Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TWO SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF BLONDEL, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Twere no hard task, perchance, to win Last Line: And blondel were royal himself, if he knew it! Subject(s): American Civil War; Blondel De Nesle; United States - History | ||||||||
SCENE I. -- Near a castle in Germany. 'T WERE no hard task, perchance, to win The popular laurel for my song; 'T were only to comply with sin, And own the crown, though snatched by wrong: Rather Truth's chaplet let me wear, Though sharp as death its thorns may sting; Loyal to Loyalty, I bear No badge but of my rightful king. Patient by town and tower I wait, Or o'er the blustering moorland go; I buy no praise at cheaper rate, Or what faint hearts may fancy so; For me, no joy in lady's bower, Or hall, or tourney, will I sing, Till the slow stars wheel round the hour That crowns my hero and my king. While all the land runs red with strife, And wealth is won by pedler-crimes, Let who will find content in life And tinkle in unmanly rhymes; I wait and seek; through dark and light, Safe in my heart my hope I bring, Till I once more my faith may plight To him my whole soul owns her king. When power is filched by drone and dolt, And, with caught breath and flashing eye, Her knuckles whitening round the bolt, Vengeance leans eager from the sky, While this and that the people guess, And to the skirts of praters cling, Who court the crowd they should compress, I turn in scorn to seek my king. Shut in what tower of darkling chance Or dungeon of a narrow doom, Dream'st thou of battle-axe and lance That for the Cross make crashing room? Come! with hushed breath the battle waits In the wild van thy mace's swing; While doubters parley with their fates, Make thou thine own and ours, my king! O, strong to keep upright the old, And wise to buttress with the new, Prudent, as only are the bold, Clear-eyed, as only are the true, To foes benign, to friendship stern, Intent to imp Law's broken wing, Who would not die, if death might earn The right to kiss thy hand, my king? SCENE II. -- An Inn near the Chateau of Chalus. WELL, the whole thing is over, and here I sit With one arm in a sling and a milk-score of gashes, And this flagon of Cyprus must e'en warm my wit, Since what's left of youth's flame is a head flecked with ashes. I remember I sat in this very same inn, -- I was young then, and one young man thought I was handsome, -- I had found out what prison King Richard was in, And was spurring for England to push on the ransom. How I scorned the dull souls that sat guzzling around And knew not my secret nor recked my derision! Let the world sink or swim, John or Richard be crowned, All one, so the beer-tax got lenient revision. How little I dreamed, as I tramped up and down, That granting our wish one of Fate's saddest jokes is! I had mine with a vengeance, -- my king got his crown, And made his whole business to break other folks's. I might as well join in the safe old tum, tum: A hero's an excellent loadstar, -- but, bless ye, What infinite odds 'twixt a hero to come And your only too palpable hero in esse! Precisely the odds (such examples are rife) 'Twixt the poem conceived and the rhyme we make show of, 'Twixt the boy's morning dream and the wake-up of life, 'Twixt the Blondel God meant and a Blondel I know of! But the world's better off, I'm convinced of it now, Than if heroes, like buns, could be bought for a penny To regard all mankind as their haltered milch-cow, And just care for themselves. Well, God cares for the many; For somehow the poor old Earth blunders along, Each son of hers adding his mite of unfitness, And, choosing the sure way of coming out wrong, Gets to port as the next generation will witness. You think her old ribs have come all crashing through, If a whisk of Fate's broom snap your eobweb asunder; But her rivets were clinched by a wiser than you, And our sins cannot push the Lord's right hand from under. Better one honest man who can wait for God's mind In our poor shifting scene here though heroes were plenty! Better one bite, at forty, of Truth's bitter rind, Than the hot wine that gushed from the vintage of twenty! I see it all now: when I wanted a king, 'T was the kingship that failed in myself I was seeking, -- 'T is so much less easy to do than to sing, So much simpler to reign by a proxy than be king! Yes, I think I do see: after all's said and sung, Take this one rule of life and you never will rue it, -- 'T is but do your own duty and hold your own tongue And Blondel were royal himself, if he knew it! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A VISIT TO GETTYSBURG by LUCILLE CLIFTON AFTER SPOTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE by DAVID FERRY ACROSS THE LONG DARK BORDER by EDWARD HIRSCH WALT WHITMAN IN THE CIVIL WAR HOSPITALS by DAVID IGNATOW THE DAY OF THE DEAD SOLDIERS; MARY 30, 1869 by EMMA LAZARUS MANHATTAN, 1609 by EDWIN MARKHAM THE DECISION (APRIL 14, 1861) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE SPARROW HARK IN THE RAIN (ALEXANDER STEPHENS HEARS NEWS) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS AFTER THE BURIAL by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL |
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