Elegy Of Fortinbras Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHI JKLMNOP QRMNS TUVEWK XMMYZA2U MM| To C M | A |
| - | |
| Now that we re alone we can talk prince man to man | B |
| though you lie on the stairs and see more than a dead ant | C |
| nothing but black sun with broken rays | D |
| I could never think of your hands without smiling | E |
| and now that they lie on the stone like fallen nests | F |
| they are as defenceless as before The end is exactly this | G |
| The hands lie apart The sword lies apart The head apart | H |
| and the knight s feet in soft slippers | I |
| - | |
| You will have a soldier s funeral without having been a soldier | J |
| they only ritual I am acquainted with a little | K |
| There will be no candles no singing only cannon fuses and bursts | L |
| crepe dragged on the pavement helmets boots artillery horses drums | M |
| drums I know nothing exquisite | N |
| those will be my manoeuvres before I start to rule | O |
| one has to take the city by the neck and shake it a bit | P |
| - | |
| Anyhow you had to perish Hamlet you were not for life | Q |
| you believed in crystal notions not in human clay | R |
| always twitching as if asleep you hunted chimeras | M |
| wolfishly you crunched the air only to vomit | N |
| you knew no human thing you did not know even how to breathe | S |
| - | |
| Now you have peace Hamlet you accomplished what you had to | T |
| and you have peace The rest is not silence but belongs to me | U |
| you chose the easier part an elegant thrust | V |
| but what is heroic death compared with eternal watching | E |
| with a cold apple in one s hand on a narrow chair | W |
| with a view on the ant ill and clock dial | K |
| - | |
| Adieu prince I have tasks a sewer project | X |
| and a decree on prostitutes and beggars | M |
| I must also elaborate a better system of prisons | M |
| since as you justly said Denmark is a prison | Y |
| I go to my affairs This night is born | Z |
| a star named Hamlet We shall never meet | A2 |
| what I shall leave will not be worth a tragedy | U |
| - | |
| It is not for us to greet each other or bid farewell we live on archipelagos | M |
| and that water these words what can they do what can they do prince | M |
Zbigniew Herbert
(1)
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