Sappho: A Monodrama Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBDE F B GHIJK LJJMJJNJEOPQRSTUVWEJ JTJEJXYZEJA2 B2C2XJD2B2JE2FF2 F2G2JEEH2X JI2EJJ2K2 JL2M2JN2JO2P2Q2EI R2 JJ| Argument | A |
| - | |
| To leap from the promontory of LEUCADIA was believed by the | B |
| Greeks to be a remedy for hopeless love if the self devoted | C |
| victim escaped with life Artemisia lost her life in the | B |
| dangerous experiment and Sappho is said thus to have | D |
| perished in attempting to cure her passion for Phaon | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| SAPPHO | F |
| - | |
| Scene the promontory of Leucadia | B |
| - | |
| This is the spot 'tis here Tradition says | G |
| That hopeless Love from this high towering rock | H |
| Leaps headlong to Oblivion or to Death | I |
| Oh 'tis a giddy height my dizzy head | J |
| Swims at the precipice 'tis death to fall | K |
| - | |
| Lie still thou coward heart this is no time | L |
| To shake with thy strong throbs the frame convuls'd | J |
| To die to be at rest oh pleasant thought | J |
| Perchance to leap and live the soul all still | M |
| And the wild tempest of the passions husht | J |
| In one deep calm the heart no more diseas'd | J |
| By the quick ague fits of hope and fear | N |
| Quietly cold | J |
| Presiding Powers look down | E |
| In vain to you I pour'd my earnest prayers | O |
| In vain I sung your praises chiefly thou | P |
| VENUS ungrateful Goddess whom my lyre | Q |
| Hymn'd with such full devotion Lesbian groves | R |
| Witness how often at the languid hour | S |
| Of summer twilight to the melting song | T |
| Ye gave your choral echoes Grecian Maids | U |
| Who hear with downcast look and flushing cheek | V |
| That lay of love bear witness and ye Youths | W |
| Who hang enraptur'd on the empassion'd strain | E |
| Gazing with eloquent eye even till the heart | J |
| Sinks in the deep delirium and ye too | J |
| Shall witness unborn Ages to that song | T |
| Of warmest zeal ah witness ye how hard | J |
| Her fate who hymn'd the votive hymn in vain | E |
| Ungrateful Goddess I have hung my lute | J |
| In yonder holy pile my hand no more | X |
| Shall wake the melodies that fail'd to move | Y |
| The heart of Phaon yet when Rumour tells | Z |
| How from Leucadia Sappho hurl'd her down | E |
| A self devoted victim he may melt | J |
| Too late in pity obstinate to love | A2 |
| - | |
| Oh haunt his midnight dreams black NEMESIS | B2 |
| Whom self conceiving in the inmost depths | C2 |
| Of CHAOS blackest NIGHT long labouring bore | X |
| When the stern DESTINIES her elder brood | J |
| And shapeless DEATH from that more monstrous birth | D2 |
| Leapt shuddering haunt his slumbers Nemesis | B2 |
| Scorch with the fires of Phlegethon his heart | J |
| Till helpless hopeless heaven abandon'd wretch | E2 |
| He too shall seek beneath the unfathom'd deep | F |
| To hide him from thy fury | F2 |
| - | |
| How the sea | F2 |
| Far distant glitters as the sun beams smile | G2 |
| And gayly wanton o'er its heaving breast | J |
| Phoebus shines forth nor wears one cloud to mourn | E |
| His votary's sorrows God of Day shine on | E |
| By Man despis'd forsaken by the Gods | H2 |
| I supplicate no more | X |
| - | |
| How many a day | J |
| O pleasant Lesbos in thy secret streams | I2 |
| Delighted have I plung'd from the hot sun | E |
| Screen'd by the o'er arching groves delightful shade | J |
| And pillowed on the waters now the waves | J2 |
| Shall chill me to repose | K2 |
| - | |
| Tremendous height | J |
| Scarce to the brink will these rebellious limbs | L2 |
| Support me Hark how the rude deep below | M2 |
| Roars round the rugged base as if it called | J |
| Its long reluctant victim I will come | N2 |
| One leap and all is over The deep rest | J |
| Of Death or tranquil Apathy's dead calm | O2 |
| Welcome alike to me Away vain fears | P2 |
| Phaon is cold and why should Sappho live | Q2 |
| Phaon is cold or with some fairer one | E |
| Thought worse than death | I |
| - | |
| She throws herself from the precipice | R2 |
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| - | |
| Footnote A Greek transliterated | J |
| Ou tini choimaetheisa thea teche NUTH erezennae HESIOD | J |
Robert Southey
(1)
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About Sappho: A Monodrama
Sappho: A Monodrama is a poem by Robert Southey. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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