Undine Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCD EEFFAA GGHHII JJKKLL MMNNOO PPQQRR SSTTUV AAEEWWSpirit of Como whose rhythmical call | A |
Murmurs caressingly under my wall | A |
Why are thy feet though the hour be late | B |
Mounting the moon silvered steps of my gate | B |
What is the cause of this passionate strain | C |
Voiced by thy wavelets again and again | D |
- | |
Near to the lake and surmounting the lawn | E |
Sculptured Undine sits facing the dawn | E |
White on the rocks of the fountain below | F |
Glistens her form like a statue of snow | F |
Smiling she listens entranced to the call | A |
Sung so alluringly under my wall | A |
- | |
Leaf woven ladders of ivy wreathed vines | G |
Fall from the rampart in undulant lines | G |
Silken and slender they swing in the breeze | H |
Tempting the lover to clamber with ease | H |
Up to the garden to woo and to take | I |
Lovely Undine away to the lake | I |
- | |
Boldly Love's wavelets now leap to the land | J |
Swiftly they scale every tremulous strand | J |
Lightly they sway with the wavering screen | K |
White gleam their feet on its background of green | K |
Yet the old parapet mossy and gray | L |
Never is reached by their glittering spray | L |
- | |
Hear you that music half song and half sigh | M |
Sylph like Undine is making reply | M |
Though I so motionless sit here above | N |
I am not deaf to thy pleadings of love | N |
Others regard me as passionless stone | O |
Only to thee shall my nature be known | O |
- | |
Men who behold me praise merely my art | P |
Never suspecting I too have a heart | P |
Under the marble the world cannot see | Q |
All I am keeping there only for thee | Q |
Secrets of love are of all the most sweet | R |
Mine I will whisper to thee when we meet | R |
- | |
Under the wall thou hast bravely assailed | S |
Under the vines where thy wavelets have failed | S |
Passes this fountain though cradled in snows | T |
Straight to thy waters it secretly flows | T |
Leaving my cold marble counterpart here | U |
On that swift current I come to thee dear | V |
- | |
Hushed is the lover's importunate call | A |
Silence and mystery brood over all | A |
Still my Undine sits facing the dawn | E |
'Tis but a mask for her spirit is gone | E |
Gone on that crystalline path to the deep | W |
Lured there to ecstasy lulled there to sleep | W |
John L. Stoddard
(1)
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