The Princes' Quest - Part The Fifth Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCADEEFFAAGHIIJJ KL MMNNAAOOAAPPOQAAAAKK PPAABNRRSSTUOOAAPPVV KKPPKKJJWWAA KKAAVVXY ZAAAAQVAAKKA2A2AAAAP POOVVVV B2B2AAAAAAKKSC2D2E2A AKKVV PPAAIIF2F2F2F2VQF2F2 VVF2F2PPPPQQPPKKQQF2 F2QQAAKK AQQAAF2F2| So being risen the Prince in brief while went | A |
| Forth to the market place where babblement | A |
| Of them that bought and them that sold was one | B |
| Of many sounds in murmurous union | B |
| buzzing as of bees about their hives | C |
| With shriller gossiping of garrulous wives | C |
| Piping a tuneless treble thereunto | A |
| In midst whereof he went his way as who | D |
| Looketh about him well before he buys | E |
| To mark the manner of their merchandise | E |
| Till chancing upon one who cried for sale | F |
| A horse and seeing it well limb'd and hale | F |
| And therewithal right goodly to behold | A |
| He bought the beast and paid the man in gold | A |
| And having gotten him the needful gear | G |
| Rode from the market nothing loth to hear | H |
| Its garrulous wives no longer and the din | I |
| Of them that daily bought and sold therein | I |
| So from the place he passed and slowly down | J |
| Street after street betook him till the town | J |
| Behind him and the gates before him were | K |
| And all without was cornland greenly fair | L |
| - | |
| And through the cornland wending many a mile | M |
| And through the meadowland he came erewhile | M |
| To where the highways parted and no man | N |
| Was nigh to tell him whitherward they ran | N |
| But while he halted all in doubtful mood | A |
| An eagle as if mourning for her brood | A |
| Stolen above him sped with rueful cry | O |
| And when that he perceived the fowl to fly | O |
| Plaining aloud unto himself he said | A |
| 'Now shall yon mournful mother overhead | A |
| Instruct the wandering of my feet and they | P |
| Shall follow where she leadeth ' and away | P |
| The bird went winging westward clamorously | O |
| That westward even in her wake went he | Q |
| And it may be that in his heart there stirred | A |
| Some feeling as of fellowship with the bird | A |
| For he like her was bound on a lone quest | A |
| And for his feet as for her wings no rest | A |
| Might be but only urgence of desire | K |
| And one far goal that seemed not ever nigher | K |
| - | |
| So through that country wended he his way | P |
| Resting anights till on the seventh day | P |
| He passed unwares into another land | A |
| Whose people's speech he could not understand | A |
| A tract o'er run with tribes barbarian | B |
| And blood red from the strife of man with man | N |
| And truly 'twas a thing miraculous | R |
| That one should traverse all that rude land thus | R |
| And no man rid him of his gold nor raise | S |
| A hand to make abridgment of his days | S |
| But there was that about him could make men's | T |
| Hearts ere they knew it yield him reverence | U |
| Perchance a sovran something in his eye | O |
| Whereat the fierce heart failed it wist not why | O |
| Perchance that Fate which hovering like a doubt | A |
| Athwart his being hemmed him round about | A |
| Gloomed as a visible shadow across his way | P |
| And made men fearful Be this as it may | P |
| No harm befell him in that land and so | V |
| He came at last to where the ebb and flow | V |
| Of other seas than he had wandered o'er | K |
| Upflung to landward an attempered roar | K |
| And wandering downward to the beach he clomb | P |
| To topmost of a tall grey cliff wherefrom | P |
| He saw a smoke as of men's houses far | K |
| Off from a jutting point peninsular | K |
| Uprising whence he deemed that there a town | J |
| Must surely be And so he clambered down | J |
| The cliff and getting him again to horse | W |
| Thither along the seabound held his course | W |
| And reached that city about sunset tide | A |
| The smoking of whose hearths he had espied | A |
| - | |
| There at an hostel rested he and there | K |
| Tarried the coming of the morn But ere | K |
| He fell asleep that night a wandering thought | A |
| Through darkling byeways of the spirit brought | A |
| Knock'd at his soul for entrance whispering low | V |
| 'What if to night thou dream The Dream and know | V |
| To morrow when thou wakest from that bliss | X |
| The land wherein thou liest to be his | Y |
| Who hath the mystic jewel in his keep ' | - |
| So full of flattering hope he fell asleep | Z |
| And sleeping dreamed but dreamed not that he would | A |
| For at one time it seemed as if he stood | A |
| Alone upon a sterile neck of land | A |
| Where round about him upon either hand | A |
| Was darkness and the cry of a dark sea | Q |
| And worldwide vapours glooming thunderously | V |
| And ever as he stood the unstable ground | A |
| Slid from beneath his feet with a great sound | A |
| Till he could find no foothold anywhere | K |
| That seemed not unsubstantial as the air | K |
| At otherwhiles he wandered all alone | A2 |
| About a lonely land and heard a moan | A2 |
| As of some bird that sang and singing grieved | A |
| And peering all about the woods thick leaved | A |
| If so he might espy the bird he found | A |
| At length after long searching that the sound | A |
| Even from the bottom of his own heart came | P |
| And unawares his own mouth sang the same | P |
| And then in dream 'twas like as years went by | O |
| And still he journeyed hardly knowing why | O |
| Till at the last a mist about him fell | V |
| And if the mist were death he could not tell | V |
| For after that he knew no more And so | V |
| He slept until the cock began to crow | V |
| - | |
| Then came the gladful morn that sendeth sick | B2 |
| Dreams flying and all shapes mel ncholic | B2 |
| That vex the slumbers of the love distraught | A |
| Unto his heart the merry morning brought | A |
| Cheer and forewhisperings of some far off rest | A |
| When he should end in sweet that bitter quest | A |
| But going forth that morn and with his feet | A |
| Threading the murmurous maze of street and street | A |
| All strangely fell upon him everywhere | K |
| The things he saw and heard of foul or fair | K |
| The thronging of the folk that filled the ways | S |
| The hubbub of the street and market place | C2 |
| The sound of heavy wain wheels on the stones | D2 |
| The comely faces and ill favoured ones | E2 |
| The girls with apple cheeks and hair of gold | A |
| The grey locks and the wrinkles of the old | A |
| All these remote and unfamiliar | K |
| Seem'd and himself a something from afar | K |
| Looking at men as shadows on the wall | V |
| And even the veriest shadow among them all | V |
| - | |
| But now when all things dreamwise seemed to swim | P |
| About the dubious eyes and ears of him | P |
| That nothing in the world might be believed | A |
| It chanced that on a sudden he perceived | A |
| Where one that dealt in jewels sat within | I |
| His doorway hearkening to the outer din | I |
| As who cared no wise to make fast his ears | F2 |
| Against the babble of the street farers | F2 |
| Whereat the merchant seeing a stranger pass | F2 |
| Guessed by his garb what countryman he was | F2 |
| And giving him good day right courteously | V |
| Bespake him in his mother tongue for he | Q |
| Had wandered in his youth o'er distant seas | F2 |
| And knew full many lands and languages | F2 |
| Wherefore with him the royal stranger fell | V |
| To talking cheerly and besought him tell | V |
| Whence all his gems were had and costly things | F2 |
| Talismans amulets and charm d rings | F2 |
| Whereto the other answered They had come | P |
| Some from a country not far hence and some | P |
| From out a land a thousand leagues away | P |
| To eastward ev'n the birthplace of the Day | P |
| The region of the sun's nativity | Q |
| And giving ear to this right readily | Q |
| The Prince would fain be told of him the way | P |
| To that far homeland of the youngling Day | P |
| So being ask'd the other answered 'Sir | K |
| There liveth but one master mariner | K |
| Whose ship hath sailed so far and that is he | Q |
| Who hither brought the jewels thou dost see | Q |
| And now as luck will have it for the nonce | F2 |
| He wills to voyage thitherward but once | F2 |
| Before he die for he is old like me | Q |
| And even this day se'nnight saileth he | Q |
| Wherefore if thou be fain to see that land | A |
| There needeth only gold within thy hand | A |
| For gold if that it jingle true and clear | K |
| Hath still a merry music for man's ear | K |
| And where is he that hateth sound of it ' | - |
| So saying the merchant bade the stranger sit | A |
| But the Prince thanked him for his courtesy | Q |
| And went his way And that day se'nnight he | Q |
| Was sailing toward the far off morningland | A |
| And felt the skies about him like a band | A |
| And heard the low wind uttering numerous noise | F2 |
| And all the great sea singing as one voice | F2 |
William Watson
(1)
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