Sordello: Book The Second Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDAAEFAAGGBBBBAA AAHHAAIIJJKKLLMMNOAA A PPAAAAJJAAAAQQI BBRRB BBAABBSSAATTDCUUVVAA WWAABBXXAAYYZA2BBB2B 2AAKKIIBBCDIIBBAAAAC 2C2D2D2AAAO AAAAABBE2E2NNBBBBAAA AAAAAAABBAAIIBBAAWWK KAAF2F2BBAAB IIAAAAAAAANNAAAAAASS BBA2S A2SSSSSSVVWWSSSSBBG2 G2H2H2IID2D2AASSIISS I2I2SSG2G2IISSB2B2SS WWJ2J2SSWWWWSSIISSK2 K2SSSSSSWWWWSSWWSSL2 L2SSIIRRSSKKFFSSM2M2 WWWWN2 N2SSWWSSSSSSSSWWWWSS WWSSSSWWWWSSWWIISSD2 D2SSM2M2WWSSSSF2F2O2 M2M2M2SSSSSSP2P2SSRR N2N2SSWWWWIISSSSWWII IISSWWM2M2WWSSWWWWSS SSQ2Q2SSWWWWR2R2WWS2 S2B KKSSWWWWWWM2M2WWF2F2 A2A2T2T2WWIIWWFFWWSS T2T2WWSSSSSSKKSSS SIISSU2U2V2V2WWW IIM2S M2SSSSSSSSSSWWSSW2X2 WWSSY2Y2WWWWSST2T2WW SSWWM2 SSSSM2M2WWSSWWWWD2D2 SM2SSSSF2F2WWPPA2A2S SWWZ2Z2M2M2WWIIS A3A3B3B3SSC3C3M2ISSW S WU2U2D3E3SSSSIISSFFW WD2D2WWSSWWM2M2WWKKW WSSIIWWSSWWWWWWWWW N2N2M2M2G2G2SSWWM2M2 T2T2SSWWIIWWD2D2WWII SSWWSSWWWWS M2IF3F3WWWWSSWWG3G3H 3H3WWIISSWWWWIIWWSSI 3I3SSSSW WM2M2M2M2IIA3A3R2R2W WSSWWSSM2M2SSSSWWWWW WSSJ3J3A3A3KKSSIISSK KSSSSSSSSWWSSN2N2M2M 2K3K3SSWW WWWSSWWL3D3WWWWS SSSSA2A2M2M2D2D2WWSS WWM3M3SSWWIIWWRRSSN3 N3WWWWSSSSF2F2SSSSO3 O3WWSSWWSSUUWWB2B2WW WWSSC2C2SSSSWWSSSSSS SSM2M2WWWWM2SW WSSWWSSKKW WWWWWWP3P3WWWWD2D2M2 M2SSSSWWSSSSS B2B2P3P3L2L2SSM2M2WW B2B2SSWWWWKKSSSSB2B2 SS SB2B2WWSSWWSSWWUUSSW WWWD2D2M2M2SSSSWWM2M 2Q3Q3SSSSWWSSWWWWSSW WSSWWSSSSM2 M2SSP3S P3M2M2SSW SSSSP3P3SSRRSSWW

The woods were long austere with snow at last	A
Pink leaflets budded on the beech and fast	A
Larches scattered through pine tree solitudes	B
Brightened as in the slumbrous heart o' the woods	B
Our buried year a witch grew young again	C
To placid incantations and that stain	D
About were from her cauldron green smoke blent	A
With those black pines so Eglamor gave vent	A
To a chance fancy Whence a just rebuke	E
From his companion brother Naddo shook	F
The solemnest of brows Beware he said	A
Of setting up conceits in nature's stead	A
Forth wandered our Sordello Nought so sure	G
As that to day's adventure will secure	G
Palma the visioned lady only pass	B
O'er you damp mound and its exhausted grass	B
Under that brake where sundawn feeds the stalks	B
Of withered fern with gold into those walks	B
Of pine and take her Buoyantly he went	A
Again his stooping forehead was besprent	A
With dew drops from the skirting ferns Then wide	A
Opened the great morass shot every side	A
With flashing water through and through a shine	H
Thick steaming all alive Whose shape divine	H
Quivered i' the farthest rainbow vapour glanced	A
Athwart the flying herons He advanced	A
But warily though Mincio leaped no more	I
Each foot fall burst up in the marish floor	I
A diamond jet and if he stopped to pick	J
Rose lichen or molest the leeches quick	J
And circling blood worms minnow newt or loach	K
A sudden pond would silently encroach	K
This way and that On Palma passed The verge	L
Of a new wood was gained She will emerge	L
Flushed now and panting crowds to see will own	M
She loves him Boniface to hear to groan	M
To leave his suit One screen of pine trees still	N
Opposes but the startling spectacle	O
Mantua this time Under the walls a crowd	A
Indeed real men and women gay and loud	A
Round a pavilion How he stood	A
	-
	-
In truth	P
No prophecy had come to pass his youth	P
In its prime now and where was homage poured	A
Upon Sordello born to be adored	A
And suddenly discovered weak scarce made	A
To cope with any cast into the shade	A
By this and this Yet something seemed to prick	J
And tingle in his blood a sleight a trick	J
And much would be explained It went for nought	A
The best of their endowments were ill bought	A
With his identity nay the conceit	A
That this day's roving led to Palma's feet	A
Was not so vain list The word Palma Steal	Q
Aside and die Sordello this is real	Q
And this abjure	I
	-
	-
What next The curtains see	B
Dividing She is there and presently	B
He will be there the proper You at length	R
In your own cherished dress of grace and strength	R
Most like the very Boniface	B
	-
	-
Not so	B
It was a showy man advanced but though	B
A glad cry welcomed him then every sound	A
Sank and the crowd disposed themselves around	A
This is not he Sordello felt while Place	B
For the best Troubadour of Boniface	B
Hollaed the Jongleurs Eglamor whose lay	S
Concludes his patron's Court of Love to day	S
Obsequious Naddo strung the master's lute	A
With the new lute string Elys named to suit	A
The song he stealthily at watch the while	T
Biting his lip to keep down a great smile	T
Of pride then up he struck Sordello's brain	D
Swam for he knew a sometime deed again	C
So could supply each foolish gap and chasm	U
The minstrel left in his enthusiasm	U
Mistaking its true version was the tale	V
Not of Apollo Only what avail	V
Luring her down that Elys an he pleased	A
If the man dared no further Has he ceased	A
And lo the people's frank applause half done	W
Sordello was beside him had begun	W
Spite of indignant twitchings from his friend	A
The Trouvere the true lay with the true end	A
Taking the other's names and time and place	B
For his On flew the song a giddy race	B
After the flying story word made leap	X
Out word rhyme rhyme the lay could barely keep	X
Pace with the action visibly rushing past	A
Both ended Back fell Naddo more aghast	A
Than some Egyptian from the harassed bull	Y
That wheeled abrupt and bellowing fronted full	Y
His plague who spied a scarab 'neath the tongue	Z
And found 't was Apis' flank his hasty prong	A2
Insulted But the people but the cries	B
The crowding round and proffering the prize	B
For he had gained some prize He seemed to shrink	B2
Into a sleepy cloud just at whose brink	B2
One sight withheld him There sat Adelaide	A
Silent but at her knees the very maid	A
Of the North Chamber her red lips as rich	K
The same pure fleecy hair one weft of which	K
Golden and great quite touched his cheek as o'er	I
She leant speaking some six words and no more	I
He answered something anything and she	B
Unbound a scarf and laid it heavily	B
Upon him her neck's warmth and all Again	C
Moved the arrested magic in his brain	D
Noises grew and a light that turned to glare	I
And greater glare until the intense flare	I
Engulfed him shut the whole scene from his sense	B
And when he woke 't was many a furlong thence	B
At home the sun shining his ruddy wont	A
The customary birds' chirp but his front	A
Was crowned was crowned Her scented scarf around	A
His neck Whose gorgeous vesture heaps the ground	A
A prize He turned and peeringly on him	C2
Brooded the women faces kind and dim	C2
Ready to talk The Jongleurs in a troop	D2
Had brought him back Naddo and Squarcialupe	D2
And Tagliafer how strange a childhood spent	A
In taking well for him so brave a bent	A
Since Eglamor they heard was dead with spite	A
And Palma chose him for her minstrel	O
	-
	-
Light	A
Sordello rose to think now hitherto	A
He had perceived Sure a discovery grew	A
Out of it all Best live from first to last	A
The transport o'er again A week he passed	A
Sucking the sweet out of each circumstance	B
From the bard's outbreak to the luscious trance	B
Bounding his own achievement Strange A man	E2
Recounted an adventure but began	E2
Imperfectly his own task was to fill	N
The frame work up sing well what he sung ill	N
Supply the necessary points set loose	B
As many incidents of little use	B
More imbecile the other not to see	B
Their relative importance clear as he	B
But for a special pleasure in the act	A
Of singing had he ever turned in fact	A
From Elys to sing Elys from each fit	A
Of rapture to contrive a song of it	A
True this snatch or the other seemed to wind	A
Into a treasure helped himself to find	A
A beauty in himself for see he soared	A
By means of that mere snatch to many a hoard	A
Of fancies as some falling cone bears soft	A
The eye along the fir tree spire aloft	A
To a dove's nest Then how divine the cause	B
Why such performance should exact applause	B
From men if they had fancies too Did fate	A
Decree they found a beauty separate	A
In the poor snatch itself Take Elys there	I
'Her head that 's sharp and perfect like a pear	I
'So close and smooth are laid the few fine locks	B
'Coloured like honey oozed from topmost rocks	B
'Sun blanched the livelong summer' if they heard	A
Just those two rhymes assented at my word	A
And loved them as I love them who have run	W
These fingers through those pale locks let the sun	W
Into the white cool skin who first could clutch	K
Then praise I needs must be a god to such	K
Or what if some above themselves and yet	A
Beneath me like their Eglamor have set	A
An impress on our gift So men believe	F2
And worship what they know not nor receive	F2
Delight from Have they fancies slow perchance	B
Not at their beck which indistinctly glance	B
Until by song each floating part be linked	A
To each and all grow palpable distinct	A
He pondered this	B
	-
	-
Meanwhile sounds low and drear	I
Stole on him and a noise of footsteps near	I
And nearer while the underwood was pushed	A
Aside the larches grazed the dead leaves crushed	A
At the approach of men The wind seemed laid	A
Only the trees shrunk slightly and a shade	A
Came o'er the sky although 't was midday yet	A
You saw each half shut downcast floweret	A
Flutter a Roman bride when they 'd dispart	A
Her unbound tresses with the Sabine dart	A
Holding that famous rape in memory still	N
Felt creep into her curls the iron chill	N
And looked thus Eglamor would say indeed	A
'T is Eglamor no other these precede	A
Home hither in the woods 'T were surely sweet	A
Far from the scene of one's forlorn defeat	A
To sleep judged Naddo who in person led	A
Jongleurs and Trouveres chanting at their head	A
A scanty company for sooth to say	S
Our beaten Troubadour had seen his day	S
Old worshippers were something shamed old friends	B
Nigh weary still the death proposed amends	B
Let us but get them safely through my song	A2
And home again quoth Naddo	S
	-
	-
All along	A2
This man they rest the bier upon the sand	S
This calm corpse with the loose flowers in his hand	S
Eglamor lived Sordello's opposite	S
For him indeed was Naddo's notion right	S
And verse a temple worship vague and vast	S
A ceremony that withdrew the last	S
Opposing bolt looped back the lingering veil	V
Which hid the holy place should one so frail	V
Stand there without such effort or repine	W
If much was blank uncertain at the shrine	W
He knelt before till soothed by many a rite	S
The power responded and some sound or sight	S
Grew up his own forever to be fixed	S
In rhyme the beautiful forever mixed	S
With his own life unloosed when he should please	B
Having it safe at hand ready to ease	B
All pain remove all trouble every time	G2
He loosed that fancy from its bonds of rhyme	G2
Like Perseus when he loosed his naked love	H2
Faltering so distinct and far above	H2
Himself these fancies He no genius rare	I
Transfiguring in fire or wave or air	I
At will but a poor gnome that cloistered up	D2
In some rock chamber with his agate cup	D2
His topaz rod his seed pearl in these few	A
And their arrangement finds enough to do	A
For his best art Then how he loved that art	S
The calling marking him a man apart	S
From men one not to care take counsel for	I
Cold hearts comfortless faces Eglamor	I
Was neediest of his tribe since verse the gift	S
Was his and men the whole of them must shift	S
Without it e'en content themselves with wealth	I2
And pomp and power snatching a life by stealth	I2
So Eglamor was not without his pride	S
The sorriest bat which cowers throughout noontide	S
While other birds are jocund has one time	G2
When moon and stars are blinded and the prime	G2
Of earth is his to claim nor find a peer	I
And Eglamor was noblest poet here	I
He well knew 'mid those April woods he cast	S
Conceits upon in plenty as he passed	S
That Naddo might suppose him not to think	B2
Entirely on the coming triumph wink	B2
At the one weakness 'T was a fervid child	S
That song of his no brother of the guild	S
Had e'er conceived its like The rest you know	W
The exaltation and the overthrow	W
Our poet lost his purpose lost his rank	J2
His life to that it came Yet envy sank	J2
Within him as he heard Sordello out	S
And for the first time shouted tried to shout	S
Like others not from any zeal to show	W
Pleasure that way the common sort did so	W
What else was Eglamor who bending down	W
As they placed his beneath Sordello's crown	W
Printed a kiss on his successor's hand	S
Left one great tear on it then joined his band	S
In time for some were watching at the door	I
Who knows what envy may effect Give o'er	I
Nor charm his lips nor craze him here one spied	S
And disengaged the withered crown Beside	S
His crown How prompt and clear those verses rang	K2
To answer yours nay sing them And he sang	K2
Them calmly Home he went friends used to wait	S
His coming zealous to congratulate	S
But to a man so quickly runs report	S
Could do no less than leave him and escort	S
His rival That eve then bred many a thought	S
What must his future life be was he brought	S
So low who stood so lofty this Spring morn	W
At length he said Best sleep now with my scorn	W
And by to morrow I devise some plain	W
Expedient So he slept nor woke again	W
They found as much those friends when they returned	S
O'erflowing with the marvels they had learned	S
About Sordello's paradise his roves	W
Among the hills and vales and plains and groves	W
Wherein no doubt this lay was roughly cast	S
Polished by slow degrees completed last	S
To Eglamor's discomfiture and death	L2
	-
	-
Such form the chanters now and out of breath	L2
They lay the beaten man in his abode	S
Naddo reciting that same luckless ode	S
Doleful to hear Sordello could explore	I
By means of it however one step more	I
In joy and mastering the round at length	R
Learnt how to live in weakness as in strength	R
When from his covert forth he stood addressed	S
Eglamor bade the tender ferns invest	S
Prim val pines o'ercanopy his couch	K
And most of all his fame shall I avouch	K
Eglamor heard it dead though he might look	F
And laughed as from his brow Sordello took	F
The crown and laid on the bard's breast and said	S
It was a crown now fit for poet's head	S
Continue Nor the prayer quite fruitless fell	M2
A plant they have yielding a three leaved bell	M2
Which whitens at the heart ere noon and ails	W
Till evening evening gives it to her gales	W
To clear away with such forgotten things	W
As are an eyesore to the morn this brings	W
Him to their mind and bears his very name	N2
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	-
So much for Eglamor My own month came	N2
'T was a sunrise of blossoming and May	S
Beneath a flowering laurel thicket lay	S
Sordello each new sprinkle of white stars	W
That smell fainter of wine than Massic jars	W
Dug up at Bai when the south wind shed	S
The ripest made him happier filleted	S
And robed the same only a lute beside	S
Lay on the turf Before him far and wide	S
The country stretched Goito slept behind	S
The castle and its covert which confined	S
Him with his hopes and fears so fain of old	S
To leave the story of his birth untold	S
At intervals 'spite the fantastic glow	W
Of his Apollo life a certain low	W
And wretched whisper winding through the bliss	W
Admonished no such fortune could be his	W
All was quite false and sure to fade one day	S
The closelier drew he round him his array	S
Of brilliance to expel the truth But when	W
A reason for his difference from men	W
Surprised him at the grave he took no rest	S
While aught of that old life superbly dressed	S
Down to its meanest incident remained	S
A mystery alas they soon explained	S
Away Apollo and the tale amounts	W
To this when at Vicenza both her counts	W
Banished the Vivaresi kith and kin	W
Those Maltraversi hung on Ecelin	W
Reviled him as he followed he for spite	S
Must fire their quarter though that self same night	S
Among the flames young Ecelin was born	W
Of Adelaide there too and barely torn	W
From the roused populace hard on the rear	I
By a poor archer when his chieftain's fear	I
Grew high into the thick Elcorte leapt	S
Saved her and died no creature left except	S
His child to thank And when the full escape	D2
Was known how men impaled from chine to nape	D2
Unlucky Prata all to pieces spurned	S
Bishop Pistore's concubines and burned	S
Taurello's entire household flesh and fell	M2
Missing the sweeter prey such courage well	M2
Might claim reward The orphan ever since	W
Sordello had been nurtured by his prince	W
Within a blind retreat where Adelaide	S
For once this notable discovery made	S
The past at every point was understood	S
Might harbour easily when times were rude	S
When Azzo schemed for Palma to retrieve	F2
That pledge of Agnes Este loth to leave	F2
Mantua unguarded with a vigilant eye	O2
While there Taurello bode ambiguously	M2
He who could have no motive now to moil	M2
For his own fortunes since their utter spoil	M2
As it were worth while yet went the report	S
To disengage himself from her In short	S
Apollo vanished a mean youth just named	S
His lady's minstrel was to be proclaimed	S
How shall I phrase it Monarch of the World	S
For on the day when that array was furled	S
Forever and in place of one a slave	P2
To longings wild indeed but longings save	P2
In dreams as wild suppressed one daring not	S
Assume the mastery such dreams allot	S
Until a magical equipment strength	R
Grace wisdom decked him too he chose at length	R
Content with unproved wits and failing frame	N2
In virtue of his simple will to claim	N2
That mastery no less to do his best	S
With means so limited and let the rest	S
Go by the seal was set never again	W
Sordello could in his own sight remain	W
One of the many one with hopes and cares	W
And interests nowise distinct from theirs	W
Only peculiar in a thriveless store	I
Of fancies which were fancies and no more	I
Never again for him and for the crowd	S
A common law was challenged and allowed	S
If calmly reasoned of howe'er denied	S
By a mad impulse nothing justified	S
Short of Apollo's presence The divorce	W
Is clear why needs Sordello square his course	W
By any known example Men no more	I
Compete with him than tree and flower before	I
Himself inactive yet is greater far	I
Than such as act each stooping to his star	I
Acquiring thence his function he has gained	S
The same result with meaner mortals trained	S
To strength or beauty moulded to express	W
Each the idea that rules him since no less	W
He comprehends that function but can still	M2
Embrace the others take of might his fill	M2
With Richard as of grace with Palma mix	W
Their qualities or for a moment fix	W
On one abiding free meantime uncramped	S
By any partial organ never stamped	S
Strong and to strength turning all energies	W
Wise and restricted to becoming wise	W
That is he loves not nor possesses One	W
Idea that star like over lures him on	W
To its exclusive purpose Fortunate	S
This flesh of mine ne'er strove to emulate	S
A soul so various took no casual mould	S
Of the first fancy and contracted cold	S
Clogged her forever soul averse to change	Q2
As flesh whereas flesh leaves soul free to range	Q2
Remains itself a blank cast into shade	S
Encumbers little if it cannot aid	S
So range free soul who by self consciousness	W
The last drop of all beauty dost express	W
The grace of seeing grace a quintessence	W
For thee while for the world that can dispense	W
Wonder on men who themselves wonder make	R2
A shift to love at second hand and take	R2
For idols those who do but idolize	W
Themselves the world that counts men strong or wise	W
Who themselves court strength wisdom it shall bow	S2
Surely in unexampled worship now	S2
Discerning me	B
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Dear monarch I beseech	K
Notice how lamentably wide a breach	K
Is here discovering this discover too	S
What our poor world has possibly to do	S
With it As pigmy natures as you please	W
So much the better for you take your ease	W
Look on and laugh style yourself God alone	W
Strangle some day with a cross olive stone	W
All that is right enough but why want us	W
To know that you yourself know thus and thus	W
The world shall bow to me conceiving all	M2
Man's life who see its blisses great and small	M2
Afar not tasting any no machine	W
To exercise my utmost will is mine	W
Be mine mere consciousness Let men perceive	F2
What I could do a mastery believe	F2
Asserted and established to the throng	A2
By their selected evidence of song	A2
Which now shall prove whate'er they are or seek	T2
To be I am whose words not actions speak	T2
Who change no standards of perfection vex	W
With no strange forms created to perplex	W
But just perform their bidding and no more	I
At their own satiating point give o'er	I
While each shall love in me the love that leads	W
His soul to power's perfection Song not deeds	W
For we get tired was chosen Fate would brook	F
Mankind no other organ he would look	F
For not another channel to dispense	W
His own volition by receive men's sense	W
Of its supremacy would live content	S
Obstructed else with merely verse for vent	S
Nor should for instance strength an outlet seek	T2
And striving be admired nor grace bespeak	T2
Wonder displayed in gracious attitudes	W
Nor wisdom poured forth change unseemly moods	W
But he would give and take on song's one point	S
Like some huge throbbing stone that poised a joint	S
Sounds to affect on its basaltic bed	S
Must sue in just one accent tempests shed	S
Thunder and raves the windstorm only let	S
That key by any little noise be set	S
The far benighted hunter's halloo pitch	K
On that the hungry curlew chance to scritch	K
Or serpent hiss it rustling through the rift	S
However loud however low all lift	S
The groaning monster stricken to the heart	S
	-
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Lo ye the world's concernment for its part	S
And this for his will hardly interfere	I
Its businesses in blood and blaze this year	I
But wile the hour away a pastime slight	S
Till he shall step upon the platform right	S
And now thus much is settled cast in rough	U2
Proved feasible be counselled thought enough	U2
Slumber Sordello any day will serve	V2
Were it a less digested plan how swerve	V2
To morrow Meanwhile eat these sun dried grapes	W
And watch the soaring hawk there Life escapes	W
Merrily thus	W
	-
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He thoroughly read o'er	I
His truchman Naddo's missive six times more	I
Praying him visit Mantua and supply	M2
A famished world	S
	-
	-
The evening star was high	M2
When he reached Mantua but his fame arrived	S
Before him friends applauded foes connived	S
And Naddo looked an angel and the rest	S
Angels and all these angels would be blest	S
Supremely by a song the thrice renowned	S
Goito manufacture Then he found	S
Casting about to satisfy the crowd	S
That happy vehicle so late allowed	S
A sore annoyance 't was the song's effect	S
He cared for scarce the song itself reflect	S
In the past life what might be singing's use	W
Just to delight his Delians whose profuse	W
Praise not the toilsome process which procured	S
That praise enticed Apollo dreams abjured	S
No overleaping means for ends take both	W2
For granted or take neither I am loth	X2
To say the rhymes at last were Eglamor's	W
But Naddo chuckling bade competitors	W
Go pine the master certes meant to waste	S
No effort cautiously had probed the taste	S
He 'd please anon true bard in short disturb	Y2
His title if they could nor spur nor curb	Y2
Fancy nor reason wanting in him whence	W
The staple of his verses common sense	W
He built on man's broad nature gift of gifts	W
That power to build The world contented shifts	W
With counterfeits enough a dreary sort	S
Of warriors statesmen ere it can extort	S
Its poet soul that 's after all a freak	T2
The having eyes to see and tongue to speak	T2
With our herd's stupid sterling happiness	W
So plainly incompatible that yes	W
Yes should a son of his improve the breed	S
And turn out poet he were cursed indeed	S
Well there 's Goito and its woods anon	W
If the worst happen best go stoutly on	W
Now thought Sordello	M2
	-
	-
Ay and goes on yet	S
You pother with your glossaries to get	S
A notion of the Troubadour's intent	S
In rondel tenzon virlai or sirvent	S
Much as you study arras how to twirl	M2
His angelot plaything of page and girl	M2
Once but you surely reach at last or no	W
Never quite reach what struck the people so	W
As from the welter of their time he drew	S
Its elements successively to view	S
Followed all actions backward on their course	W
And catching up unmingled at the source	W
Such a strength such a weakness added then	W
A touch or two and turned them into men	W
Virtue took form nor vice refused a shape	D2
Here heaven opened there was hell agape	D2
As Saint this simpered past in sanctity	S
Sinner the other flared portentous by	M2
A greedy people Then why stop surprised	S
At his success The scheme was realized	S
Too suddenly in one respect a crowd	S
Praising eyes quick to see and lips as loud	S
To speak delicious homage to receive	F2
The woman's breath to feel upon his sleeve	F2
Who said But Anafest why asks he less	W
Than Lucio in your verses how confess	W
It seemed too much but yestereve the youth	P
Who bade him earnestly Avow the truth	P
You love Bianca surely from your song	A2
I knew I was unworthy soft or strong	A2
In poured such tributes ere he had arranged	S
Ethereal ways to take them sorted changed	S
Digested Courted thus at unawares	W
In spite of his pretensions and his cares	W
He caught himself shamefully hankering	Z2
After the obvious petty joys that spring	Z2
From true life fain relinquish pedestal	M2
And condescend with pleasures one and all	M2
To be renounced no doubt for thus to chain	W
Himself to single joys and so refrain	W
From tasting their quintessence frustrates sure	I
His prime design each joy must he abjure	I
Even for love of it	S
	-
	-
He laughed what sage	A3
But perishes if from his magic page	A3
He look because at the first line a proof	B3
'T was heard salutes him from the cavern roof	B3
On Give yourself excluding aught beside	S
To the day's task compel your slave provide	S
Its utmost at the soonest turn the leaf	C3
Thoroughly conned These lays of yours in brief	C3
Cannot men bear now something better fly	M2
A pitch beyond this unreal pageantry	I
Of essences the period sure has ceased	S
For such present us with ourselves at least	S
Not portions of ourselves mere loves and hates	W
Made flesh wait not	S
	-
	-
Awhile the poet waits	W
However The first trial was enough	U2
He left imagining to try the stuff	U2
That held the imaged thing and let it writhe	D3
Never so fiercely scarce allowed a tithe	E3
To reach the light his Language How he sought	S
The cause conceived a cure and slow re wrought	S
That Language welding words into the crude	S
Mass from the new speech round him till a rude	S
Armour was hammered out in time to be	I
Approved beyond the Roman panoply	I
Melted to make it boots not This obtained	S
With some ado no obstacle remained	S
To using it accordingly he took	F
An action with its actors quite forsook	F
Himself to live in each returned anon	W
With the result a creature and by one	W
And one proceeded leisurely to equip	D2
Its limbs in harness of his workmanship	D2
Accomplished Listen Mantuans Fond essay	W
Piece after piece that armour broke away	W
Because perceptions whole like that he sought	S
To clothe reject so pure a work of thought	S
As language thought may take perception's place	W
But hardly co exist in any case	W
Being its mere presentment of the whole	M2
By parts the simultaneous and the sole	M2
By the successive and the many Lacks	W
The crowd perception painfully it tacks	W
Thought to thought which Sordello needing such	K
Has rent perception into it's to clutch	K
And reconstruct his office to diffuse	W
Destroy as hard then to obtain a Muse	W
As to become Apollo For the rest	S
E'en if some wondrous vehicle expressed	S
The whole dream what impertinence in me	I
So to express it who myself can be	I
The dream nor on the other hand are those	W
I sing to over likely to suppose	W
A higher than the highest I present	S
Now which they praise already be content	S
Both parties rather they with the old verse	W
And I with the old praise far go fare worse	W
A few adhering rivets loosed upsprings	W
The angel sparkles off his mail which rings	W
Whirled from each delicatest limb it warps	W
So might Apollo from the sudden corpse	W
Of Hyacinth have cast his luckless quoits	W
He set to celebrating the exploits	W
Of Montfort o'er the Mountaineers	W
	-
	-
Then came	N2
The world's revenge their pleasure now his aim	N2
Merely what was it Not to play the fool	M2
So much as learn our lesson in your school	M2
Replied the world He found that every time	G2
He gained applause by any ballad rhyme	G2
His auditory recognized no jot	S
As he intended and mistaking not	S
Him for his meanest hero ne'er was dunce	W
Sufficient to believe him all at once	W
His will conceive it caring for his will	M2
Mantuans the main of them admiring still	M2
How a mere singer ugly stunted weak	T2
Had Montfort at completely so to speak	T2
His fingers' ends while past the praise tide swept	S
To Montfort either's share distinctly kept	S
The true meed for true merit his abates	W
Into a sort he most repudiates	W
And on them angrily he turns Who were	I
The Mantuans after all that he should care	I
About their recognition ay or no	W
In spite of the convention months ago	W
Why blink the truth was not he forced to help	D2
This same ungrateful audience every whelp	D2
Of Naddo's litter make them pass for peers	W
With the bright band of old Goito years	W
As erst he toiled for flower or tree Why there	I
Sat Palma Adelaide's funereal hair	I
Ennobled the next corner Ay he strewed	S
A fairy dust upon that multitude	S
Although he feigned to take them by themselves	W
His giants dignified those puny elves	W
Sublimed their faint applause In short he found	S
Himself still footing a delusive round	S
Remote as ever from the self display	W
He meant to compass hampered every way	W
By what he hoped assistance Wherefore then	W
Continue make believe to find in men	W
A use he found not	S
	-
	-
Weeks months years went by	M2
And lo Sordello vanished utterly	I
Sundered in twain each spectral part at strife	F3
With each one jarred against another life	F3
The Poet thwarting hopelessly the Man	W
Who fooled no longer free in fancy ran	W
Here there let slip no opportunities	W
As pitiful forsooth beside the prize	W
To drop on him some no time and acquit	S
His constant faith the Poet half's to wit	S
That waiving any compromise between	W
No joy and all joy kept the hunger keen	W
Beyond most methods of incurring scoff	G3
From the Man portion not to be put off	G3
With self reflectings by the Poet's scheme	H3
Though ne'er so bright Who sauntered forth in dream	H3
Dressed any how nor waited mystic frames	W
Immeasurable gifts astounding claims	W
But just his sorry self who yet might be	I
Sorrier for aught he in reality	I
Achieved so pinioned Man's the Poet part	S
Fondling in turn of fancy verse the Art	S
Developing his soul a thousand ways	W
Potent by its assistance to amaze	W
The multitude with majesties convince	W
Each sort of nature that the nature's prince	W
Accosted it Language the makeshift grew	I
Into a bravest of expedients too	I
Apollo seemed it now perverse had thrown	W
Quiver and bow away the lyre alone	W
Sufficed While out of dream his day's work went	S
To tune a crazy tenzon or sirvent	S
So hampered him the Man part thrust to judge	I3
Between the bard and the bard's audience grudge	I3
A minute's toil that missed its due reward	S
But the complete Sordello Man and Bard	S
John's cloud girt angel this foot on the land	S
That on the sea with open in his hand	S
A bitter sweetling of a book was gone	W
	-
	-
Then if internal struggles to be one	W
Which frittered him incessantly piecemeal	M2
Referred ne'er so obliquely to the real	M2
Intruding Mantuans ever with some call	M2
To action while he pondered once for all	M2
Which looked the easier effort to pursue	I
This course still leap o'er paltry joys yearn through	I
The present ill appreciated stage	A3
Of self revealment and compel the age	A3
Know him or else forswearing bard craft wake	R2
From out his lethargy and nobly shake	R2
Off timid habits of denial mix	W
With men enjoy like men Ere he could fix	W
On aught in rushed the Mantuans much they cared	S
For his perplexity Thus unprepared	S
The obvious if not only shelter lay	W
In deeds the dull conventions of his day	W
Prescribed the like of him why not be glad	S
'T is settled Palma's minstrel good or bad	S
Submits to this and that established rule	M2
Let Vidal change or any other fool	M2
His murrey coloured robe for filamot	S
And crop his hair too skin deep is it not	S
Such vigour Then a sorrow to the heart	S
His talk Whatever topics they might start	S
Had to be groped for in his consciousness	W
Straight and as straight delivered them by guess	W
Only obliged to ask himself What was	W
A speedy answer followed but alas	W
One of God's large ones tardy to condense	W
Itself into a period answers whence	W
A tangle of conclusions must be stripped	S
At any risk ere trim to pattern clipped	S
They matched rare specimens the Mantuan flock	J3
Regaled him with each talker from his stock	J3
Of sorted o'er opinions every stage	A3
Juicy in youth or desiccate with age	A3
Fruits like the fig tree's rathe ripe rotten rich	K
Sweet sour all tastes to take a practice which	K
He too had not impossibly attained	S
Once either of those fancy flights restrained	S
For at conjecture how might words appear	I
To others playing there what happened here	I
And occupied abroad by what he spurned	S
At home 't was slipped the occasion he returned	S
To seize he 'd strike that lyre adroitly speech	K
Would but a twenty cubit plectre reach	K
A clever hand consummate instrument	S
Were both brought close each excellency went	S
For nothing else The question Naddo asked	S
Had just a lifetime moderately tasked	S
To answer Naddo's fashion More disgust	S
And more why move his soul since move it must	S
At minute's notice or as good it failed	S
To move at all The end was he retailed	S
Some ready made opinion put to use	W
This quip that maxim ventured reproduce	W
Gestures and tones at any folly caught	S
Serving to finish with nor too much sought	S
If false or true 't was spoken praise and blame	N2
Of what he said grew pretty nigh the same	N2
Meantime awards to meantime acts his soul	M2
Unequal to the compassing a whole	M2
Saw in a tenth part less and less to strive	K3
About And as for men in turn contrive	K3
Who could to take eternal interest	S
In them so hate the worst so love the best	S
Though in pursuance of his passive plan	W
He hailed decried the proper way	W
	-
	-
As Man	W
So figured he and how as Poet Verse	W
Came only not to a stand still The worse	W
That his poor piece of daily work to do	S
Was not sink under any rivals who	S
Loudly and long enough without these qualms	W
Turned from Bocafoli's stark naked psalms	W
To Plara's sonnets spoilt by toying with	L3
As knops that stud some almug to the pith	D3
Prick d for gum wry thence and crinkl d worse	W
Than purs d eyelids of a river horse	W
Sunning himself o' the slime when whirrs the breese	W
Gad fly that is He might compete with these	W
But but	S
	-
	-
Observe a pompion twine afloat	S
Pluck me one cup from off the castle moat	S
Along with cup you raise leaf stalk and root	S
The entire surface of the pool to boot	S
So could I pluck a cup put in one song	A2
A single sight did not my hand too strong	A2
Twitch in the least the root strings of the whole	M2
How should externals satisfy my soul	M2
Why that's precise the error Squarcialupe	D2
Hazarded Naddo finds 'the man can't stoop	D2
'To sing us out ' quoth he 'a mere romance	W
'He'd fain do better than the best enhance	W
'The subjects' rarity work problems out	S
'Therewith ' Now you 're a bard a bard past doubt	S
And no philosopher why introduce	W
Crotchets like these fine surely but no use	W
In poetry which still must be to strike	M3
Based upon common sense there's nothing like	M3
Appealing to our nature what beside	S
Was your first poetry No tricks were tried	S
In that no hollow thrills affected throes	W
'The man ' said we 'tells his own joys and woes	W
'We'll trust him ' Would you have your songs endure	I
Build on the human heart why to be sure	I
Yours is one sort of heart but I mean theirs	W
Ours every one's the healthy heart one cares	W
To build on Central peace mother of strength	R
That's father of nay go yourself that length	R
Ask those calm hearted doers what they do	S
When they have got their calm And is it true	S
Fire rankles at the heart of every globe	N3
Perhaps But these are matters one may probe	N3
Too deeply for poetic purposes	W
Rather select a theory that yes	W
Laugh what does that prove stations you midway	W
And saves some little o'er refining Nay	W
That's rank injustice done me I restrict	S
The poet Don't I hold the poet picked	S
Out of a host of warriors statesmen did	S
I tell you Very like As well you hid	S
That sense of power you have True bards believe	F2
All able to achieve what they achieve	F2
That is just nothing in one point abide	S
Profounder simpletons than all beside	S
Oh ay The knowledge that you are a bard	S
Must constitute your prime nay sole reward	S
So prattled Naddo busiest of the tribe	O3
Of genius haunters how shall I describe	O3
What grubs or nips or rubs or rips your louse	W
For love your flea for hate magnanimous	W
Malignant Pappacoda Tagliafer	S
Picking a sustenance from wear and tear	S
By implements it sedulous employs	W
To undertake lay down mete out o'er toise	W
Sordello Fifty creepers to elude	S
At once They settled staunchly shame ensued	S
Behold the monarch of mankind succumb	U
To the last fool who turned him round his thumb	U
As Naddo styled it 'T was not worth oppose	W
The matter of a moment gainsay those	W
He aimed at getting rid of better think	B2
Their thoughts and speak their speech secure to slink	B2
Back expeditiously to his safe place	W
And chew the cud what he and what his race	W
Were really each of them Yet even this	W
Conformity was partial He would miss	W
Some point brought into contact with them ere	S
Assured in what small segment of the sphere	S
Of his existence they attended him	C2
Whence blunders falsehoods rectified a grim	C2
List slur it over How If dreams were tried	S
His will swayed sicklily from side to side	S
Nor merely neutralized his waking act	S
But tended e'en in fancy to distract	S
The intermediate will the choice of means	W
He lost the art of dreaming Mantuan scenes	W
Supplied a baron say he sang before	S
Handsomely reckless full to running o'er	S
Of gallantries abjure the soul content	S
With body therefore Scarcely had he bent	S
Himself in dream thus low when matter fast	S
Cried out he found for spirit to contrast	S
And task it duly by advances slight	S
The simple stuff becoming composite	S
Count Lori grew Apollo best recall	M2
His fancy Then would some rough peasant Paul	M2
Like those old Ecelin confers with glance	W
His gay apparel o'er that countenance	W
Gathered his shattered fancies into one	W
And body clean abolished soul alone	W
Sufficed the grey Paulician by and by	M2
To balance the ethereality	S
Passions were needed foiled he sank again	W
	-
	-
Meanwhile the world rejoiced 't is time explain	W
Because a sudden sickness set it free	S
From Adelaide Missing the mother bee	S
Her mountain hive Romano swarmed at once	W
A rustle forth of daughters and of sons	W
Blackened the valley I am sick too old	S
Half crazed I think what good's the Kaiser's gold	S
To such an one God help me for I catch	K
My children's greedy sparkling eyes at watch	K
'He bears that double breastplate on ' they say	W
'So many minutes less than yesterday '	-
Beside Monk Hilary is on his knees	W
Now sworn to kneel and pray till God shall please	W
Exact a punishment for many things	W
You know and some you never knew which brings	W
To memory Azzo's sister Beatrix	W
And Richard's Giglia are my Alberic's	W
And Ecelin's betrothed the Count himself	P3
Must get my Palma Ghibellin and Guelf	P3
Mean to embrace each other So began	W
Romano's missive to his fighting man	W
Taurello on the Tuscan's death away	W
With Friedrich sworn to sail from Naples' bay	W
Next month for Syria Never thunder clap	D2
Out of Vesuvius' throat like this mishap	D2
Startled him That accursed Vicenza I	M2
Absent and she selects this time to die	M2
Ho fellows for Vicenza Half a score	S
Of horses ridden dead he stood before	S
Romano in his reeking spurs too late	S
Boniface urged me Este could not wait	S
The chieftain stammered let me die in peace	W
Forget me Was it I who craved increase	W
Of rule Do you and Friedrich plot your worst	S
Against the Father as you found me first	S
So leave me now Forgive me Palma sure	S
Is at Goito still Retain that lure	S
Only be pacified	S
	-
	-
The country rung	B2
With such a piece of news on every tongue	B2
How Ecelin's great servant congeed off	P3
Had done a long day's service so might doff	P3
The green and yellow and recover breath	L2
At Mantua whither since Retrude's death	L2
The girlish slip of a Sicilian bride	S
From Otho's house he carried to reside	S
At Mantua till the Ferrarese should pile	M2
A structure worthy her imperial style	M2
The gardens raise the statues there enshrine	W
She never lived to see although his line	W
Was ancient in her archives and she took	B2
A pride in him that city nor forsook	B2
Her child when he forsook himself and spent	S
A prowess on Romano surely meant	S
For his own growth whither he ne'er resorts	W
If wholly satisfied to trust reports	W
With Ecelin So forward in a trice	W
Were shows to greet him Take a friend's advice	W
Quoth Naddo to Sordello nor be rash	K
Because your rivals nothing can abash	K
Some folks demur that we pronounced you best	S
To sound the great man's welcome 't is a test	S
Remember Strojavacca looks asquint	S
The rough fat sloven and there 's plenty hint	S
Your pinions have received of late a shock	B2
Outsoar them cobswan of the silver flock	B2
Sing well A signal wonder song 's no whit	S
Facilitated	S
	-
	-
Fast the minutes flit	S
Another day Sordello finds will bring	B2
The soldier and he cannot choose but sing	B2
So a last shift quits Mantua slow alone	W
Out of that aching brain a very stone	W
Song must be struck What occupies that front	S
Just how he was more awkward than his wont	S
The night before when Naddo who had seen	W
Taurello on his progress praised the mien	W
For dignity no crosses could affect	S
Such was a joy and might not he detect	S
A satisfaction if established joys	W
Were proved imposture Poetry annoys	W
Its utmost wherefore fret Verses may come	U
Or keep away And thus he wandered dumb	U
Till evening when he paused thoroughly spent	S
On a blind hill top down the gorge he went	S
Yielding himself up as to an embrace	W
The moon came out like features of a face	W
A querulous fraternity of pines	W
Sad blackthorn clumps leafless and grovelling vines	W
Also came out made gradually up	D2
The picture 't was Goito's mountain cup	D2
And castle He had dropped through one defile	M2
He never dared explore the Chief erewhile	M2
Had vanished by Back rushed the dream enwrapped	S
Him wholly 'T was Apollo now they lapped	S
Those mountains not a pettish minstrel meant	S
To wear his soul away in discontent	S
Brooding on fortune's malice Heart and brain	W
Swelled he expanded to himself again	W
As some thin seedling spice tree starved and frail	M2
Pushing between cat's head and ibis' tail	M2
Crusted into the porphyry pavement smooth	Q3
Suffered remain just as it sprung to soothe	Q3
The Soldan's pining daughter never yet	S
Well in her chilly green glazed minaret	S
When rooted up the sunny day she died	S
And flung into the common court beside	S
Its parent tree Come home Sordello Soon	W
Was he low muttering beneath the moon	W
Of sorrow saved of quiet evermore	S
Since from the purpose he maintained before	S
Only resulted wailing and hot tears	W
Ah the slim castle dwindled of late years	W
But more mysterious gone to ruin trails	W
Of vine through every loop hole Nought avails	W
The night as torch in hand he must explore	S
The maple chamber did I say its floor	S
Was made of intersecting cedar beams	W
Worn now with gaps so large there blew cold streams	W
Of air quite from the dungeon lay your ear	S
Close and 't is like one after one you hear	S
In the blind darkness water drop The nests	W
And nooks retain their long ranged vesture chests	W
Empty and smelling of the iris root	S
The Tuscan grated o'er them to recruit	S
Her wasted wits Palma was gone that day	S
Said the remaining women Last he lay	S
Beside the Carian group reserved and still	M2
	-
	-
The Body the Machine for Acting Will	M2
Had been at the commencement proved unfit	S
That for Demonstrating Reflecting it	S
Mankind no fitter was the Will Itself	P3
In fault	S
	-
	-
His forehead pressed the moonlit shelf	P3
Beside the youngest marble maid awhile	M2
Then raising it he thought with a long smile	M2
I shall be king again as he withdrew	S
The envied scarf into the font he threw	S
His crown	W
	-
	-
Next day no poet Wherefore asked	S
Taurello when the dance of Jongleurs masked	S
As devils ended don't a song come next	S
The master of the pageant looked perplexed	S
Till Naddo's whisper came to his relief	P3
His Highness knew what poets were in brief	P3
Had not the tetchy race prescriptive right	S
To peevishness caprice or call it spite	S
One must receive their nature in its length	R
And breadth expect the weakness with the strength	R
So phrasing till his stock of phrases spent	S
The easy natured soldier smiled assent	S
Settled his portly person smoothed his chin	W
And nodded that the bull bait might begin	W

Robert Browning

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