Rosalind And Helen: A Modern Eclogue Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B CDEFEGGHIHCJJGKKGLMJ JNJOPPPQRSRSLMTCCUJJ GJJVWJJXYYZA2B2B2XJQ C2QC2UC CC2D2E2C2XXBGGXBXD2 GGB JGF2BK CBF2G2 JBJJ CMLKG H2KH2JJB2B2I2I2J F2GGF2HHGGGHJ2HJ2K2K 2L2JM2N2O2N2B2B2GJP2 P2KKM2KCD2GCQQQ2N2Q2 N2JJJF2F2QJQGG GGGGGC2C2M2C2JKJGM2K GGGKJJ J2GBBGMLGR2GJKJH2H2G R2GKGGJJGGKS2S2C2UGU GUN2N2GGGJJC2C2C2GGC 2C2BQQ

ROSALIND HELEN and her ChildA
-
SCENE The Shore of the Lake of ComoB
-
HELENC
Come hither my sweet RosalindD
'T is long since thou and I have metE
And yet methinks it were unkindF
Those moments to forgetE
Come sit by me I see thee standG
By this lone lake in this far landG
Thy loose hair in the light wind flyingH
Thy sweet voice to each tone of evenI
United and thine eyes replyingH
To the hues of yon fair heavenC
Come gentle friend wilt sit by meJ
And be as thou wert wont to beJ
Ere we were disunitedG
None doth behold us now the powerK
That led us forth at this lone hourK
Will be but ill requitedG
If thou depart in scorn Oh comeL
And talk of our abandoned homeM
Remember this is ItalyJ
And we are exiles Talk with meJ
Of that our land whose wilds and floodsN
Barren and dark although they beJ
Were dearer than these chestnut woodsO
Those heathy paths that inland streamP
And the blue mountains shapes which seemP
Like wrecks of childhood's sunny dreamP
Which that we have abandoned nowQ
Weighs on the heart like that remorseR
Which altered friendship leaves I seekS
No more our youthful intercourseR
That cannot be Rosalind speakS
Speak to me Leave me not When morn did comeL
When evening fell upon our common homeM
When for one hour we parted do not frownT
I would not chide thee though thy faith is brokenC
But turn to me Oh by this cherished tokenC
Of woven hair which thou wilt not disownU
Turn as 't were but the memory of meJ
And not my scorn d self who prayed to theeJ
-
ROSALINDG
Is it a dream or do I seeJ
And hear frail Helen I would fleeJ
Thy tainting touch but former yearsV
Arise and bring forbidden tearsW
And my o'erburdened memoryJ
Seeks yet its lost repose in theeJ
I share thy crime I cannot chooseX
But weep for thee mine own strange griefY
But seldom stoops to such reliefY
Nor ever did I love thee lessZ
Though mourning o'er thy wickednessA2
Even with a sister's woe I knewB2
What to the evil world is dueB2
And therefore sternly did refuseX
To link me with the infamyJ
Of one so lost as Helen NowQ
Bewildered by my dire despairC2
Wondering I blush and weep that thouQ
Shouldst love me still thou only ThereC2
Let us sit on that gray stoneU
Till our mournful talk be doneC
-
HELENC
Alas not there I cannot bearC2
The murmur of this lake to hearD2
A sound from there Rosalind dearE2
Which never yet I heard elsewhereC2
But in our native land recursX
Even here where now we meet It stirsX
Too much of suffocating sorrowB
In the dell of yon dark chestnut woodG
Is a stone seat a solitudeG
Less like our own The ghost of peaceX
Will not desert this spot To morrowB
If thy kind feelings should not ceaseX
We may sit hereD2
-
ROSALINDG
Thou lead my sweetG
And I will followB
-
HENRYJ
'T is Fenici's seatG
Where you are going This is not the wayF2
Mamma it leads behind those trees that growB
Close to the little riverK
-
HELENC
Yes I knowB
I was bewildered Kiss me and be gayF2
Dear boy why do you sobG2
-
HENRYJ
I do not knowB
But it might break any one's heart to seeJ
You and the lady cry so bitterlyJ
-
HELENC
It is a gentle child my friend Go homeM
Henry and play with Lilla till I comeL
We only cried with joy to see each otherK
We are quite merry now Good nightG
-
The boyH2
Lifted a sudden look upon his motherK
And in the gleam of forced and hollow joyH2
Which lightened o'er her face laughed with the gleeJ
Of light and unsuspecting infancyJ
And whispered in her ear 'Bring home with youB2
That sweet strange lady friend ' Then off he flewB2
But stopped and beckoned with a meaning smileI2
Where the road turned Pale Rosalind the whileI2
Hiding her face stood weeping silentlyJ
-
In silence then they took the wayF2
Beneath the forest's solitudeG
It was a vast and antique woodG
Through which they took their wayF2
And the gray shades of eveningH
O'er that green wilderness did flingH
Still deeper solitudeG
Pursuing still the path that woundG
The vast and knotted trees aroundG
Through which slow shades were wanderingH
To a deep lawny dell they cameJ2
To a stone seat beside a springH
O'er which the columned wood did frameJ2
A roofless temple like the faneK2
Where ere new creeds could faith obtainK2
Man's early race once knelt beneathL2
The overhanging deityJ
O'er this fair fountain hung the skyM2
Now spangled with rare stars The snakeN2
The pale snake that with eager breathO2
Creeps here his noontide thirst to slakeN2
Is beaming with many a mingled hueB2
Shed from yon dome's eternal blueB2
When he floats on that dark and lucid floodG
In the light of his own lovelinessJ
And the birds that in the fountain dipP2
Their plumes with fearless fellowshipP2
Above and round him wheel and hoverK
The fitful wind is heard to stirK
One solitary leaf on highM2
The chirping of the grasshopperK
Fills every pause There is emotionC
In all that dwells at noontide hereD2
Then through the intricate wild woodG
A maze of life and light and motionC
Is woven But there is stillness nowQ
Gloom and the trance of Nature nowQ
The snake is in his cave asleepQ2
The birds are on the branches dreamingN2
Only the shadows creepQ2
Only the glow worm is gleamingN2
Only the owls and the nightingalesJ
Wake in this dell when daylight failsJ
And gray shades gather in the woodsJ
And the owls have all fled far awayF2
In a merrier glen to hoot and playF2
For the moon is veiled and sleeping nowQ
The accustomed nightingale still broodsJ
On her accustomed boughQ
But she is mute for her false mateG
Has fled and left her desolateG
-
This silent spot tradition oldG
Had peopled with the spectral deadG
For the roots of the speaker's hair felt coldG
And stiff as with tremulous lips he toldG
That a hellish shape at midnight ledG
The ghost of a youth with hoary hairC2
And sate on the seat beside him thereC2
Till a naked child came wandering byM2
When the fiend would change to a lady fairC2
A fearful tale the truth was worseJ
For here a sister and a brotherK
Had solemnized a monstrous curseJ
Meeting in this fair solitudeG
For beneath yon very skyM2
Had they resigned to one anotherK
Body and soul The multitudeG
Tracking them to the secret woodG
Tore limb from limb their innocent childG
And stabbed and trampled on its motherK
But the youth for God's most holy graceJ
A priest saved to burn in the market placeJ
-
Duly at evening Helen cameJ2
To this lone silent spotG
From the wrecks of a tale of wilder sorrowB
So much of sympathy to borrowB
As soothed her own dark lotG
Duly each evening from her homeM
With her fair child would Helen comeL
To sit upon that antique seatG
While the hues of day were paleR2
And the bright boy beside her feetG
Now lay lifting at intervalsJ
His broad blue eyes on herK
Now where some sudden impulse callsJ
Following He was a gentle boyH2
And in all gentle sorts took joyH2
Oft in a dry leaf for a boatG
With a small feather for a sailR2
His fancy on that spring would floatG
If some invisible breeze might stirK
Its marble calm and Helen smiledG
Through tears of awe on the gay childG
To think that a boy as fair as heJ
In years which never more may beJ
By that same fount in that same woodG
The like sweet fancies had pursuedG
And that a mother lost like herK
Had mournfully sate watching himS2
Then all the scene was wont to swimS2
Through the mist of a burning tearC2
For many months had Helen knownU
This scene and now she thither turnedG
Her footsteps not aloneU
The friend whose falsehood she had mournedG
Sate with her on that seat of stoneU
Silent they sate for eveningN2
And the power its glimpses bringN2
Had with one awful shadow quelledG
The passion of their grief They sateG
With link d hands for unrepelledG
Had Helen taken Rosalind'sJ
Like the autumn wind when it unbindsJ
The tangled locks of the nightshade's hairC2
Which is twined in the sultry summer airC2
Round the walls of an outworn sepulchreC2
Did the voice of Helen sad and sweetG
And the sound of her heart that ever beatG
As with sighs and words she breathed on herC2
Unbind the knots of her friend's despairC2
Till her thoughts were free to float and flowB
And from her laboring bosom nowQ
Like the bursting of a prisoneQ

Percy Bysshe Shelley



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