Sicily | E |
| She wondered by the brattling brook | H |
| And trembled with the trembling lea | E |
| The coal black horses rise they rise | I |
| O mother mother low she cries | I |
| Persephone Persephone | E |
| - | |
| O light light light she cries farewell | J |
| The coal black horses wait for me | E |
| O shade of shades where I must dwell | J |
| Demeter mother far from thee | E |
| Ah fated doom that I fulfil | J |
| Ah fateful flower beside the rill | J |
| The daffodil the daffodil | J |
| - | |
| What ails her that she comes not home | K |
| Demeter seeks her far and wide | L |
| And gloomy browed doth ceaseless roam | K |
| From many a morn till eventide | L |
| My life immortal though it be | E |
| Is nought she cries for want of thee | E |
| Persephone Persephone | E |
| - | |
| Meadows of Enna let the rain | E |
| No longer drop to feed your rills | I |
| Nor dew refresh the fields again | E |
| With all their nodding daffodils | I |
| Fade fade and droop O lilied lea | E |
| Where thou dear heart wert reft from me | E |
| Persephone Persephone | E |
| - | |
| She reigns upon her dusky throne | E |
| Mid shades of heroes dread to see | E |
| Among the dead she breathes alone | E |
| Persephone Persephone | E |
| Or seated on the Elysian hill | J |
| She dreams of earthly daylight still | J |
| And murmurs of the daffodil | J |
| - | |
| A voice in Hades soundeth clear | M |
| The shadows mourn and fill below | J |
| It cries Thou Lord of Hades hear | N |
| And let Demeter's daughter go | J |
| The tender corn upon the lea | E |
| Droops in her goddess gloom when she | E |
| Cries for her lost Persephone | E |
| - | |
| From land to land she raging flies | I |
| The green fruit falleth in her wake | O |
| And harvest fields beneath her eyes | I |
| To earth the grain unripened shake | O |
| Arise and set the maiden free | E |
| Why should the world such sorrow dree | E |
| By reason of Persephone | E |
| - | |
| He takes the cleft pomegranate seeds | I |
| Love eat with me this parting day | L |
| Then bids them fetch the coal black steeds | I |
| Demeter's daughter wouldst away | L |
| The gates of Hades set her free | E |
| She will return full soon saith he | E |
| My wife my wife Persephone | E |
| - | |
| Low laughs the dark king on his throne | E |
| I gave her of pomegranate seeds | I |
| Demeter's daughter stands alone | E |
| Upon the fair Eleusian meads | I |
| Her mother meets her Hail saith she | E |
| And doth our daylight dazzle thee | E |
| My love my child Persephone | E |
| - | |
| What moved thee daughter to forsake | O |
| Thy fellow maids that fatal morn | E |
| And give thy dark lord power to take | O |
| Thee living to his realm forlorn | E |
| Her lips reply without her will | J |
| As one addressed who slumbereth still | J |
| The daffodil the daffodil | J |
| - | |
| Her eyelids droop with light oppressed | L |
| And sunny wafts that round her stir | E |
| Her cheek upon her mother's breast | L |
| Demeter's kisses comfort her | E |
| Calm Queen of Hades art thou she | E |
| Who stepped so lightly on the lea | E |
| Persephone Persephone | E |
| - | |
| When in her destined course the moon | E |
| Meets the deep shadow of this world | L |
| And laboring on doth seem to swoon | E |
| Through awful wastes of dimness whirled | L |
| Emerged at length no trace hath she | E |
| Of that dark hour of destiny | E |
| Still silvery sweet Persephone | E |
| - | |
| The greater world may near the less | I |
| And draw it through her weltering shade | L |
| But not one biding trace impress | I |
| Of all the darkness that she made | L |
| The greater soul that draweth thee | E |
| Hath left his shadow plain to see | E |
| On thy fair face Persephone | E |
| - | |
| Demeter sighs but sure 'tis well | J |
| The wife should love her destiny | E |
| They part and yet as legends tell | J |
| She mourns her lost Persephone | E |
| While chant the maids of Enna still | J |
| O fateful flower beside the rill | J |
| The daffodil the daffodil | J |
Jean Ingelow
(1)
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About Persephone
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