Initial Love Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDEFFGGHHII JJKLJJMMNOJJPPQRRQJJ SSTTJUVUWWJXXYYZZJJ LLPPJJ PPJJJJPPJJPPA2B2 YYJJIIPPPPSSPP C2C2JJYYD2D2PPJJDD JPJPPPPPE2E2PP E2E2JJWWPPF2G2H2H2PP YD2UUPP PPJJG2SYSXI2J2G2K2I2 I2I2YYJL2JZ

Venus when her son was lostA
Cried him up and down the coastB
In hamlets palaces and parksC
And told the truant by his marksC
Golden curls and quiver and bowD
This befell long agoE
Time and tide are strangely changedF
Men and manners much derangedF
None will now find Cupid latentG
By this foolish antique patentG
He came late along the wasteH
Shod like a traveller for hasteH
With malice dared me to proclaim himI
That the maids and boys might name himI
-
Boy no more he wears all coatsJ
Frocks and blouses capes cap ocirc tesJ
He bears no bow or quiver or wandK
Nor chaplet on his head or handL
Leave his weeds and heed his eyesJ
All the rest he can disguiseJ
In the pit of his eyes a sparkM
Would bring back day if it were darkM
And if I tell you all my thoughtN
Though I comprehend it notO
In those unfathomable orbsJ
Every function he absorbsJ
He doth eat and drink and fish and shootP
And write and reason and computeP
And ride and run and have and holdQ
And whine and flatter and regretR
And kiss and couple and begetR
By those roving eye balls boldQ
Undaunted are their couragesJ
Right Cossacks in their foragesJ
Fleeter they than any creatureS
They are his steeds and not his featureS
Inquisitive and fierce and fastingT
Restless predatory hastingT
And they pounce on other eyesJ
As lions on their preyU
And round their circles is writV
Plainer than the dayU
Underneath within aboveW
Love love love loveW
He lives in his eyesJ
There doth digest and work and spinX
And buy and sell and lose and winX
He rolls them with delighted motionY
Joy tides swell their mimic oceanY
Yet holds he them with tortest reinZ
That they may seize and entertainZ
The glance that to their glance opposesJ
Like fiery honey sucked from rosesJ
-
He palmistry can understandL
Imbibing virtue by his handL
As if it were a living rootP
The pulse of hands will make him muteP
With all his force he gathers balmsJ
Into those wise thrilling palmsJ
-
Cupid is a casuistP
A mystic and a cabalistP
Can your lurking Thought surpriseJ
And interpret your deviceJ
Mainly versed in occult scienceJ
In magic and in clairvoyanceJ
Oft he keeps his fine ear strainedP
And reason on her tiptoe painedP
For aery intelligenceJ
And for strange coincidenceJ
But it touches his quick heartP
When Fate by omens takes his partP
And chance dropt hints from Nature's sphereA2
Deeply soothe his anxious earB2
-
Heralds high before him runY
He has ushers many a oneY
Spreads his welcome where he goesJ
And touches all things with his roseJ
All things wait for and divine himI
How shall I dare to malign himI
Or accuse the god of sportP
I must end my true reportP
Painting him from head to footP
In as far as I took noteP
Trusting well the matchless powerS
Of this young eyed emperorS
Will clear his fame from every cloudP
With the bards and with the crowdP
-
He is wilful mutableC2
Shy untamed inscrutableC2
Swifter fashioned than the fairiesJ
Substance mixed of pure contrariesJ
His vice some elder virtue's tokenY
And his good is evil spokenY
Failing sometimes of his ownD2
He is headstrong and aloneD2
He affects the wood and wildP
Like a flower hunting childP
Buries himself in summer wavesJ
In trees with beasts in mines and cavesJ
Loves nature like a horned cowD
Bird or deer or caribooD
-
Shun him nymphs on the fleet horsesJ
He has a total world of witP
O how wise are his discoursesJ
But he is the arch hypocriteP
And through all science and all artP
Seeks alone his counterpartP
He is a Pundit of the eastP
He is an augur and a priestP
And his soul will melt in prayerE2
But word and wisdom are a snareE2
Corrupted by the present toyP
He follows joy and only joyP
-
There is no mask but he will wearE2
He invented oaths to swearE2
He paints he carves he chants he praysJ
And holds all stars in his embraceJ
Godlike but 'tis for his fine pelfW
The social quintessence of selfW
Well said I he is hypocriteP
And folly the end of his subtle witP
He takes a sovran privilegeF2
Not allowed to any liegeG2
For he does go behind all lawH2
And right into himself does drawH2
For he is sovranly alliedP
Heaven's oldest blood flows in his sideP
And interchangeably at oneY
With every king on every throneD2
That no God dare say him nayU
Or see the fault or seen betrayU
He has the Muses by the heartP
And the Parc all are of his partP
-
His many signs cannot be toldP
He has not one mode but manifoldP
Many fashions and addressesJ
Piques reproaches hurts caressesJ
Action service badinageG2
He will preach like a friarS
And jump like HarlequinY
He will read like a crierS
And fight like a PaladinX
Boundless is his memoryI2
Plans immense his term prolongJ2
He is not of counted ageG2
Meaning always to be youngK2
And his wish is intimacyI2
Intimater intimacyI2
And a stricter privacyI2
The impossible shall yet be doneY
And being two shall still be oneY
As the wave breaks to foam on shelvesJ
Then runs into a wave againL2
So lovers melt their sundered selvesJ
Yet melted would be twainZ

Ralph Waldo Emerson



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