Tasso Dying Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDBEFGHIJKLJMMNMOM PQMMJRST UMCVWVXYZA2MB2 C2D2MMMMJE2JF2MG2H2D 2MI2MMJ2MMMK2L2MMM2N 2O2P2MM2 MQ2AR2MMD2S2T2U2MXH2 V2MMB2W2D2D2HX2Y2Z2A 3JZ2Q2 B3JWM2SMHC3 D2D2MM D3MME3B2F3G3MMG2H3SM T2VRG3MC3D2MY2M2I3D2 VMD2V2H2HV2G3MJ3E3 MK3L3EM3J2CMWhat festival is ancient Rome preparing | A |
Where flow the crowds in noisy waves | B |
Why these aromas myrrh's sweet smoke | C |
And censers all around abrim with fragrant herbs | D |
From Capitoline Hill to Tiber's waves | B |
Above universal city's streets | E |
Why are the priceless rugs and purple stuffs | F |
Spread among garlands laurels | G |
Why all this noise The crash and thump of timpani | H |
Are these heralds of joy or triumph | I |
Why wearing the miter hastes the holy father | J |
With gonfalon to the prayer house | K |
For whom doth thankful Rome's most valued gift | L |
The crown in his hands shimmer | J |
For whom this triumph 'tis for you o blessed bard | M |
For you this gift Jerusalem's bard | M |
And now the joyful noise has reached the cell | N |
Where Death joins battle with Torquatto | M |
Where death's winged spirit swoops | O |
Above the sufferer's blessed head | M |
Not weeping friends nor praying monks | P |
Nor honor's late rewards | Q |
Can tame the iron hand of fate | M |
Which knows no mercy for the great | M |
Half dead he sees the horrid hour | J |
And blesses it with joy | R |
And parting with life one final time | S |
The wondrous swan exclaims | T |
- | |
My friends O let me catch a glimpse of splendid Rome | U |
Where a too early grave awaits the bard | M |
Allow my glance to meet your hills and smoke | C |
O ancient sepulcher of citizens | V |
O blessed land of heroes and of wonders | W |
Dust eloquent and ruins | V |
Azure and purple of cloudless skies | X |
You poplars and you ancient olives | Y |
Eternal Tiber you who slake the thirst of every tribe | Z |
Sown with a universe of bones | A2 |
Doomed to an early end | M |
I greet you from within these dreary walls | B2 |
- | |
It's done I stand before the fatal borne | C2 |
To wild applause I won't step on Capitoline | D2 |
And glory's laurels on my feeble head | M |
Won't sweeten the bard's frightful lot | M |
From youth I have been everybody's puppet | M |
I was an exile as a child | M |
I wandered a poor traveler | J |
Under the sweet Italian sky | E2 |
What turns of fate did I not suffer | J |
Where did the waves not toss my bark | F2 |
Where was I safe Where was my daily bread | M |
Not spattered with the tears of sorrow | G2 |
Sorrento Cradle of my woe filled days | H2 |
Where once at night like a trembling Askania | D2 |
Fate tore me from my mother's breast | M |
From her embraces sweet and kisses | I2 |
Do you recall what tears I spilled in childhood | M |
Alas Since then a plaything of cruel fate | M |
I've known great suffering the poverty of life | J2 |
The depths by Fortune quarried out | M |
Beneath me and the thunder never ceased | M |
Driven from place to place from land to land | M |
In vain I sought a harbor on the earth | K2 |
I felt her hand relentless everywhere | L2 |
Her lightning everywhere harassed the bard | M |
Not in a peasant's meager hut | M |
Nor e'en protected by Alphonso's palace | M2 |
Nor under an obscure and silent roof | N2 |
Nor in the wilds nor in the hills was my head safe | O2 |
Embittered by glory and ignominy alike | P2 |
An exile's head from cradle consigned | M |
Into the hands of an avenging goddess | M2 |
- | |
But friends what clutches terribly my breast | M |
Why does my heart lament and tremble | Q2 |
Whence do I come What awful path have I been following | A |
And what behind me in the darkness gleams | R2 |
Ferrara Furies envy's serpent | M |
Whither O whither murderers of my gift | M |
I am in harbor Here is Rome My brothers and my kin | D2 |
Here are their tears and sweet embrace | S2 |
And Virgil's wreath upon the Capitoline hill | T2 |
Thus I fulfilled Appollo's task | U2 |
From my first youth his dedicated priest | M |
Through lightning under raging skies | X |
I sang the grandeur glorious of bygone days | H2 |
In bondage I did not betray my soul | V2 |
It harbors still the muses' sweet delight | M |
And torments only reinforced my gift | M |
It lived in wonderland by Zion's walls | B2 |
On Jordan's flowering shores | W2 |
It questioned you impatient Cedron | D2 |
And you serene asylum of Lebanon | D2 |
It raised you from the dead o heroes hoary | H |
To awesome glory's dazzle and grandeur | X2 |
It gazed upon you Gottfried ruler king of kings | Y2 |
Magnificent and calm 'midst whistling arrows | Z2 |
On you o young Rinaldo ardent as Achilles | A3 |
In love and battle a blessed victor | J |
It watched you fly above the corpses of your foes | Z2 |
Like fire like death like an avenging angel | Q2 |
- | |
And Tartarus is vanquished by a shining cross | B3 |
O models of extraordinary valor | J |
O holy triumph of our ancestors | W |
Long laid to rest Pure faith victorious | M2 |
Torquato has invoked you from the depths of time | S |
He sings and you will never be forgot | M |
He sings and gains the wreath of immortality | H |
By glory woven and the muses' hands | C3 |
- | |
But it's too late I stand before the fatal borne | D2 |
To wild applause I won't step on Capitoline | D2 |
And glory's laurels on my feeble head | M |
Won't sweeten the bard's frightful lot | M |
- | |
He then fell mute eyes burning with a doleful flame | D3 |
A final ray of talent 'ere the end | M |
Even in dying it seemed he wished | M |
To wrest a day of triumph from the Fates | E3 |
His gaze sought out the Capitoline walls | B2 |
He strained to raise himself | F3 |
But spent by struggles terrible with death | G3 |
Remained immobile on his bed | M |
The golden orb was sliding to the west | M |
And sinking in a scarlet glow | G2 |
The hour of death approached the sufferer's somber brow | H3 |
Brightened a final time | S |
He gazed with quiet smile toward the west | M |
And then refreshed by evening chill | T2 |
He raised his right hand to the listening heavens | V |
Like a full righteous man with hope and joy | R |
See to his weeping friends he quoth | G3 |
The king of stars burns in the west | M |
'Tis he who summons me to cloudless lands | C3 |
Where the eternal star will shine | D2 |
I see the angel to that realm my guide | M |
He has enfolded me in azure wings | Y2 |
Bring close the sign of love the cross mysterious | M2 |
And pray with hope and tears | I3 |
All earthly things must die both glory and the crown | D2 |
Art and the muses' great creations | V |
But there all's neverending like our God | M |
Who vouchsafes us eternal glory's crown | D2 |
The greatness of that place has filled my soul | V2 |
I've breathed it since my cradle days | H2 |
O brothers Friends Don't weep for me | H |
Your friend's attained his long sought goal | V2 |
He will depart in peace and strong of faith | G3 |
He will not heed the agonizing end | M |
There there O joy among the righteous wives | J3 |
Among the angels Elenora waits | E3 |
- | |
And uttering the name of love the heav'nly poet died | M |
In silence friends wept over him | K3 |
The day died quietly the voice of bells | L3 |
Bore the unhappy news through city streets | E |
Torquatto's gone Rome cried in grief | M3 |
Our bard is dead so worthy of a better life | J2 |
The morning witnessed somber smoke | C |
The Capitoline in mourning cloaked | M |
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batiushkov
(1)
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