Portrait Of A Lady Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCD EFGHCHCIJIKH JLMMMMNMNOMMMG MMMMPP MMMMM HHMQMMQM MBRST EEUVU VWW XBBX MBYZYZMA2MA2B2C2D2B2 C2 E2ME2MF2D2G2 G2 H2H2I2M YMY MI2UI2I2I2 J2MK2J2M EMUML2UERRSR

Thou hast committedA
Fornication but that was in another countryB
And besides the wench is deadC
The Jew of MaltaD
-
I-
-
Among the smoke and fog of a December afternoonE
You have the scene arrange itself as it will seem to doF
With 'I have saved this afternoon for you'G
And four wax candles in the darkened roomH
Four rings of light upon the ceiling overheadC
An atmosphere of Juliet's tombH
Prepared for all the things to be said or left unsaidC
We have been let us say to hear the latest PoleI
Transmit the Preludes through his hair and fingertipsJ
'So intimate this Chopin that I think his soulI
Should be resurrected only among friendsK
Some two or three who will not touch the bloomH
That is rubbed and questioned in the concert room '-
And so the conversation slipsJ
Among velleities and carefully caught regretsL
Through attenuated tones of violinsM
Mingled with remote cornetsM
And beginsM
'You do not know how much they mean to me my friendsM
And how how rare and strange it is to findN
In a life composed so much so much of odds and endsM
For indeed I do not love it you knew you are not blindN
How keen you areO
To find a friend who has these qualitiesM
Who has and givesM
Those qualities upon which friendship livesM
How much it means that I say this to youG
Without these friendships life what cauchemar '-
-
Among the windings of the violinsM
And the ariettesM
Of cracked cornetsM
Inside my brain a dull tom tom beginsM
Absurdly hammering a prelude of its ownP
Capricious monotoneP
That is at least one definite 'false note '-
Let us take the air in a tobacco tranceM
Admire the monumentsM
Discuss the late eventsM
Correct our watches by the public clocksM
Then sit for half an hour and drink our bocksM
-
II-
-
Now that lilacs are in bloomH
She has a bowl of lilacs in her roomH
And twists one in his fingers while she talksM
'Ah my friend you do not know you do not knowQ
What life is you who hold it in your hands'M
Slowly twisting the lilac stalksM
'You let it flow from you you let it flowQ
And youth is cruel and has no remorseM
And smiles at situations which it cannot see '-
I smile of courseM
And go on drinking teaB
'Yet with these April sunsets that somehow recallR
My buried life and Paris in the SpringS
I feel immeasurably at peace and find the worldT
To be wonderful and youthful after all '-
-
The voice returns like the insistent out of tuneE
Of a broken violin on an August afternoonE
'I am always sure that you understandU
My feelings always sure that you feelV
Sure that across the gulf you reach your handU
-
You are invulnerable you have no Achilles' heelV
You will go on and when you have prevailedW
You can say at this point many a one has failedW
-
But what have I but what have I my friendX
To give you what can you receive from meB
Only the friendship and the sympathyB
Of one about to reach her journey's endX
-
I shall sit here serving tea to friends '-
-
I take my hat how can I make a cowardly amendsM
For what she has said to meB
You will see me any morning in the parkY
Reading the comics and the sporting pageZ
Particularly I remarkY
An English countess goes upon the stageZ
A Greek was murdered at a Polish danceM
Another bank defaulter has confessedA2
I keep my countenanceM
I remain self possessedA2
Except when a street piano mechanical and tiredB2
Reiterates some worn out common songC2
With the smell of hyacinths across the gardenD2
Recalling things that other people have desiredB2
Are these ideas right or wrongC2
-
III-
-
The October night comes down returning as beforeE2
Except for a slight sensation of being ill at easeM
I mount the stairs and turn the handle of the doorE2
And feel as if I had mounted on my hands and kneesM
'And so you are going abroad and when do you returnF2
But that's a useless questionD2
You hardly know when you are coming backG2
You will find so much to learn '-
My smile falls heavily among the bric agrave bracG2
-
'Perhaps you can write to me '-
My self possession flares up for a secondH2
This is as I had reckonedH2
'I have been wondering frequently of lateI2
But our beginnings never know our endsM
Why we have not developed into friends '-
I feel like one who smiles and turning shall remarkY
Suddenly his expression in a glassM
My self possession gutters we are really in the darkY
-
'For everybody said so all our friendsM
They all were sure our feelings would relateI2
So closely I myself can hardly understandU
We must leave it now to fateI2
You will write at any rateI2
Perhaps it is not too lateI2
I shall sit here serving tea to friends '-
-
And I must borrow every changing shapeJ2
To find expression dance danceM
Like a dancing bearK2
Cry like a parrot chatter like an apeJ2
Let us take the air in a tobacco tranceM
-
Well and what if she should die some afternoonE
Afternoon grey and smoky evening yellow and roseM
Should die and leave me sitting pen in handU
With the smoke coming down above the housetopsM
Doubtful for a whileL2
Not knowing what to feel or if I understandU
Or whether wise or foolish tardy or too soonE
Would she not have the advantage after allR
This music is successful with a 'dying fall'R
Now that we talk of dyingS
And should I have the right to smileR

T. S. Eliot



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