The Tower Beyond Tragedy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHEIJKLDCMDBKB IKNCDMBCOCIKPQRBBBST BUCMCBVCCWBCDXBYZA2B BDBZCDZBNB2CZKEZKICC SKB2B2KECDDKKECDDBB2 B2C2KCKKBB2KCBCCCB2B 2B2D2ZCKB2BBB2CCCB2C ZZBCCCCZE2EIZCZB2CB2 BBZKF2B2CG2BCZCZB2B2 EH2ZBKCBCECCBCI2BBB2 CP

IA
You'd never have thought the Queen was Helen's sister Troy'sB
burning flower from Sparta the beautiful sea flowerC
Cut in clear stone crowned with the fragrant golden mane sheD
the ageless the uncontaminableE
This Clytemnestra was her sister low statured fierce lipped notF
dark nor blonde greenish gray eyedG
Sinewed with strength you saw under the purple folds of theH
queen cloak but craftier than queenlyE
Standing between the gilded wooden porch pillars great steps ofI
stone above the steep streetJ
Awaiting the KingK
Most of his men were quartered on the townL
he clanking bronze with fiftyD
And certain captives came to the stair The Queen's men wereC
a hundred in the street and a hundredM
Lining the ramp eighty on the great flags of the porch sheD
raising her white arms the spear buttsB
Thundered on the stone and the shields clashed eight shiningK
clarionsB
Let fly from the wide window over the entrance the wildbirds ofI
their metal throats air cleavingK
Over the King come home He raised his thick burnt coloredN
beard and smiled then ClytemnestraC
Gathering the robe setting the golden sandaled feet carefullyD
stone by stone descendedM
One half the stair But one of the captives marred the comelinessB
of that embrace with a cryC
Gull shrill blade sharp cutting between the purple cloak andO
the bronze plates then ClytemnestraC
Who was it The King answered A piece of our goods out ofI
the snatch of Asia a daughter of the kingK
So treat her kindly and she may come into her wits again EhP
you keep state here my queenQ
You've not been the poorer for me In heart in the widowedR
chamber dear she pale replied though the slavesB
Toiled the spearmen were faithful What's her name the slavegirl'sB
AGAMEMNON Come up the stair They tell me my kinsman'sB
Lodged himself on youS
CLYTEMNESTRA Your cousin Aegisthus He was out of refugeT
flits between here and TirynsB
Dear the girl's nameU
AGAMEMNON Cassandra We've a hundred or so otherC
captives besides two hundredM
Rotted in the hulls they tell odd stories about you and yourC
guest eh no matter the shipsB
Ooze pitch and the August road smokes dirt I smell like anV
old shepherd's goatskin you'll have bath waterC
CLYTEMNESTRAC
They're making it hot Come my lord My hands will pour itW
They enter the palaceB
CASSANDRAC
In the holy cityD
In Troy when the stone was standing walls and the ashX
Was painted and carved wood and pictured curtainsB
And those lived that are dead they had caged a denY
Of wolves out of the mountain and I a maidenZ
Was led to see them it stank and snarledA2
The smell was the smell here the eyes were the eyesB
Of steep Mycenae O God guardian of wanderersB
Let me die easilyD
So cried Cassandra the daughter of King Priam treading the stepsB
of the palace at MycenaeZ
Swaying like a drunken woman drunk with the rolling of theC
ship and with tears and with prophecyD
The stair may yet be seen among the old stones that are MycenaeZ
tall dark Cassandra the prophetessB
The beautiful girl with whom a God bargained for love high nurturedN
captive shamefully stainedB2
With the ship's filth and the sea's rolled her dark head upon herC
shoulders like a drunken womanZ
And trod the great stones of the stair The captives she amongK
them were ranked into a fileE
On the flagged porch between the parapet and the spearmenZ
The people below shouted for the KingK
King Agamemnon returned conqueror after the ten years ofI
battle and death in AsiaC
Then cried CassandraC
Good spearmen you did not kill my father not youS
Violated my mother with the piercingK
That makes no life in the womb not you defiledB2
My tall blond brothers with the masculine lustB2
That strikes its loved one standingK
And leaves him what no man again nor a girlE
Ever will gaze upon with the eyes of desireC
Therefore you'll tell meD
Whether it's an old custom in the Greek countryD
The cow goring the bull break the inner door backK
And see in what red water how cloaked your KingK
Bathes and my brothers are avenged a littleE
One said Captive be quiet And she What have I to be quiet forC
you will not believe meD
Such wings my heart spreads when the red runs out of anyD
Greek I must let the bird fly O soldiersB
He that mishandled me dies The first one of your two bruteB2
Aj axes that threw me backwardB2
On the temple flagstones a hard bride bed I enduring himC2
heard the roofs of my city breakingK
The roar of flames and spearmen what came to Ajax Out of aC
cloud the loud winged falcon lightningK
Came on him shipwrecked clapped its wings about him clungK
to him the violent flesh burned and the bonesB
Broke from each other in that passion and now this one returnedB2
safe the Queen is his lightningK
While she yet spoke a slave with haggard eyes darted from theC
door there were hushed cries and motionsB
In the inner dark of the great hall Then the Queen ClytemnestraC
issued smiling She drewC
Her cloak up for the brooch on the left shoulder was broken theC
fillet of her hair had come unboundB2
Yet now she was queenly at length and standing at the stair headB2
spoke Men of Mycenae I have madeB2
Sacrifice for the joy this day has brought to us the King comeD2
home the enemy fallen fallenZ
In the ashes of Asia I have made sacrifice I made the prayerC
with my own lips and struck the bullockK
With my own hand The people murmured together She's notB2
a priestess the Queen is not a priestessB
What has she done there what wild sayingsB
Make wing in the Queen's throatB2
CLYTEMNESTRA I have something to tell youC
Too much joy is a message bearer of miseryC
A little is good but come too much and it devours us ThereforeC
we give of a great harvestB2
Sheaves to the smiling Gods and therefore out of a full cup weC
pour the quarter No manZ
Dare take all that God sends him whom God favors or destructionZ
Rides into the house in the last basket I have been twelve yearsB
your shepherdess I the Queen have ruled youC
And I am accountable for youC
CASSANDRAC
Why should a man kill his own motherC
The cub of the lion being grownZ
Will fight with the lion but neither lion nor wolfE2
Nor the unclean jackalE
Bares tooth against the womb that he dropped out ofI
Yet I have seenZ
CLYTEMNESTRAC
Strike that captive woman with your hand spearman and thenZ
if the spiritB2
Of the she wolf in her will not quiet with the butt of the spearC
CASSANDRA the blade in the child's handB2
Enter the breast that the child sucked that woman'sB
The left breast that the robe has dropped from for the brooch isB
brokenZ
That very hillock of whiteness and she crying she kneelingK
The spearman 'who is nearest CASSANDRA covers her mouthF2
twith his handB2
CLYTEMNESTRAC
My sister's beauty entered Troy with too much gladness TheyG2
forgot to make sacrificeB
Therefore destruction entered therefore the daughters of TroyC
cry out in strange dispersals and this oneZ
Grief has turned mad I will not have that horror march underC
the Lion gate of MycenaeZ
That split the citadel of Priam Therefore I say I have madeB2
sacrifice I have subtractedB2
A fraction from immoderate joy For consider my peopleE
How unaccountably God has favored the city and brought homeH2
the army King AgamemnonZ
My dear my husband my lord and yoursB
Is yet not such a man as the Gods love but insolent fierce overbearingK
whose follyC
Brought many times many great evilsB
On all the heads and fighting hopes of the Greek force WhyC
even before the fleet made sailE
While yet it gathered on Boeotian Aulis this man offended HeC
slew one of the deerC
Of the sacred herd of Artemis out of pure impudence hunter'sB
pride that froths in a young boyC
Laying nock to string of his first bow this man grown a graveI2
king leader of the GreeksB
The angry GoddessB
Blew therefore from the horn of the Trojan shore storm withoutB2
end no slackening no turn no slumberC
Of the eaP

Robinson Jeffers



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