Apologue

Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)



The thought suggested by a Spanish saying.

     "AIR—FIRE—WATER—SHAME."

     WATER.

Seek for me in the Arab maid's bower,
Where the fountain plays over the jasmine flower;
Seek for me in the light cascade,
The minstrel lists in the green-wood shade;
Seek me at morn 'mid the violet's dyes;
Seek me where rainbows paint April skies;
In the blue rush of rivers, the depths of the sea,
If we should sever, there seek for me.

     FIRE.

Seek for me where the war-shots meet,
Where the soldier's cloak is his winding-sheet;
Seek for me where the lava wave,
Bursts from Etna's secret cave;
Seek for me where Christmas mirth
Brightens the circle of love round your hearth;
Where meteor-flames glance, where the stars are bright,
Where the beacon flashes at the dead midnight;
Where the lightning scathes the tall oak tree,
If we should sever, there seek for me.

     AIR.

Seek for me where the Spanish maid
Hearkens at eve to the serenade;
Seek for me where the clouds are dark,
Where the billows foam round the sinking bark;
Where the aspen leaf floats on the summer's gale,
Where the rose bends low at the nightingale's tale;
Where the wind-harp wakens in melody,
If we should sever, there seek for me.

     SHAME.

Seek not me, if we should sever,
Parted once, we part for ever.
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Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on October 27, 2019

Modified by Madeleine Quinn on October 27, 2019

1:09 min read
15

Quick analysis:

Scheme x aabbccdD eeffxxggdD bbhhiidD aa
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,256
Words 224
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 1, 8, 10, 8, 2

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet. Born 14th August 1802 at 25 Hans Place, Chelsea, she lived through the most productive period of her life nearby, at No.22. A precocious child with a natural gift for poetry, she was driven by the financial needs of her family to become a professional writer and thus a target for malicious gossip (although her three children by William Jerdan were successfully hidden from the public). In 1838, she married George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast, whence she travelled, only to die a few months later (15th October) of a fatal heart condition. Behind her post-Romantic style of sentimentality lie preoccupations with art, decay and loss that give her poetry its characteristic intensity and in this vein she attempted to reinterpret some of the great male texts from a woman’s perspective. Her originality rapidly led to her being one of the most read authors of her day and her influence, commencing with Tennyson in England and Poe in America, was long-lasting. However, Victorian attitudes led to her poetry being misrepresented and she became excluded from the canon of English literature, where she belongs. more…

All Letitia Elizabeth Landon poems | Letitia Elizabeth Landon Books

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