Niobe In Distress For Her Children Slain By Apollo, From Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book Vi. And Fr Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDEFFGGFFHHCCIICC JJKKLLMMNNOPPPQQRSTT UUMMPPMMVWXXYYZZA2B2 FFNC2XXPPPPWWTTPPPPD 2E2PPFFMMF2G2PPH2H2Y YCCVWWWI2I2WWPPPPWWM MWWPPI2I2FFPPJ2XWWWW PPPPPPPPPPCCWWPPPPPP K2K2PPPPWWL2XPPM2M2T TWWPPCCPPN2N2HHGGPPG GWWCCGGFFPPO2O2XXMMW WGGWWI2I2FFPPPPCCPPX XPWPCCP2O2WWApollo's wrath to man the dreadful spring | A |
Of ills innum'rous tuneful goddess sing | A |
Thou who did'st first th' ideal pencil give | B |
And taught'st the painter in his works to live | C |
Inspire with glowing energy of thought | D |
What Wilson painted and what Ovid wrote | E |
Muse lend thy aid nor let me sue in vain | F |
Tho' last and meanest of the rhyming train | F |
O guide my pen in lofty strains to show | G |
The Phrygian queen all beautiful in woe | G |
'Twas where Maeonia spreads her wide domain | F |
Niobe dwelt and held her potent reign | F |
See in her hand the regal sceptre shine | H |
The wealthy heir of Tantalus divine | H |
He most distinguish'd by Dodonean Jove | C |
To approach the tables of the gods above | C |
Her grandsire Atlas who with mighty pains | I |
Th' ethereal axis on his neck sustains | I |
Her other grandsire on the throne on high | C |
Rolls the loud pealing thunder thro' the sky | C |
Her spouse Amphion who from Jove too springs | J |
Divinely taught to sweep the sounding strings | J |
Seven sprightly sons the royal bed adorn | K |
Seven daughters beauteous as the op'ning morn | K |
As when Aurora fills the ravish'd sight | L |
And decks the orient realms with rosy light | L |
From their bright eyes the living splendors play | M |
Nor can beholders bear the flashing ray | M |
Wherever Niobe thou turn'st thine eyes | N |
New beauties kindle and new joys arise | N |
But thou had'st far the happier mother prov'd | O |
If this fair offspring had been less belov'd | P |
What if their charms exceed Aurora's teint | P |
No words could tell them and no pencil paint | P |
Thy love too vehement hastens to destroy | Q |
Each blooming maid and each celestial boy | Q |
Now Manto comes endu'd with mighty skill | R |
The past to explore the future to reveal | S |
Thro' Thebes' wide streets Tiresia's daughter came | T |
Divine Latona's mandate to proclaim | T |
The Theban maids to hear the orders ran | U |
When thus Maeonia's prophetess began | U |
Go Thebans great Latona's will obey | M |
And pious tribute at her altars pay | M |
With rights divine the goddess be implor'd | P |
Nor be her sacred offspring unador'd | P |
Thus Manto spoke The Theban maids obey | M |
And pious tribute to the goddess pay | M |
The rich perfumes ascend in waving spires | V |
And altars blaze with consecrated fires | W |
The fair assembly moves with graceful air | X |
And leaves of laurel bind the flowing hair | X |
Niobe comes with all her royal race | Y |
With charms unnumber'd and superior grace | Y |
Her Phrygian garments of delightful hue | Z |
Inwove with gold refulgent to the view | Z |
Beyond description beautiful she moves | A2 |
Like heav'nly Venus 'midst her smiles and loves | B2 |
She views around the supplicating train | F |
And shakes her graceful head with stern disdain | F |
Proudly she turns around her lofty eyes | N |
And thus reviles celestial deities | C2 |
What madness drives the Theban ladies fair | X |
To give their incense to surrounding air | X |
Say why this new sprung deity preferr'd | P |
Why vainly fancy your petitions heard | P |
Or say why Caeus offspring is obey'd | P |
While to my goddesship no tribute's paid | P |
For me no altars blaze with living fires | W |
No bullock bleeds no frankincense transpires | W |
Tho' Cadmus' palace not unknown to fame | T |
And Phrygian nations all revere my name | T |
Where'er I turn my eyes vast wealth I find | P |
Lo here an empress with a goddess join'd | P |
What shall a Titaness be deify'd | P |
To whom the spacious earth a couch deny'd | P |
Nor heav'n nor earth nor sea receiv'd your queen | D2 |
Till pitying Delos took the wand'rer in | E2 |
Round me what a large progeny is spread | P |
No frowns of fortune has my soul to dread | P |
What if indignant she decrease my train | F |
More than Latona's number will remain | F |
Then hence ye Theban dames hence haste away | M |
Nor longer off'rings to Latona pay | M |
Regard the orders of Amphion's spouse | F2 |
And take the leaves of laurel from your brows | G2 |
Niobe spoke The Theban maids obey'd | P |
Their brows unbound and left the rights unpaid | P |
The angry goddess heard then silence broke | H2 |
On Cynthus' summit and indignant spoke | H2 |
Phoebus behold thy mother in disgrace | Y |
Who to no goddess yields the prior place | Y |
Except to Juno's self who reigns above | C |
The spouse and sister of the thund'ring Jove | C |
Niobe sprung from Tantalus inspires | V |
Each Theban bosom with rebellious fires | W |
No reason her imperious temper quells | W |
But all her father in her tongue rebels | W |
Wrap her own sons for her blaspheming breath | I2 |
Apollo wrap them in the shades of death | I2 |
Latona ceas'd and ardent thus replies | W |
The God whose glory decks th' expanded skies | W |
Cease thy complaints mine be the task assign'd | P |
To punish pride and scourge the rebel mind | P |
This Phoebe join'd They wing their instant flight | P |
Thebes trembled as th' immortal pow'rs alight | P |
With clouds incompass'd glorious Phoebus stands | W |
The feather'd vengeance quiv'ring in his hands | W |
Near Cadmus' walls a plain extended lay | M |
Where Thebes' young princes pass'd in sport the day | M |
There the bold coursers bounded o'er the plains | W |
While their great masters held the golden reins | W |
Ismenus first the racing pastime led | P |
And rul'd the fury of his flying steed | P |
Ah me he sudden cries with shrieking breath | I2 |
While in his breast he feels the shaft of death | I2 |
He drops the bridle on his courser's mane | F |
Before his eyes in shadows swims the plain | F |
He the first born of great Amphion's bed | P |
Was struck the first first mingled with the dead | P |
Then didst thou Sipylus the language hear | J2 |
Of fate portentous whistling in the air | X |
As when th' impending storm the sailor sees | W |
He spreads his canvas to the fav'ring breeze | W |
So to thine horse thou gav'st the golden reins | W |
Gav'st him to rush impetuous o'er the plains | W |
But ah a fatal shaft from Phoebus' hand | P |
Smites thro' thy neck and sinks thee on the sand | P |
Two other brothers were at wrestling found | P |
And in their pastime claspt each other round | P |
A shaft that instant from Apollo's hand | P |
Transfixt them both and stretcht them on the sand | P |
Together they their cruel fate bemoan'd | P |
Together languish'd and together groan'd | P |
Together too th' unbodied spirits fled | P |
And sought the gloomy mansions of the dead | P |
Alphenor saw and trembling at the view | C |
Beat his torn breast that chang'd its snowy hue | C |
He flies to raise them in a kind embrace | W |
A brother's fondness triumphs in his face | W |
Alphenor fails in this fraternal deed | P |
A dart dispatch'd him so the fates decreed | P |
Soon as the arrow left the deadly wound | P |
His issuing entrails smoak'd upon the ground | P |
What woes on blooming Damasichon wait | P |
His sighs portend his near impending fate | P |
Just where the well made leg begins to be | K2 |
And the soft sinews form the supple knee | K2 |
The youth sore wounded by the Delian god | P |
Attempts t' extract the crime avenging rod | P |
But whilst he strives the will of fate t' avert | P |
Divine Apollo sends a second dart | P |
Swift thro' his throat the feather'd mischief flies | W |
Bereft of sense he drops his head and dies | W |
Young Ilioneus the last directs his pray'r | L2 |
And cries My life ye gods celestial spare | X |
Apollo heard and pity touch'd his heart | P |
But ah too late for he had sent the dart | P |
Thou too O Ilioneus art doom'd to fall | M2 |
The fates refuse that arrow to recal | M2 |
On the swift wings of ever flying Fame | T |
To Cadmus' palace soon the tidings came | T |
Niobe heard and with indignant eyes | W |
She thus express'd her anger and surprise | W |
Why is such privilege to them allow'd | P |
Why thus insulted by the Delian god | P |
Dwells there such mischief in the pow'rs above | C |
Why sleeps the vengeance of immortal Jove | C |
For now Amphion too with grief oppress'd | P |
Had plung'd the deadly dagger in his breast | P |
Niobe now less haughty than before | N2 |
With lofty head directs her steps no more | N2 |
She who late told her pedigree divine | H |
And drove the Thebans from Latona's shrine | H |
How strangely chang'd yet beautiful in woe | G |
She weeps nor weeps unpity'd by the foe | G |
On each pale corse the wretched mother spread | P |
Lay overwhelm'd with grief and kiss'd her dead | P |
Then rais'd her arms and thus in accents slow | G |
Be sated cruel Goddess with my woe | G |
If I've offended let these streaming eyes | W |
And let this sev'nfold funeral suffice | W |
Ah take this wretched life you deign'd to save | C |
With them I too am carried to the grave | C |
Rejoice triumphant my victorious foe | G |
But show the cause from whence your triumphs flow | G |
Tho' I unhappy mourn these children slain | F |
Yet greater numbers to my lot remain | F |
She ceas'd the bow string twang'd with awful sound | P |
Which struck with terror all th' assembly round | P |
Except the queen who stood unmov'd alone | O2 |
By her distresses more presumptuous grown | O2 |
Near the pale corses stood their sisters fair | X |
In sable vestures and dishevell'd hair | X |
One while she draws the fatal shaft away | M |
Faints falls and sickens at the light of day | M |
To sooth her mother lo another flies | W |
And blames the fury of inclement skies | W |
And while her words a filial pity show | G |
Struck dumb indignant seeks the shades below | G |
Now from the fatal place another flies | W |
Falls in her flight and languishes and dies | W |
Another on her sister drops in death | I2 |
A fifth in trembling terrors yields her breath | I2 |
While the sixth seeks some gloomy cave in vain | F |
Struck with the rest and mingled with the slain | F |
One only daughter lives and she the least | P |
The queen close clasp'd the daughter to her breast | P |
Ye heav'nly pow'rs ah spare me one she cry'd | P |
Ah spare me one the vocal hills reply'd | P |
In vain she begs the Fates her suit deny | C |
In her embrace she sees her daughter die | C |
The queen of all her family bereft | P |
Without or husband son or daughter left | P |
Grew stupid at the shock The passing air | X |
Made no impression on her stiff'ning hair | X |
The blood forsook her face amidst the flood | P |
Pour'd from her cheeks quite fix'd her eye balls | W |
stood | P |
Her tongue her palate both obdurate grew | C |
Her curdled veins no longer motion knew | C |
The use of neck and arms and feet was gone | P2 |
And ev'n her bowels hard'ned into stone | O2 |
A marble statue now the queen appears | W |
But from the marble steal the silent tears | W |
Phillis Wheatley
(1)
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