The Portrait Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB BCCDDEEFGHHIIJKBBLLM M NOPPQQMM RRSSTTUUVVWWAAVBBJ KTTVVXVVYYVVWWWWVV ZZA2VA2WWB2B2VC2VVWW VVWWWWD2WW

In some quaint NurnbergA
maler atelierB
-
Uprummaged When and where was never clearB
Nor yet how he obtained it When by whomC
'Twas painted who shall say itself a gloomC
Resisting inquisition I opineD
It is a Duerer Mark that touch this lineD
Are they deniable Distinguished graceE
Of the pure oval of the noble faceE
Tarnished in color badly Half in lightF
Extend it so Incline The exquisiteG
Expression leaps abruptly piercing scornH
Imperial beauty each an icy thornH
Of light disdainful eyes and well no useI
Effaced and but beheld a sad abuseI
Of patience Often vaguely visibleJ
The portrait fills each feature making swellK
The heart with hope avoiding face and hairB
Start out in living hues astonished 'ThereB
The picture lives ' your soul exults when loL
You hold a blur an undetermined glowL
Dislimns a daub 'Restore ' Ah I have triedM
Our best restorers and it has defiedM
-
Storied mysterious say perhaps a ghostN
Lives in the canvas hers some artist lostO
A duchess' haply Her he worshiped daredP
Not tell he worshiped From his window staredP
Of Nuremberg one sunny morn when sheQ
Passed paged to court Her cold nobilityQ
Loved lived for like a purpose Seized and pliedM
A feverish brush her face Despaired and diedM
-
The narrow Judengasse gables frownR
Around a humpbacked usurer's where brownR
Neglected in a corner long it layS
Heaped in a pile of riff raff such as sayS
Retables done in tempera and oldT
Panels by Wohlgemuth stiff paintings coldT
Of martyrs and apostles names forgotU
Holbeins and Duerers say a haloed lotU
Of praying saints madonnas these perchanceV
'Mid wine stained purples mothed an old romanceV
A crucifix and rosary inlaidW
Arms Saracen elaborate a strayedW
Niello of Byzantium rich workA
In bronze of Florence here a murderous dirkA
There holy patensV
So My ancestorB
The first De Herancour esteemed by farB
This piece most precious most desirableJ
-
Purchased and brought to Paris It looked wellK
In the dark paneling above the oldT
Hearth of the room The head's religious goldT
The soft severity of the nun faceV
Made of the room an apostolic placeV
Revered and fearedX
Like some lived scene I seeV
That Gothic room its Flemish tapestryV
Embossed within the marble hearth a shieldY
Carved 'round with thistles in its argent fieldY
Three sable mallets arms of HerancourV
Topped with the crest a helm and hands that boreV
Outstretched two mallets On a lectern laidW
Between two casements lozenge paned embayedW
A vellum volume of black lettered textW
Near by a taper winking as if vexedW
With silken gusts a nervous curtain sendsV
Behind which haply daggered Murder bendsV
-
And then I seem to see again the hallZ
The stairway leading to that room Then allZ
The terror of that night of blood and crimeA2
Passes before meV
It is Catherine's timeA2
The house De Herancour's On floors splashed redW
Torchlight of Medicean wrath is shedW
Down carven corridors and rooms where couchB2
And chairs lie shattered and black shadows crouchB2
Torch pierced with fear a sound of swords draws nearV
The stir of searching steelC2
What find they hereV
Torch bearer swordsman and fierce halberdierV
On St Bartholomew's A HuguenotW
Dead in his chair Eyes violently shotW
With horror glaring at the portrait thereV
Coiling his neck a blood line like a hairV
Of finest fire The portrait like a fiendW
Looking exalted visitation leanedW
From its black panel in its eyes a hateW
Satanic hair a glowing auburn lateW
A dull enduring goldenD2
'Just one threadW
Of the fierce hair around his throat ' they saidW
'Twisting a burning ray he staring dead '-

Madison Julius Cawein



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