Ravenna Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDD EEFFGGHHEEGGIIJJKKEE IIE ELLMNEE BBEEOLJJEEE EEEEEPPII QQRSPPEEEEE EIIGGQTUU IIQQCCVVPPEEWWXX QQSSYYIIZZN NA2B2 C2 D2D2RRNNIIEEE2E2 IEEEEEEQQIPEEM NEEII F2F2RSII E2E2IPE2E2 I G2G2EEEEPPIIC2C2E2E2 IIEEIIEEI IPPIIIE2 EEIIPPE2E2IIEEEEJJ EEEEE2E2GG E2E2 ECCRR PPIIE2E2EEEEEE EEE2E2E2E2SRH2H2E2E2 II PPCCC2C2EEEEEEPPEEEE II IIGGIIEES SIIEEE2E2EEC2C2 E2E2E2E2EE JJEEGG C2 JJE2E2E2E2CCE EEEIIJJFFIIFFJJIIEE FFEEIIE2E2 E2E2PP

Newdigate prize poem recited in the Sheldonian Theatre Oxford June th	A
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To my friend George Fleming author of 'The Nile Novel' and 'Mirage'	B
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I	-
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	-
A year ago I breathed the Italian air	C
And yet methinks this northern Spring is fair	C
These fields made golden with the flower of March	D
The throstle singing on the feathered larch	D
The cawing rooks the wood doves fluttering by	-
The little clouds that race across the sky	-
And fair the violet's gentle drooping head	E
The primrose pale for love uncomforted	E
The rose that burgeons on the climbing briar	F
The crocus bed that seems a moon of fire	F
Round girdled with a purple marriage ring	G
And all the flowers of our English Spring	G
Fond snowdrops and the bright starred daffodil	H
Up starts the lark beside the murmuring mill	H
And breaks the gossamer threads of early dew	E
And down the river like a flame of blue	E
Keen as an arrow flies the water king	G
While the brown linnets in the greenwood sing	G
A year ago it seems a little time	I
Since last I saw that lordly southern clime	I
Where flower and fruit to purple radiance blow	J
And like bright lamps the fabled apples glow	J
Full Spring it was and by rich flowering vines	K
Dark olive groves and noble forest pines	K
I rode at will the moist glad air was sweet	E
The white road rang beneath my horse's feet	E
And musing on Ravenna's ancient name	I
I watched the day till marked with wounds of flame	I
The turquoise sky to burnished gold was turned	E
	-
O how my heart with boyish passion burned	E
When far away across the sedge and mere	L
I saw that Holy City rising clear	L
Crowned with her crown of towers On and on	M
I galloped racing with the setting sun	N
And ere the crimson after glow was passed	E
I stood within Ravenna's walls at last	E
	-
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II	-
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How strangely still no sound of life or joy	B
Startles the air no laughing shepherd boy	B
Pipes on his reed nor ever through the day	E
Comes the glad sound of children at their play	E
O sad and sweet and silent surely here	O
A man might dwell apart from troublous fear	L
Watching the tide of seasons as they flow	J
From amorous Spring to Winter's rain and snow	J
And have no thought of sorrow here indeed	E
Are Lethe's waters and that fatal weed	E
Which makes a man forget his fatherland	E
	-
Ay amid lotus meadows dost thou stand	E
Like Proserpine with poppy laden head	E
Guarding the holy ashes of the dead	E
For though thy brood of warrior sons hath ceased	E
Thy noble dead are with thee they at least	E
Are faithful to thine honour guard them well	P
O childless city for a mighty spell	P
To wake men's hearts to dreams of things sublime	I
Are the lone tombs where rest the Great of Time	I
	-
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III	-
	-
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Yon lonely pillar rising on the plain	Q
Marks where the bravest knight of France was slain	Q
The Prince of chivalry the Lord of war	R
Gaston de Foix for some untimely star	S
Led him against thy city and he fell	P
As falls some forest lion fighting well	P
Taken from life while life and love were new	E
He lies beneath God's seamless veil of blue	E
Tall lance like reeds wave sadly o'er his head	E
And oleanders bloom to deeper red	E
Where his bright youth flowed crimson on the ground	E
	-
Look farther north unto that broken mound	E
There prisoned now within a lordly tomb	I
Raised by a daughter's hand in lonely gloom	I
Huge limbed Theodoric the Gothic king	G
Sleeps after all his weary conquering	G
Time hath not spared his ruin wind and rain	Q
Have broken down his stronghold and again	T
We see that Death is mighty lord of all	U
And king and clown to ashen dust must fall	U
	-
Mighty indeed THEIR glory yet to me	I
Barbaric king or knight of chivalry	I
Or the great queen herself were poor and vain	Q
Beside the grave where Dante rests from pain	Q
His gilded shrine lies open to the air	C
And cunning sculptor's hands have carven there	C
The calm white brow as calm as earliest morn	V
The eyes that flashed with passionate love and scorn	V
The lips that sang of Heaven and of Hell	P
The almond face which Giotto drew so well	P
The weary face of Dante to this day	E
Here in his place of resting far away	E
From Arno's yellow waters rushing down	W
Through the wide bridges of that fairy town	W
Where the tall tower of Giotto seems to rise	X
A marble lily under sapphire skies	X
	-
Alas my Dante thou hast known the pain	Q
Of meaner lives the exile's galling chain	Q
How steep the stairs within kings' houses are	S
And all the petty miseries which mar	S
Man's nobler nature with the sense of wrong	Y
Yet this dull world is grateful for thy song	Y
Our nations do thee homage even she	I
That cruel queen of vine clad Tuscany	I
Who bound with crown of thorns thy living brow	Z
Hath decked thine empty tomb with laurels now	Z
And begs in vain the ashes of her son	N
	-
O mightiest exile all thy grief is done	N
Thy soul walks now beside thy Beatrice	A2
Ravenna guards thine ashes sleep in peace	B2
	-
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IV	C2
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How lone this palace is how grey the walls	D2
No minstrel now wakes echoes in these halls	D2
The broken chain lies rusting on the door	R
And noisome weeds have split the marble floor	R
Here lurks the snake and here the lizards run	N
By the stone lions blinking in the sun	N
Byron dwelt here in love and revelry	I
For two long years a second Anthony	I
Who of the world another Actium made	E
Yet suffered not his royal soul to fade	E
Or lyre to break or lance to grow less keen	E2
'Neath any wiles of an Egyptian queen	E2
For from the East there came a mighty cry	-
And Greece stood up to fight for Liberty	I
And called him from Ravenna never knight	E
Rode forth more nobly to wild scenes of fight	E
None fell more bravely on ensanguined field	E
Borne like a Spartan back upon his shield	E
O Hellas Hellas in thine hour of pride	E
Thy day of might remember him who died	E
To wrest from off thy limbs the trammelling chain	Q
O Salamis O lone Plataean plain	Q
O tossing waves of wild Euboean sea	I
O wind swept heights of lone Thermopylae	P
He loved you well ay not alone in word	E
Who freely gave to thee his lyre and sword	E
Like AEschylos at well fought Marathon	M
	-
And England too shall glory in her son	N
Her warrior poet first in song and fight	E
No longer now shall Slander's venomed spite	E
Crawl like a snake across his perfect name	I
Or mar the lordly scutcheon of his fame	I
	-
For as the olive garland of the race	F2
Which lights with joy each eager runner's face	F2
As the red cross which saveth men in war	R
As a flame bearded beacon seen from far	S
By mariners upon a storm tossed sea	I
Such was his love for Greece and Liberty	I
	-
Byron thy crowns are ever fresh and green	E2
Red leaves of rose from Sapphic Mitylene	E2
Shall bind thy brows the myrtle blooms for thee	I
In hidden glades by lonely Castaly	P
The laurels wait thy coming all are thine	E2
And round thy head one perfect wreath will twine	E2
	-
	-
V	I
	-
	-
The pine tops rocked before the evening breeze	G2
With the hoarse murmur of the wintry seas	G2
And the tall stems were streaked with amber bright	E
I wandered through the wood in wild delight	E
Some startled bird with fluttering wings and fleet	E
Made snow of all the blossoms at my feet	E
Like silver crowns the pale narcissi lay	P
And small birds sang on every twining spray	P
O waving trees O forest liberty	I
Within your haunts at least a man is free	I
And half forgets the weary world of strife	C2
The blood flows hotter and a sense of life	C2
Wakes i' the quickening veins while once again	E2
The woods are filled with gods we fancied slain	E2
Long time I watched and surely hoped to see	I
Some goat foot Pan make merry minstrelsy	I
Amid the reeds some startled Dryad maid	E
In girlish flight or lurking in the glade	E
The soft brown limbs the wanton treacherous face	I
Of woodland god Queen Dian in the chase	I
White limbed and terrible with look of pride	E
And leash of boar hounds leaping at her side	E
Or Hylas mirrored in the perfect stream	I
	-
O idle heart O fond Hellenic dream	I
Ere long with melancholy rise and swell	P
The evening chimes the convent's vesper bell	P
Struck on mine ears amid the amorous flowers	I
Alas alas these sweet and honied hours	I
Had whelmed my heart like some encroaching sea	I
And drowned all thoughts of black Gethsemane	E2
	-
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VI	-
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O lone Ravenna many a tale is told	E
Of thy great glories in the days of old	E
Two thousand years have passed since thou didst see	I
Caesar ride forth to royal victory	I
Mighty thy name when Rome's lean eagles flew	P
From Britain's isles to far Euphrates blue	P
And of the peoples thou wast noble queen	E2
Till in thy streets the Goth and Hun were seen	E2
Discrowned by man deserted by the sea	I
Thou sleepest rocked in lonely misery	I
No longer now upon thy swelling tide	E
Pine forest like thy myriad galleys ride	E
For where the brass beaked ships were wont to float	E
The weary shepherd pipes his mournful note	E
And the white sheep are free to come and go	J
Where Adria's purple waters used to flow	J
	-
O fair O sad O Queen uncomforted	E
In ruined loveliness thou liest dead	E
Alone of all thy sisters for at last	E
Italia's royal warrior hath passed	E
Rome's lordliest entrance and hath worn his crown	E2
In the high temples of the Eternal Town	E2
The Palatine hath welcomed back her king	G
And with his name the seven mountains ring	G
	-
And Naples hath outlived her dream of pain	E2
And mocks her tyrant Venice lives again	E2
New risen from the waters and the cry	-
Of Light and Truth of Love and Liberty	E
Is heard in lordly Genoa and where	C
The marble spires of Milan wound the air	C
Rings from the Alps to the Sicilian shore	R
And Dante's dream is now a dream no more	R
	-
But thou Ravenna better loved than all	P
Thy ruined palaces are but a pall	P
That hides thy fallen greatness and thy name	I
Burns like a grey and flickering candle flame	I
Beneath the noonday splendour of the sun	E2
Of new Italia for the night is done	E2
The night of dark oppression and the day	E
Hath dawned in passionate splendour far away	E
The Austrian hounds are hunted from the land	E
Beyond those ice crowned citadels which stand	E
Girdling the plain of royal Lombardy	E
From the far West unto the Eastern sea	E
	-
I know indeed that sons of thine have died	E
In Lissa's waters by the mountain side	E
Of Aspromonte on Novara's plain	E2
Nor have thy children died for thee in vain	E2
And yet methinks thou hast not drunk this wine	E2
From grapes new crushed of Liberty divine	E2
Thou hast not followed that immortal Star	S
Which leads the people forth to deeds of war	R
Weary of life thou liest in silent sleep	H2
As one who marks the lengthening shadows creep	H2
Careless of all the hurrying hours that run	E2
Mourning some day of glory for the sun	E2
Of Freedom hath not shewn to thee his face	I
And thou hast caught no flambeau in the race	I
	-
Yet wake not from thy slumbers rest thee well	P
Amidst thy fields of amber asphodel	P
Thy lily sprinkled meadows rest thee there	C
To mock all human greatness who would dare	C
To vent the paltry sorrows of his life	C2
Before thy ruins or to praise the strife	C2
Of kings' ambition and the barren pride	E
Of warring nations wert not thou the Bride	E
Of the wild Lord of Adria's stormy sea	E
The Queen of double Empires and to thee	E
Were not the nations given as thy prey	E
And now thy gates lie open night and day	E
The grass grows green on every tower and hall	P
The ghastly fig hath cleft thy bastioned wall	P
And where thy mailed warriors stood at rest	E
The midnight owl hath made her secret nest	E
O fallen fallen from thy high estate	E
O city trammelled in the toils of Fate	E
Doth nought remain of all thy glorious days	I
But a dull shield a crown of withered bays	I
	-
Yet who beneath this night of wars and fears	I
From tranquil tower can watch the coming years	I
Who can foretell what joys the day shall bring	G
Or why before the dawn the linnets sing	G
Thou even thou mayst wake as wakes the rose	I
To crimson splendour from its grave of snows	I
As the rich corn fields rise to red and gold	E
From these brown lands now stiff with Winter's cold	E
As from the storm rack comes a perfect star	S
	-
O much loved city I have wandered far	S
From the wave circled islands of my home	I
Have seen the gloomy mystery of the Dome	I
Rise slowly from the drear Campagna's way	E
Clothed in the royal purple of the day	E
I from the city of the violet crown	E2
Have watched the sun by Corinth's hill go down	E2
And marked the 'myriad laughter' of the sea	E
From starlit hills of flower starred Arcady	E
Yet back to thee returns my perfect love	C2
As to its forest nest the evening dove	C2
	-
O poet's city one who scarce has seen	E2
Some twenty summers cast their doublets green	E2
For Autumn's livery would seek in vain	E2
To wake his lyre to sing a louder strain	E2
Or tell thy days of glory poor indeed	E
Is the low murmur of the shepherd's reed	E
Where the loud clarion's blast should shake the sky	-
And flame across the heavens and to try	-
Such lofty themes were folly yet I know	J
That never felt my heart a nobler glow	J
Than when I woke the silence of thy street	E
With clamorous trampling of my horse's feet	E
And saw the city which now I try to sing	G
After long days of weary travelling	G
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VII	C2
	-
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Adieu Ravenna but a year ago	J
I stood and watched the crimson sunset glow	J
From the lone chapel on thy marshy plain	E2
The sky was as a shield that caught the stain	E2
Of blood and battle from the dying sun	E2
And in the west the circling clouds had spun	E2
A royal robe which some great God might wear	C
While into ocean seas of purple air	C
Sank the gold galley of the Lord of Light	E
	-
Yet here the gentle stillness of the night	E
Brings back the swelling tide of memory	E
And wakes again my passionate love for thee	E
Now is the Spring of Love yet soon will come	I
On meadow and tree the Summer's lordly bloom	I
And soon the grass with brighter flowers will blow	J
And send up lilies for some boy to mow	J
Then before long the Summer's conqueror	F
Rich Autumn time the season's usurer	F
Will lend his hoarded gold to all the trees	I
And see it scattered by the spendthrift breeze	I
And after that the Winter cold and drear	F
So runs the perfect cycle of the year	F
And so from youth to manhood do we go	J
And fall to weary days and locks of snow	J
Love only knows no winter never dies	I
Nor cares for frowning storms or leaden skies	I
And mine for thee shall never pass away	E
Though my weak lips may falter in my lay	E
	-
Adieu Adieu yon silent evening star	F
The night's ambassador doth gleam afar	F
And bid the shepherd bring his flocks to fold	E
Perchance before our inland seas of gold	E
Are garnered by the reapers into sheaves	I
Perchance before I see the Autumn leaves	I
I may behold thy city and lay down	E2
Low at thy feet the poet's laurel crown	E2
	-
Adieu Adieu yon silver lamp the moon	E2
Which turns our midnight into perfect noon	E2
Doth surely light thy towers guarding well	P
Where Dante sleeps where Byron loved to dwell	P

Oscar Fingal O'flahertie Wills Wilde

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