Sordello: Book The Third Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJGG AAJJGGJJJJGGAAGGKKII LLMMAAGGNNGGJJOOP QRSSJJGGGGII GGJJTTUUJJRRFVWWXXJJ GGJJS VYJJGGCCANJJCZGGA2A2 B2B2AAJJGGJJJJJJJJC2 C2GGD2AAASSE2E2JJNNG GGGJJGGGGGGGGGGGGNNG GF2F2AAGGNNGGAAGGJJG GAAGGGGG2G2GGBBTTH2H 2GGGGJP JJJG JJJJGGGGH2H2I2I2HHG GGJ2J2GGJJH2H2JJH2H2 K2K2GGGGGGGGGGAD2 AGGJJGGNNH2H2BA BHHL2L2GGH2H2M2M2BBG KKJJN2N2JJJJAAAAOOD2 D2JJGGH2 O2O2B H2H2GGP2P2A OIJJGGGGFFGGGGGGJJAA HHAAD2D2GGBBQ2Q2JJGG GGJ2J2BBHHGG I2I2GGGGJJGGG L2L2JJJJO2O2JJGGGGHH JJAAGGBBGGBBR2R2JJJJ GGJJS2 BBH2H2T2T2U2U2GGAAGG BBV2V2H2H2T2T2GGJJGG F2F2 GGGGJJGGGGAAGGGGJJH2 H2GGGGGGJJBBGGJJBBGG GGH2H2GGGGJJT2T2 H2GGGGSSD2AGGHHW2W2B BT2 A NNGGGGH2H2J JJT2T2JJX2X2Y2 T2T2H2H2GGGGGGH2H2GG T2T2JJF2F2HHS2Z2GGF2 F2GGGGKKGGT2 GGBBJGGGGGJJGGGGAAJJ GGGGJJJGGGGGA3A3H2H2 AAGGB3B3GGJJT2T2T2T2 AAGGH2H2G JJGGGGH2H2J GGGGT2T2GGAAZ2Z2BBGG F2F2T2T2H2H2JJBBT2T2 JJJJGGGG GGGC3C3AAGGJJJJGGGG JJJJGGH HGGAAJJAJJJZ2Z2H2H2A AGGGJ GGGH2H2AAJJJJC3C3Z2Z 2GGJJB3B3Z2Z2JJJJHHG GT2T2GGJJC3C3GGGGGGG GJJGGGGJJJJJJD3D3T2T 2JJGGJJGJT2T2GGJJGGA AGGG2G2H2H2GGGGF2F2J JAAGGC3C3JJJJJJJJGGG GGGJJAAF2F2T2T2H2H2H HH2H2JJGGE3GGG GGGGGGGGT2T2H2H2JJJJ GGT2T2B3B3GGAAJJG GB3B3T2T2GGGGJJJJGGJ J Z2 T2T2GGJJGGGGJJF3F3T2 T2GGAA GJJGGF3F3Z2Z2 GGGGG H2H2JJJJF3F3GGGGGGGG Z2Z2GGGGT2T2GGGGGGT2 T2B3B3GGT2T2GGGGGGJJ H2H2GGGGGGGGF3F3C3C3 C3C3GGZ2Z2B3B3JJJJGG GG C3C3GGJJGGHHGGGGF3F3 JJH2H2GGZ2Z2GGGGJJZ2 GG

And the font took them let our laurels lie	A
Braid moonfern now with mystic trifoly	A
Because once more Goito gets once more	B
Sordello to itself A dream is o'er	C
And the suspended life begins anew	D
Quiet those throbbing temples then subdue	D
That cheek's distortion Nature's strict embrace	E
Putting aside the past shall soon efface	E
Its print as well factitious humours grown	F
Over the true loves hatreds not his own	F
And turn him pure as some forgotten vest	G
Woven of painted byssus silkiest	G
Tufting the Tyrrhene whelk's pearl sheeted lip	H
Left welter where a trireme let it slip	H
I' the sea and vexed a satrap so the stain	I
O' the world forsakes Sordello with its pain	I
Its pleasure how the tinct loosening escapes	J
Cloud after cloud Mantua's familiar shapes	J
Die fair and foul die fading as they flit	G
Men women and the pathos and the wit	G
Wise speech and foolish deeds to smile or sigh	A
For good bad seemly or ignoble die	A
The last face glances through the eglantines	J
The last voice murmurs 'twixt the blossomed vines	J
Of Men of that machine supplied by thought	G
To compass self perception with he sought	G
By forcing half himself an insane pulse	J
Of a god's blood on clay it could convulse	J
Never transmute on human sights and sounds	J
To watch the other half with irksome bounds	J
It ebbs from to its source a fountain sealed	G
Forever Better sure be unrevealed	G
Than part revealed Sordello well or ill	A
Is finished then what further use of Will	A
Point in the prime idea not realized	G
An oversight inordinately prized	G
No less and pampered with enough of each	K
Delight to prove the whole above its reach	K
To need become all natures yet retain	I
The law of my own nature to remain	I
Myself yet yearn as if that chestnut think	L
Should yearn for this first larch bloom crisp and pink	L
Or those pale fragrant tears where zephyrs stanch	M
March wounds along the fretted pine tree branch	M
Will and the means to show will great and small	A
Material spiritual abjure them all	A
Save any so distinct they may be left	G
To amuse not tempt become and thus bereft	G
Just as I first was fashioned would I be	N
Nor moon is it Apollo now but me	N
Thou visitest to comfort and befriend	G
Swim thou into my heart and there an end	G
Since I possess thee nay thus shut mine eyes	J
And know quite know by this heart's fall and rise	J
When thou dost bury thee in clouds and when	O
Out standest wherefore practise upon men	O
To make that plainer to myself	P
	-
	-
Slide here	Q
Over a sweet and solitary year	R
Wasted or simply notice change in him	S
How eyes once with exploring bright grew dim	S
And satiate with receiving Some distress	J
Was caused too by a sort of consciousness	J
Under the imbecility nought kept	G
That down he slept but was aware he slept	G
So frustrated as who brainsick made pact	G
Erst with the overhanging cataract	G
To deafen him yet still distinguished plain	I
His own blood's measured clicking at his brain	I
	-
	-
To finish One declining Autumn day	G
Few birds about the heaven chill and grey	G
No wind that cared trouble the tacit woods	J
He sauntered home complacently their moods	J
According his and nature's Every spark	T
Of Mantua life was trodden out so dark	T
The embers that the Troubadour who sung	U
Hundreds of songs forgot its trick his tongue	U
Its craft his brain how either brought to pass	J
Singing at all that faculty might class	J
With any of Apollo's now The year	R
Began to find its early promise sere	R
As well Thus beauty vanishes thus stone	F
Outlingers flesh nature's and his youth gone	V
They left the world to you and wished you joy	W
When stopping his benevolent employ	W
A presage shuddered through the welkin harsh	X
The earth's remonstrance followed 'T was the marsh	X
Gone of a sudden Mincio in its place	J
Laughed a broad water in next morning's face	J
And where the mists broke up immense and white	G
I' the steady wind burned like a spilth of light	G
Out of the crashing of a myriad stars	J
And here was nature bound by the same bars	J
Of fate with him	S
	-
	-
No youth once gone is gone	V
Deeds let escape are never to be done	Y
Leaf fall and grass spring for the year for us	J
Oh forfeit I unalterably thus	J
My chance nor two lives wait me this to spend	G
Learning save that Nature has time may mend	G
Mistake she knows occasion will recur	C
Landslip or seabreach how affects it her	C
With her magnificent resources I	A
Must perish once and perish utterly	N
Not any strollings now at even close	J
Down the field path Sordello by thorn rows	J
Alive with lamp flies swimming spots of fire	C
And dew outlining the black cypress' spire	Z
She waits you at Elys who heard you first	G
Woo her the snow month through but ere she durst	G
Answer 't was April Linden flower time long	A2
Her eyes were on the ground 't is July strong	A2
Now and because white dust clouds overwhelm	B2
The woodside here or by the village elm	B2
That holds the moon she meets you somewhat pale	A
But letting you lift up her coarse flax veil	A
And whisper the damp little hand in yours	J
Of love heart's love your heart's love that endures	J
Till death Tush No mad mixing with the rout	G
Of haggard ribalds wandering about	G
The hot torchlit wine scented island house	J
Where Friedrich holds his wickedest carouse	J
Parading to the gay Palermitans	J
Soft Messinese dusk Saracenic clans	J
Nuocera holds those tall grave dazzling Norse	J
High cheeked lank haired toothed whiter than the morse	J
Queens of the caves of jet stalactites	J
He sent his barks to fetch through icy seas	J
The blind night seas without a saving star	C2
And here in snowy birdskin robes they are	C2
Sordello here mollitious alcoves gilt	G
Superb as Byzant domes that devils built	G
Ah Byzant there again no chance to go	D2
Ever like august cheery Dandolo	A
Worshipping hearts about him for a wall	A
Conducted blind eyes hundred years and all	A
Through vanquished Byzant where friends note for him	S
What pillar marble massive sardius slim	S
'T were fittest he transport to Venice' Square	E2
Flattered and promised life to touch them there	E2
Soon by those fervid sons of senators	J
No more lifes deaths loves hatreds peaces wars	J
Ah fragments of a whole ordained to be	N
Points in the life I waited what are ye	N
But roundels of a ladder which appeared	G
Awhile the very platform it was reared	G
To lift me on that happiness I find	G
Proofs of my faith in even in the blind	G
Instinct which bade forego you all unless	J
Ye led me past yourselves Ay happiness	J
Awaited me the way life should be used	G
Was to acquire and deeds like you conduced	G
To teach it by a self revealment deemed	G
Life's very use so long Whatever seemed	G
Progress to that was pleasure aught that stayed	G
My reaching it no pleasure I have laid	G
The ladder down I climb not still aloft	G
The platform stretches Blisses strong and soft	G
I dared not entertain elude me yet	G
Never of what they promised could I get	G
A glimpse till now The common sort the crowd	G
Exist perceive with Being are endowed	G
However slight distinct from what they See	N
However bounded Happiness must be	N
To feed the first by gleanings from the last	G
Attain its qualities and slow or fast	G
Become what they behold such peace in strife	F2
By transmutation is the Use of Life	F2
The Alien turning Native to the soul	A
Or body which instructs me I am whole	A
There and demand a Palma had the world	G
Been from my soul to a like distance hurled	G
'T were Happiness to make it one with me	N
Whereas I must ere I begin to Be	N
Include a world in flesh I comprehend	G
In spirit now and this done what 's to blend	G
With Nought is Alien in the world my Will	A
Owns all already yet can turn it still	A
Less Native since my Means to correspond	G
With Will are so unworthy 't was my bond	G
To tread the very joys that tantalize	J
Most now into a grave never to rise	J
I die then Will the rest agree to die	G
Next Age or no Shall its Sordello try	G
Clue after clue and catch at last the clue	A
I miss that 's underneath my finger too	A
Twice thrice a day perhaps some yearning traced	G
Deeper some petty consequence embraced	G
Closer Why fled I Mantua then complained	G
So much my Will was fettered yet remained	G
Content within a tether half the range	G2
I could assign it able to exchange	G2
My ignorance I felt for knowledge and	G
Idle because I could thus understand	G
Could e'en have penetrated to its core	B
Our mortal mystery yet fool forbore	B
Preferred elaborating in the dark	T
My casual stuff by any wretched spark	T
Born of my predecessors though one stroke	H2
Of mine had brought the flame forth Mantua's yoke	H2
My minstrel's trade was to behold mankind	G
My own concern was just to bring my mind	G
Behold just extricate for my acquist	G
Each object suffered stifle in the mist	G
Which hazard custom blindness interpose	J
Betwixt things and myself	P
	-
	-
Whereat he rose	J
The level wind carried above the firs	J
Clouds the irrevocable travellers	J
Onward	G
	-
	-
Pushed thus into a drowsy copse	J
Arms twine about my neck each eyelid drops	J
Under a humid finger while there fleets	J
Outside the screen a pageant time repeats	J
Never again To be deposed immured	G
Clandestinely still petted still assured	G
To govern were fatiguing work the Sight	G
Fleeting meanwhile 'T is noontide wreak ere night	G
Somehow my will upon it rather Slake	H2
This thirst somehow the poorest impress take	H2
That serves A blasted bud displays you torn	I2
Faint rudiments of the full flower unborn	I2
But who divines what glory coats o'erclasp	H
Of the bulb dormant in the mummy's grasp	H
Taurello sent	G
	-
	-
Taurello Palma sent	G
Your Trouvere Naddo interposing leant	G
Over the lost bard's shoulder and believe	J2
You cannot more reluctantly receive	J2
Than I pronounce her message we depart	G
Together What avail a poet's heart	G
Verona's pomps and gauds five blades of grass	J
Suffice him News Why where your marish was	J
On its mud banks smoke rises after smoke	H2
I' the valley like a spout of hell new broke	H2
Oh the world's tidings small your thanks I guess	J
For them The father of our Patroness	J
Has played Taurello an astounding trick	H2
Parts between Ecelin and Alberic	H2
His wealth and goes into a convent both	K2
Wed Guelfs the Count and Palma plighted troth	K2
A week since at Verona and they want	G
You doubtless to contrive the marriage chant	G
Ere Richard storms Ferrara Then was told	G
The tale from the beginning how made bold	G
By Salinguerra's absence Guelfs had burned	G
And pillaged till he unawares returned	G
To take revenge how Azzo and his friend	G
Were doing their endeavour how the end	G
O' the siege was nigh and how the Count released	G
From further care would with his marriage feast	G
Inaugurate a new and better rule	A
Absorbing thus Romano	D2
	-
	-
Shall I school	A
My master added Naddo and suggest	G
How you may clothe in a poetic vest	G
These doings at Verona Your response	J
To Palma Wherefore jest 'Depart at once	J
A good resolve In truth I hardly hoped	G
So prompt an acquiescence Have you groped	G
Out wisdom in the wilds here thoughts may be	N
Over poetical for poetry	N
Pearl white you poets liken Palma's neck	H2
And yet what spoils an orient like some speck	H2
Of genuine white turning its own white grey	B
You take me Curse the cicala	A
	-
	-
One more day	B
One eve appears Verona Many a group	H
You mind instructed of the osprey's swoop	H
On lynx and ounce was gathering Christendom	L2
Sure to receive whate'er the end was from	L2
The evening's purpose cheer or detriment	G
Since Friedrich only waited some event	G
Like this of Ghibellins establishing	H2
Themselves within Ferrara ere as King	H2
Of Lombardy he 'd glad descend there wage	M2
Old warfare with the Pontiff disengage	M2
His barons from the burghers and restore	B
The rule of Charlemagne broken of yore	B
By Hildebrand	G
	-
	-
I' the palace each by each	K
Sordello sat and Palma little speech	K
At first in that dim closet face with face	J
Despite the tumult in the market place	J
Exchanging quick low laughters now would rush	N2
Word upon word to meet a sudden flush	N2
A look left off a shifting lips' surmise	J
But for the most part their two histories	J
Ran best thro' the locked fingers and linked arms	J
And so the night flew on with its alarms	J
Till in burst one of Palma's retinue	A
Now Lady gasped he Then arose the two	A
And leaned into Verona's air dead still	A
A balcony lay black beneath until	A
Out 'mid a gush of torchfire grey haired men	O
Came on it and harangued the people then	O
Sea like that people surging to and fro	D2
Shouted Hale forth the carroch trumpets ho	D2
A flourish Run it in the ancient grooves	J
Back from the bell Hammer that whom behoves	J
May hear the League is up Peal learn who list	G
Verona means not first of towns break tryst	G
To morrow with the League	H2
	-
	-
Enough Now turn	O2
Over the eastern cypresses discern	O2
Is any beacon set a glimmer	B
	-
	-
Rang	H2
The air with shouts that overpowered the clang	H2
Of the incessant carroch even Haste	G
The candle 's at the gateway ere it waste	G
Each soldier stand beside it armed to march	P2
With Tiso Sampier through the eastern arch	P2
Ferrara's succoured Palma	A
	-
	-
Once again	O
They sat together some strange thing in train	I
To say so difficult was Palma's place	J
In taking with a coy fastidious grace	J
Like the bird's flutter ere it fix and feed	G
But when she felt she held her friend indeed	G
Safe she threw back her curls began implant	G
Her lessons telling of another want	G
Goito's quiet nourished than his own	F
Palma to serve him to be served alone	F
Importing Agnes' milk so neutralized	G
The blood of Ecelin Nor be surprised	G
If while Sordello fain had captive led	G
Nature in dream was Palma subjected	G
To some out soul which dawned not though she pined	G
Delaying till its advent heart and mind	G
Their life How dared I let expand the force	J
Within me till some out soul whose resource	J
It grew for should direct it Every law	A
Of life its every fitness every flaw	A
Must One determine whose corporeal shape	H
Would be no other than the prime escape	H
And revelation to me of a Will	A
Orb like o'ershrouded and inscrutable	A
Above save at the point which I should know	D2
Shone that myself my powers might overflow	D2
So far so much as now it signified	G
Which earthly shape it henceforth chose my guide	G
Whose mortal lip selected to declare	B
Its oracles what fleshly garb would wear	B
The first of intimations whom to love	Q2
The next how love him Seemed that orb above	Q2
The castle covert and the mountain close	J
Slow in appearing if beneath it rose	J
Cravings aversions did our green precinct	G
Take pride in me at unawares distinct	G
With this or that endowment how repressed	G
At once such jetting power shrank to the rest	G
Was I to have a chance touch spoil me leave	J2
My spirit thence unfitted to receive	J2
The consummating spell that spell so near	B
Moreover 'Waits he not the waking year	B
'His almond blossoms must be honey ripe	H
'By this to welcome him fresh runnels stripe	H
'The thawed ravines because of him the wind	G
'Walks like a herald I shall surely find	G
'Him now '	-
	-
	-
And chief that earnest April morn	I2
Of Richard's Love court was it time so worn	I2
And white my cheek so idly my blood beat	G
Sitting that morn beside the Lady's feet	G
And saying as she prompted till outburst	G
One face from all the faces Not then first	G
I knew it where in maple chamber glooms	J
Crowned with what sanguine heart pomegranate blooms	J
Advanced it ever Men's acknowledgment	G
Sanctioned my own 't was taken Palma's bent	G
Sordello recognized accepted	G
	-
	-
Dumb	L2
Sat she still scheming Ecelin would come	L2
Gaunt scared 'Cesano baffles me ' he 'd say	J
'Better I fought it out my father's way	J
'Strangle Ferrara in its drowning flats	J
'And you and your Taurello yonder what's	J
'Romano's business there ' An hour's concern	O2
To cure the froward Chief induce return	O2
As heartened from those overmeaning eyes	J
Wound up to persevere his enterprise	J
Marked out anew its exigent of wit	G
Apportioned she at liberty to sit	G
And scheme against the next emergence I	G
To covet her Taurello sprite made fly	G
Or fold the wing to con your horoscope	H
For leave command those steely shafts shoot ope	H
Or straight assuage their blinding eagerness	J
In blank smooth snow What semblance of success	J
To any of my plans for making you	A
Mine and Romano's Break the first wall through	A
Tread o'er the ruins of the Chief supplant	G
His sons beside still vainest were the vaunt	G
There Salinguerra would obstruct me sheer	B
And the insuperable Tuscan here	B
Stay me But one wild eve that Lady died	G
In her lone chamber only I beside	G
Taurello far at Naples and my sire	B
At Padua Ecelin away in ire	B
With Alberic She held me thus a clutch	R2
To make our spirits as our bodies touch	R2
And so began flinging the past up heaps	J
Of uncouth treasure from their sunless sleeps	J
Within her soul deeds rose along with dreams	J
Fragments of many miserable schemes	J
Secrets more secrets then no not the last	G
'Mongst others like a casual trick o' the past	G
How ay she told me gathering up her face	J
All left of it into one arch grimace	J
To die with	S2
	-
	-
Friend 't is gone but not the fear	B
Of that fell laughing heard as now I hear	B
Nor faltered voice nor seemed her heart grow weak	H2
When i' the midst abrupt she ceased to speak	H2
Dead as to serve a purpose mark for in	T2
Rushed o' the very instant Ecelin	T2
How summoned who divines looking as if	U2
He understood why Adelaide lay stiff	U2
Already in my arms for 'Girl how must	G
'I manage Este in the matter thrust	G
'Upon me how unravel your bad coil	A
'Since' he declared ''t is on your brow a soil	A
'Like hers there ' then in the same breath 'he lacked	G
'No counsel after all had signed no pact	G
'With devils nor was treason here or there	B
'Goito or Vicenza his affair	B
'He buried it in Adelaide's deep grave	V2
'Would begin life afresh now would not slave	V2
'For any Friedrich's nor Taurello's sake	H2
'What booted him to meddle or to make	H2
'In Lombardy ' And afterward I knew	T2
The meaning of his promise to undo	T2
All she had done why marriages were made	G
New friendships entered on old followers paid	G
With curses for their pains new friends' amaze	J
At height when passing out by Gate St Blaise	J
He stopped short in Vicenza bent his head	G
Over a friar's neck 'had vowed ' he said	G
'Long since nigh thirty years because his wife	F2
'And child were saved there to bestow his life	F2
'On God his gettings on the Church '	-
	-
	-
Exiled	G
Within Goito still one dream beguiled	G
My days and nights 't was found the orb I sought	G
To serve those glimpses came of Fomalhaut	G
No other but how serve it authorize	J
You and Romano mingle destinies	J
And straight Romano's angel stood beside	G
Me who had else been Boniface's bride	G
For Salinguerra 't was with neck low bent	G
And voice lightened to music as he meant	G
To learn not teach me who withdrew the pall	A
From the dead past and straight revived it all	A
Making me see how first Romano waxed	G
Wherefore he waned now why if I relaxed	G
My grasp even I would drop a thing effete	G
Frayed by itself unequal to complete	G
Its course and counting every step astray	J
A gain so much Romano every way	J
Stable a Lombard House now why start back	H2
Into the very outset of its track	H2
This patching principle which late allied	G
Our House with other Houses what beside	G
Concerned the apparition the first Knight	G
Who followed Conrad hither in such plight	G
His utmost wealth was summed in his one steed	G
For Ecelo that prowler was decreed	G
A task in the beginning hazardous	J
To him as ever task can be to us	J
But did the weather beaten thief despair	B
When first our crystal cincture of warm air	B
That binds the Trevisan as its spice belt	G
Crusaders say the tract where Jesus dwelt	G
Furtive he pierced and Este was to face	J
Despaired Saponian strength of Lombard grace	J
Tried he at making surer aught made sure	B
Maturing what already was mature	B
No his heart prompted Ecelo 'Confront	G
'Este inspect yourself What 's nature Wont	G
'Discard three parts your nature and adopt	G
'The rest as an advantage ' Old strength propped	G
The man who first grew Podest among	H2
The Vicentines no less than while there sprung	H2
His palace up in Padua like a threat	G
Their noblest spied a grace unnoticed yet	G
In Conrad's crew Thus far the object gained	G
Romano was established has remained	G
'For are you not Italian truly peers	J
'With Este Azzo better soothes our ears	J
'Than Alberic or is this lion's crine	T2
'From over mounts' this yellow hair of mine	T2
'So weak a graft on Agnes Este's stock '	-
Thus went he on with something of a mock	H2
'Wherefore recoil then from the very fate	G
'Conceded you refuse to imitate	G
'Your model farther Este long since left	G
'Being mere Este as a blade its heft	G
'Este required the Pope to further him	S
'And you the Kaiser whom your father's whim	S
'Foregoes or better never shall forego	D2
'If Palma dare pursue what Ecelo	A
'Commenced but Ecelin desists from just	G
'As Adelaide of Susa could intrust	G
'Her donative her Piedmont given the Pope	H
'Her Alpine pass for him to shut or ope	H
''Twixt France and Italy to the superb	W2
'Matilda's perfecting so lest aught curb	W2
'Our Adelaide's great counter project for	B
'Giving her Trentine to the Emperor	B
'With passage here from Germany shall you	T2
'Take it my slender plodding talent too '	-
Urged me Taurello with his half smile	A
	-
	-
He	N
As Patron of the scattered family	N
Conveyed me to his Mantua kept in bruit	G
Azzo's alliances and Richard's suit	G
Until the Kaiser excommunicate	G
'Nothing remains ' Taurello said 'but wait	G
'Some rash procedure Palma was the link	H2
'As Agnes' child between us and they shrink	H2
'From losing Palma judge if we advance	J
'Your father's method your inheritance '	-
The day I was betrothed to Boniface	J
At Padua by Taurello's self took place	J
The outrage of the Ferrarese again	T2
The day I sought Verona with the train	T2
Agreed for by Taurello's policy	J
Convicting Richard of the fault since we	J
Were present to annul or to confirm	X2
Richard whose patience had outstayed its term	X2
Quitted Verona for the siege	Y2
	-
	-
And now	T2
What glory may engird Sordello's brow	T2
Through this A month since at Oliero slunk	H2
All that was Ecelin into a monk	H2
But how could Salinguerra so forget	G
His liege of thirty years as grudge even yet	G
One effort to recover him He sent	G
Forthwith the tidings of this last event	G
To Ecelin declared that he despite	G
The recent folly recognized his right	G
To order Salinguerra 'Should he wring	H2
'Its uttermost advantage out or fling	H2
'This chance away Or were his sons now Head	G
'O' the House ' Through me Taurello's missive sped	G
My father's answer will by me return	T2
Behold 'For him ' he writes 'no more concern	T2
'With strife than for his children with fresh plots	J
'Of Friedrich Old engagements out he blots	J
'For aye Taurello shall no more subserve	F2
'Nor Ecelin impose ' Lest this unnerve	F2
Taurello at this juncture slack his grip	H
Of Richard suffer the occasion slip	H
I in his sons' default who mating with	S2
Este forsake Romano as the frith	Z2
Its mainsea for that firmland sea makes head	G
Against I stand Romano in their stead	G
Assume the station they desert and give	F2
Still as the Kaiser's representative	F2
Taurello licence he demands Midnight	G
Morning by noon to morrow making light	G
Of the League's issue we in some gay weed	G
Like yours disguised together may precede	G
The arbitrators to Ferrara reach	K
Him let Taurello's noble accents teach	K
The rest Then say if I have misconceived	G
Your destiny too readily believed	G
The Kaiser's cause your own	T2
	-
	-
And Palma's fled	G
Though no affirmative disturbs the head	G
A dying lamp flame sinks and rises o'er	B
Like the alighted planet Pollux wore	B
Until morn breaking he resolves to be	J
Gate vein of this heart's blood of Lombardy	G
Soul of this body to wield this aggregate	G
Of souls and bodies and so conquer fate	G
Though he should live a centre of disgust	G
Even apart core of the outward crust	G
He vivifies assimilates For thus	J
I bring Sordello to the rapturous	J
Exclaim at the crowd's cry because one round	G
Of life was quite accomplished and he found	G
Not only that a soul whate'er its might	G
Is insufficient to its own delight	G
Both in corporeal organs and in skill	A
By means of such to body forth its Will	A
And after insufficient to apprise	J
Men of that Will oblige them recognize	J
The Hid by the Revealed but that the last	G
Nor lightest of the struggles overpast	G
Will he bade abdicate which would not void	G
The throne might sit there suffer he enjoyed	G
Mankind a varied and divine array	J
Incapable of homage the first way	J
Nor fit to render incidentally	J
Tribute connived at taken by the by	G
In joys If thus with warrant to rescind	G
The ignominious exile of mankind	G
Whose proper service ascertained intact	G
As yet to be by him themselves made act	G
Not watch Sordello acting each of them	A3
Was to secure if the true diadem	A3
Seemed imminent while our Sordello drank	H2
The wisdom of that golden Palma thank	H2
Verona's Lady in her citadel	A
Founded by Gaulish Brennus legends tell	A
And truly when she left him the sun reared	G
A head like the first clamberer's who peered	G
A top the Capitol his face on flame	B3
With triumph triumphing till Manlius came	B3
Nor slight too much my rhymes that spring dispread	G
Dispart disperse lingering over head	G
Like an escape of angels Rather say	J
My transcendental platan mounting gay	J
An archimage so courts a novice queen	T2
With tremulous silvered trunk whence branches sheen	T2
Laugh out thick foliaged next a shiver soon	T2
With coloured buds then glowing like the moon	T2
One mild flame last a pause a burst and all	A
Her ivory limbs are smothered by a fall	A
Bloom flinders and fruit sparkles and leaf dust	G
Ending the weird work prosecuted just	G
For her amusement he decrepit stark	H2
Dozes her uncontrolled delight may mark	H2
Apart	G
	-
	-
Yet not so surely never so	J
Only as good my soul were suffered go	J
O'er the lagune forth fare thee put aside	G
Entrance thy synod as a god may glide	G
Out of the world he fills and leave it mute	G
For myriad ages as we men compute	G
Returning into it without a break	H2
O' the consciousness They sleep and I awake	H2
O'er the lagune being at Venice	J
	-
	-
Note	G
In just such songs as Eglamor say wrote	G
With heart and soul and strength for he believed	G
Himself achieving all to be achieved	G
By singer in such songs you find alone	T2
Completeness judge the song and singer one	T2
And either purpose answered his in it	G
Or its in him while from true works to wit	G
Sordello's dream performances that will	A
Never be more than dreamed escapes there still	A
Some proof the singer's proper life was 'neath	Z2
The life his song exhibits this a sheath	Z2
To that a passion and a knowledge far	B
Transcending these majestic as they are	B
Smouldered his lay was but an episode	G
In the bard's life which evidence you owed	G
To some slight weariness some looking off	F2
Or start away The childish skit or scoff	F2
In Charlemagne his poem dreamed divine	T2
In every point except one silly line	T2
About the restiff daughters what may lurk	H2
In that My life commenced before this work	H2
So I interpret the significance	J
Of the bard's start aside and look askance	J
My life continues after on I fare	B
With no more stopping possibly no care	B
To note the undercurrent the why and how	T2
Where when o' the deeper life as thus just now	T2
But silent shall I cease to live Alas	J
For you who sigh 'When shall it come to pass	J
'We read that story How will he compress	J
'The future gains his life's true business	J
'Into the better lay which that one flout	G
'Howe'er inopportune it be lets out	G
'Engrosses him already though professed	G
'To meditate with us eternal rest	G
'And partnership in all his life has found '	-
'T is but a sailor's promise weather bound	G
Strike sail slip cable here the bark be moored	G
For once the awning stretched the poles assured	G
Noontide above except the wave's crisp dash	C3
Or buzz of colibri or tortoise' splash	C3
The margin 's silent out with every spoil	A
Made in our tracking coil by mighty coil	A
This serpent of a river to his head	G
I' the midst Admire each treasure as we spread	G
The bank to help us tell our history	J
Aright give ear endeavour to descry	J
The groves of giant rushes how they grew	J
Like demons' endlong tresses we sailed through	J
What mountains yawned forests to give us vent	G
Opened each doleful side yet on we went	G
Till may that beetle shake your cap attest	G
The springing of a land wind from the West	G
	-
	-
Wherefore Ah yes you frolic it to day	J
To morrow and the pageant moved away	J
Down to the poorest tent pole we and you	J
Part company no other may pursue	J
Eastward your voyage be informed what fate	G
Intends if triumph or decline await	G
The tempter of the everlasting steppe	H
	-
	-
I muse this on a ruined palace step	H
At Venice why should I break off nor sit	G
Longer upon my step exhaust the fit	G
England gave birth to Who 's adorable	A
Enough reclaim a no Sordello's Will	A
Alack be queen to me That Bassanese	J
Busied among her smoking fruit boats These	J
Perhaps from our delicious Asolo	A
Who twinkle pigeons o'er the portico	J
Not prettier bind June lilies into sheaves	J
To deck the bridge side chapel dropping leaves	J
Soiled by their own loose gold meal Ah beneath	Z2
The cool arch stoops she brownest cheek Her wreath	Z2
Endures a month a half month if I make	H2
A queen of her continue for her sake	H2
Sordello's story Nay that Paduan girl	A
Splashes with barer legs where a live whirl	A
In the dead black Giudecca proves sea weed	G
Drifting has sucked down three four all indeed	G
Save one pale red striped pale blue turbaned post	G
For gondolas	J
	-
	-
You sad dishevelled ghost	G
That pluck at me and point are you advised	G
I breathe Let stay those girls e'en her disguised	G
Jewels i' the locks that love no crownet like	H2
Their native field buds and the green wheat spike	H2
So fair who left this end of June's turmoil	A
Shook off as might a lily its gold soil	A
Pomp save a foolish gem or two and free	J
In dream came join the peasants o'er the sea	J
Look they too happy too tricked out Confess	J
There is such niggard stock of happiness	J
To share that do one's uttermost dear wretch	C3
One labours ineffectually to stretch	C3
It o'er you so that mother and children both	Z2
May equitably flaunt the sumpter cloth	Z2
Divide the robe yet farther be content	G
With seeing just a score pre eminent	G
Through shreds of it acknowledged happy wights	J
Engrossing what should furnish all by rights	J
For these in evidence you clearlier claim	B3
A like garb for the rest grace all the same	B3
As these my peasants I ask youth and strength	Z2
And health for each of you not more at length	Z2
Grown wise who asked at home that the whole race	J
Might add the spirit's to the body's grace	J
And all be dizened out as chiefs and bards	J
But in this magic weather one discards	J
Much old requirement Venice seems a type	H
Of Life 'twixt blue and blue extends a stripe	H
As Life the somewhat hangs 'twixt nought and nought	G
'T is Venice and 't is Life as good you sought	G
To spare me the Piazza's slippery stone	T2
Or keep me to the unchoked canals alone	T2
As hinder Life the evil with the good	G
Which make up Living rightly understood	G
Only do finish something Peasants queens	J
Take them made happy by whatever means	J
Parade them for the common credit vouch	C3
That a luckless residue we send to crouch	C3
In corners out of sight was just as framed	G
For happiness its portion might have claimed	G
As well and so obtaining joy had stalked	G
Fastuous as any such my project baulked	G
Already I hardly venture to adjust	G
The first rags when you find me To mistrust	G
Me nor unreasonably You no doubt	G
Have the true knack of tiring suitors out	G
With those thin lips on tremble lashless eyes	J
Inveterately tear shot there be wise	J
Mistress of mine there there as if I meant	G
You insult shall your friend not slave be shent	G
For speaking home Beside care bit erased	G
Broken up beauties ever took my taste	G
Supremely and I love you more far more	J
Than her I looked should foot Life's temple floor	J
Years ago leagues at distance when and where	J
A whisper came Let others seek thy care	J
Is found thy life's provision if thy race	J
Should be thy mistress and into one face	J
The many faces crowd Ah had I judge	D3
Or no your secret Rough apparel grudge	D3
All ornaments save tag or tassel worn	T2
To hint we are not thoroughly forlorn	T2
Slouch bonnet unloop mantle careless go	J
Alone that's saddest but it must be so	J
Through Venice sing now and now glance aside	G
Aught desultory or undignified	G
Then ravishingest lady will you pass	J
Or not each formidable group the mass	J
Before the Basilic that feast gone by	G
God's great day of the Corpus Domini	J
And wistfully foregoing proper men	T2
Come timid up to me for alms And then	T2
The luxury to hesitate feign do	G
Some unexampled grace when whom but you	G
Dare I bestow your own upon And hear	J
Further before you say it is to sneer	J
I call you ravishing for I regret	G
Little that she whose early foot was set	G
Forth as she 'd plant it on a pedestal	A
Now i' the silent city seems to fall	A
Toward me no wreath only a lip's unrest	G
To quiet surcharged eyelids to be pressed	G
Dry of their tears upon my bosom Strange	G2
Such sad chance should produce in thee such change	G2
My love Warped souls and bodies yet God spoke	H2
Of right hand foot and eye selects our yoke	H2
Sordello as your poetship may find	G
So sleep upon my shoulder child nor mind	G
Their foolish talk we 'll manage reinstate	G
Your old worth ask moreover when they prate	G
Of evil men past hope Don't each contrive	F2
Despite the evil you abuse to live	F2
Keeping each losel through a maze of lies	J
His own conceit of truth to which he hies	J
By obscure windings tortuous if you will	A
But to himself not inaccessible	A
He sees truth and his lies are for the crowd	G
Who cannot see some fancied right allowed	G
His vilest wrong empowered the losel clutch	C3
One pleasure from a multitude of such	C3
Denied him Then assert All men appear	J
To think all better than themselves by here	J
Trusting a crowd they wrong but really say	J
All men think all men stupider than they	J
Since save themselves no other comprehends	J
The complicated scheme to make amends	J
Evil the scheme by which thro' Ignorance	J
Good labours to exist A slight advance	J
Merely to find the sickness you die through	G
And nought beside but if one can't eschew	G
One's portion in the common lot at least	G
One can avoid an ignorance increased	G
Tenfold by dealing out hint after hint	G
How nought were like dispensing without stint	G
The water of life so easy to dispense	J
Beside when one has probed the centre whence	J
Commotion 's born could tell you of it all	A
Meantime just meditate my madrigal	A
O' the mugwort that conceals a dewdrop safe	F2
What dullard we and you in smothery chafe	F2
Babes baldheads stumbled thus far into Zin	T2
The Horrid getting neither out nor in	T2
A hungry sun above us sands that bung	H2
Our throats each dromedary lolls a tongue	H2
Each camel churns a sick and frothy chap	H
And you 'twixt tales of Potiphar's mishap	H
And sonnets on the earliest ass that spoke	H2
Remark you wonder any one needs choke	H2
With founts about Potsherd him Gibeonites	J
While awkwardly enough your Moses smites	J
The rock though he forego his Promised Land	G
Thereby have Satan claim his carcass and	G
Figure as Metaphysic Poet ah	E3
Mark ye the dim first oozings Meribah	G
Then quaffing at the fount my courage gained	G
Recall not that I prompt ye who explained	G
	-
	-
Presumptuous interrupts one You not I	G
'T is brother marvel at and magnify	G
Such office office quotha can we get	G
To the beginning of the office yet	G
What do we here simply experiment	G
Each on the other's power and its intent	G
When elsewhere tasked if this of mine were trucked	G
For yours to either's good we watch construct	G
In short an engine with a finished one	T2
What it can do is all nought how 't is done	T2
But this of ours yet in probation dusk	H2
A kernel of strange wheelwork through its husk	H2
Grows into shape by quarters and by halves	J
Remark this tooth's spring wonder what that valve's	J
Fall bodes presume each faculty's device	J
Make out each other more or less precise	J
The scope of the whole engine 's to be proved	G
We die which means to say the whole 's removed	G
Dismounted wheel by wheel this complex gin	T2
To be set up anew elsewhere begin	T2
A task indeed but with a clearer clime	B3
Than the murk lodgment of our building time	B3
And then I grant you it behoves forget	G
How 't is done all that must amuse us yet	G
So long and while you turn upon your heel	A
Pray that I be not busy slitting steel	A
Or shredding brass camped on some virgin shore	J
Under a cluster of fresh stars before	J
I name a tithe o' the wheels I trust to do	G
	-
	-
So occupied then are we hitherto	G
At present and a weary while to come	B3
The office of ourselves nor blind nor dumb	B3
And seeing somewhat of man's state has been	T2
For the worst of us to say they so have seen	T2
For the better what it was they saw the best	G
Impart the gift of seeing to the rest	G
So that I glance says such an one around	G
And there 's no face but I can read profound	G
Disclosures in this stands for hope that fear	J
And for a speech a deed in proof look here	J
'Stoop else the strings of blossom where the nuts	J
'O'erarch will blind thee Said I not She shuts	J
'Both eyes this time so close the hazels meet	G
'Thus prisoned in the Piombi I repeat	G
'Events one rove occasioned o'er and o'er	J
'Putting 'twixt me and madness evermore	J
'Thy sweet shape Zanze Therefore stoop '	-
	-
	-
'That's truth '	-
Adjudge you 'the incarcerated youth	Z2
'Would say that '	-
	-
	-
Youth Plara the bard Set down	T2
That Plara spent his youth in a grim town	T2
Whose cramped ill featured streets huddled about	G
The minster for protection never out	G
Of its black belfry's shade and its bells' roar	J
The brighter shone the suburb all the more	J
Ugly and absolute that shade's reproof	G
Of any chance escape of joy some roof	G
Taller than they allowed the rest detect	G
Before the sole permitted laugh suspect	G
Who could 't was meant for laughter that ploughed cheek's	J
Repulsive gleam when the sun stopped both peaks	J
Of the cleft belfry like a fiery wedge	F3
Then sank a huge flame on its socket edge	F3
With leavings on the grey glass oriel pane	T2
Ghastly some minutes more No fear of rain	T2
The minster minded that in heaps the dust	G
Lay everywhere This town the minster's trust	G
Held Plara who its denizen bade hail	A
In twice twelve sonnets Tempe's dewy vale	A
	-
	-
'Exact the town the minster and the street '	-
	-
	-
As all mirth triumphs sadness means defeat	G
Lust triumphs and is gay Love 's triumphed o'er	J
And sad but Lucio 's sad I said before	J
Love's sad not Lucio one who loves may be	G
As gay his love has leave to hope as he	G
Downcast that lusts' desire escapes the springe	F3
'T is of the mood itself I speak what tinge	F3
Determines it else colourless or mirth	Z2
Or melancholy as from heaven or earth	Z2
'Ay that 's the variation's gist '	-
	-
	-
Indeed	G
Thus far advanced in safety then proceed	G
And having seen too what I saw be bold	G
And next encounter what I do behold	G
That's sure but bid you take on trust	G
	-
	-
Attack	H2
The use and purpose of such sights Alack	H2
Not so unwisely does the crowd dispense	J
On Salinguerras praise in preference	J
To the Sordellos men of action these	J
Who seeing just as little as you please	J
Yet turn that little to account engage	F3
With do not gaze at carry on a stage	F3
The work o' the world not merely make report	G
The work existed ere their day In short	G
When at some future no time a brave band	G
Sees using what it sees then shake my hand	G
In heaven my brother Meanwhile where's the hurt	G
Of keeping the Makers see on the alert	G
At whose defection mortals stare aghast	G
As though heaven's bounteous windows were slammed fast	G
Incontinent Whereas all you beneath	Z2
Should scowl at bruise their lips and break their teeth	Z2
Who ply the pullies for neglecting you	G
And therefore have I moulded made anew	G
A Man and give him to be turned and tried	G
Be angry with or pleased at On your side	G
Have ye times places actors of your own	T2
Try them upon Sordello when full grown	T2
And then ah then If Hercules first parched	G
His foot in Egypt only to be marched	G
A sacrifice for Jove with pomp to suit	G
What chance have I The demigod was mute	G
Till at the altar where time out of mind	G
Such guests became oblations chaplets twined	G
His forehead long enough and he began	T2
Slaying the slayers nor escaped a man	T2
Take not affront my gentle audience whom	B3
No Hercules shall make his hecatomb	B3
Believe nor from his brows your chaplet rend	G
That's your kind suffrage yours my patron friend	G
Whose great verse blares unintermittent on	T2
Like your own trumpeter at Marathon	T2
You who Plat a and Salamis being scant	G
Put up with tna for a stimulant	G
And did well I acknowledged as he loomed	G
Over the midland sea last month presumed	G
Long lay demolished in the blazing West	G
At eve while towards him tilting cloudlets pressed	G
Like Persian ships at Salamis Friend wear	J
A crest proud as desert while I declare	J
Had I a flawless ruby fit to wring	H2
Tears of its colour from that painted king	H2
Who lost it I would for that smile which went	G
To my heart fling it in the sea content	G
Wearing your verse in place an amulet	G
Sovereign against all passion wear and fret	G
My English Eyebright if you are not glad	G
That as I stopped my task awhile the sad	G
Dishevelled form wherein I put mankind	G
To come at times and keep my pact in mind	G
Renewed me hear no crickets in the hedge	F3
Nor let a glowworm spot the river's edge	F3
At home and may the summer showers gush	C3
Without a warning from the missel thrush	C3
So to our business now the fate of such	C3
As find our common nature overmuch	C3
Despised because restricted and unfit	G
To bear the burthen they impose on it	G
Cling when they would discard it craving strength	Z2
To leap from the allotted world at length	Z2
They do leap flounder on without a term	B3
Each a god's germ doomed to remain a germ	B3
In unexpanded infancy unless	J
But that 's the story dull enough confess	J
There might be fitter subjects to allure	J
Still neither misconceive my portraiture	J
Nor undervalue its adornments quaint	G
What seems a fiend perchance may prove a saint	G
Ponder a story ancient pens transmit	G
Then say if you condemn me or acquit	G
	-
	-
John the Beloved banished Antioch	C3
For Patmos bade collectively his flock	C3
Farewell but set apart the closing eve	G
To comfort those his exile most would grieve	G
He knew a touching spectacle that house	J
In motion to receive him Xanthus' spouse	J
You missed made panther's meat a month since but	G
Xanthus himself his nephew 't was they shut	G
'Twixt boards and sawed asunder Polycarp	H
Soft Charicle next year no wheel could warp	H
To swear by C sar's fortune with the rest	G
Were ranged thro' whom the grey disciple pressed	G
Busily blessing right and left just stopped	G
To pat one infant's curls the hangman cropped	G
Soon after reached the portal On its hinge	F3
The door turns and he enters what quick twinge	F3
Ruins the smiling mouth those wide eyes fix	J
Whereon why like some spectral candlestick's	J
Branch the disciple's arms Dead swooned he woke	H2
Anon heaved sigh made shift to gasp heart broke	H2
Get thee behind me Satan Have I toiled	G
To no more purpose Is the gospel foiled	G
Here too and o'er my son's my Xanthus' hearth	Z2
Portrayed with sooty garb and features swarth	Z2
Ah Xanthus am I to thy roof beguiled	G
To see the the the Devil domiciled	G
Whereto sobbed Xanthus Father 't is yourself	G
Installed a limning which our utmost pelf	G
Went to procure against to morrow's loss	J
And that's no twy prong but a pastoral cross	J
You 're painted with	Z2
	-
	-
His puckered brows unfold	G
And you shall hear Sordello's story told	G

Robert Browning

Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation

<< Arcades Ambo Poem Bad Dreams Iii Poem>>

Write your comment about Sordello: Book The Third poem by Robert Browning

Best Poems of Robert Browning

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 9 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Wonderful Women
by Umaru Kanneh Boima
Freedom To Scratch In Peace
by Olute Aete
Happy New Year
by Felix Menda
Human Beings
by Dana Graslie
Lust
by Wisdom Greatness
An Isolated Tree's Song
by Sayeed Abubakar
A Strange Boy
by Sayeed Abubakar
O Soil
by Sayeed Abubakar
No War, No War-monger
by Sayeed Abubakar
Night's Town
by Sayeed Abubakar

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2414 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)