Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PROPHECY OF DANTE: DEDICATION, by GEORGE GORDON BYRON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PROPHECY OF DANTE: DEDICATION, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lady! If for the cold and cloudy clime
Last Line: Ah! To what effort would it not persuade?
Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron
Subject(s): Dante Alighieri (1265-1321); Italy; Italians


''T is the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,
And coming events cast their shadows before.'
CAMPBELL.

LADY! if for the cold and cloudy clime
Where I was born, but where I would not die,
Of the great Poet-Sire of Italy
I dare to build the imitative rhyme,
Harsh Runic copy of the South's sublime,
THOU art the cause; and howsoever I
Fall short of his immortal harmony,
Thy gentle heart will pardon me the crime.
Thou, in the pride of Beauty and of Youth,
Spakest; and for thee to speak and be obey'd
Are one; but only in the sunny South
Such sounds are utter'd, and such charms display'd,
So sweet a language from so fair a mouth --
Ah! to what effort would it not persuade?





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net