The Iron Crown Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDDED DFDFGHIH JKLKJMDM NAOAJDCD LPJPQJJJ JJDJJDDD RJJJLSLS JJJJJDOD JJTJDUJU JJJJODJDOn the classic shore of Como | A |
'Neath a headland steep and bold | B |
Which though leaden at the dawning | C |
In the sunset turns to gold | B |
Nestles beautiful Varenna | D |
Still invested with renown | D |
By the legend that connects it | E |
With the Lombards' Iron Crown | D |
- | |
Far above it on the mountain | D |
Stands the castle old and gray | F |
With its battlements in ruin | D |
And its towers in decay | F |
But a subtle charm still lingers | G |
Round that residence sublime | H |
And the beauty of its story | I |
Is triumphant over time | H |
- | |
As we trace its ancient pavement | J |
As we tread its roofless halls | K |
How alluring is the figure | L |
Which this castle still recalls | K |
For 'tis Queen Theodelinda | J |
Whom its ruined arches frame | M |
And the passing breeze seems laden | D |
With the music of her name | M |
- | |
As we gaze from ivied ramparts | N |
On the storied lake below | A |
We forget the world about us | O |
For the world of long ago | A |
When the Lombards had descended | J |
From the mountains to the plain | D |
And all Italy lay mourning | C |
For the thousands of her slain | D |
- | |
When their brave ambitious leader | L |
Not content to make his home | P |
By these northern lakes of beauty | J |
Had resolved to capture Rome | P |
For no longer could her legions | Q |
His resistless course withstand | J |
And the road lay open southward | J |
To the conquest of the land | J |
- | |
When his valiant host stood ready | J |
And impatient for the start | J |
What reversed their king's decision | D |
What so changed the warlord's heart | J |
'Twas the passionate entreaty | J |
Of his wife a Christian queen | D |
'Twas the conquest of the pagan | D |
By the lowly Nazarene | D |
- | |
Through her prayers Rome's aged Pontiff | R |
From the threatened doom was freed | J |
By her aid the Church was strengthened | J |
As the king professed its creed | J |
And Saint Peter's great successor | L |
Thus preserved from grievous loss | S |
Gave to her his faithful daughter | L |
A true relic of the Cross | S |
- | |
What to pious Theodelinda | J |
Could be recompense more sweet | J |
Than the nail forever sacred | J |
That once pierced her Saviour's feet | J |
Which when rounded to a circlet | J |
To fine wire beaten down | D |
Then became the precious basis | O |
Of the Lombards' Iron Crown | D |
- | |
Through the ages that have followed | J |
What a line of the Renowned | J |
Have been proud to wear this emblem | T |
As they each in turn were crowned | J |
Charlemagne Charles Fifth Napoleon | D |
German Kaisers by the score | U |
And at last poor King Umberto | J |
Basely slain at Monza's door | U |
- | |
Since that coronet was fashioned | J |
Fifteen centuries have passed | J |
O'er the castle by Lake Como | J |
Where the good queen breathed her last | J |
But the Crown is still at Monza | O |
And its iron basic line | D |
Tells the world of human glory | J |
And the death of the Divine | D |
John L. Stoddard
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