Analysis of Two Lovers
James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)
Their eyes met; flashed an instant like swift swords
That leapt unparring to each other's heart,
Jarring convulsion through the inmost chords;
Then fell, for they had fully done their part.
She, in the manner of her folk unveiled,
Might have been veiled for all he saw of her;
Those sudden eyes, from which he reeled and quailed;
The old life dead, no new life yet astir.
His good steed bore him onward slow and proud:
And through the open lattice still she leant;
Pale, still, though whirled in a black rushing cloud,
As if on her fair flowers and dreams intent.
Days passed, and he passed timid, furtive, slow:
Nights came, and he came motionless and mute,
A steadfast sentinel till morning-glow,
Though blank her window, dumb her voice and lute.
She loved: the Cross stretched rigid arms to scare
Her soul from the perdition of that love;
She saw Christ's wounds bleed when she knelt in prayer,
And frown abhorrent all the saints above.
He loved: the Crescent hung with sharp cold gleam,
A scimitar to cleave such love in twain;
The Prophet menaced in his waking dream,
Livid and swoln with wrath that great brow-vein.
Each sternly true to the immortal soul,
Crushed down the passion of the mortal heart;
Which bled away beneath the iron control,
But inwardly: they die; none sees the smart.
Thus long months went, until his time came round
To leave that city terrible and dear;
To go afar on soulless business bound,
Perchance for absence of a whole dead year.
No word: but as she knelt to pray one night,
What was that silk thing pendant from the Cross?
Half of a talisman of chrysolite:
Farewell! Full triumph stunned like fatal loss.
A sacred jewel-charm of sovereign power
'Gainst demons haunting soul and sense and brain,
'Gainst madness: had it not until that hour
Despite love's impious frenzy kept him sane?
Now let her look forth boldly day by day;
He will not come to wound her with his eyes;
Now at the open lattice darkling stay,
Only the stars are watching from the skies;
Now with clear spirit let her sing and pray;
No human presence clouds her Lord's full light:
Now let her weep and moan and waste away,
With broken heart a-bleeding day and night.
Thin as a spectre, haggard, taciturn,
He reached his native city; there did all
He had to do: indifferent yet stern,
As one whose task must end ere evening-fall.
Then sank, and knew that Azrael was near:
The hard dull rage of impotent remorse
Burned into passion that consumed old fear:
He loathed his unlived life, his unspent force.
'Must we be sundered, then, beyond the grave,
By that which here has sundered us? Not so!
I can be lost with her I cannot save,
And with these Christian dogs to deep Hell go.'
A priest baptized the sinking renegade,
A priest assured him of the Heaven he spurned;
His wealth for many a mass thereafter paid;
And many a Moslem his example turned.
A friend had sworn to do his last behest;
To be his swift and faithful messenger:
His own half talisman from his true breast
Would seal the truth of all things told to her.
The funeral over, while the stars yet shone
Though pale in the new dawn, this friend forth-spurred:
Brief rests, long stages, hurried fiercely on;
Hating the errand, loyal to his word.
Twenty days' travel done in thrice three days,
He reached her city, found her mansion there;
A crowd before it busy with amaze,
Cries from within it wounding the sweet air.
She was no more since that day's sun had set;
But wonder outran grief; for ere she died
Infinite yearning, fathomless regret,
Flooded her soul and drowned its faith and pride.
'Shall I be happy with the saints above,
While he is burning in the paynim Hell?
Here I have cheated him of all my love,
But there with him I can for ever dwell.'
So she renounced the Cross and threefold God,
And died in Islam; whence the bruit was great.
Silent the friend his backward journey trod,
Silent, and shrouded with the sense of Fate.
Thus in the very hour supreme of death
These two great hearts first dared live perfect life; go
Drew inspiration with their failing breath,
Snatched victory as they sank down slain in strife.
And thus Fate mocked them, who when life was sweet
Had kept apart, both famished to the core;
Let them draw near and in the death-point meet,
But to diverge for ever, evermore.
Scheme | ABAB XCBC DXDX EFEF GHGH IJIJ KBKB LMLM NOBO CJCJ PQPQ PNPN RSRS MTMT UEUE VWVW XCXC XYXY ZGZG 1 2 1 2 H3 H3 4 5 4 5 6 E6 X 7 8 7 8 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (92%) |
Metre | 1111110111 11111101 100101011 1111110111 1001010101 1111111110 1101111101 011111111 1111110101 01010101110 1111001101 11101100101 1101110101 1101110001 011001101 1101010101 1101110111 01101111 1111111101 0101010101 1101011111 01111101 0101001101 1001111111 1101100101 1101010101 11010101001 1100111101 1111011111 1111010001 1101110101 0111010111 1111111111 1111110101 11010011 111011101 01010111010 1101010101 11011101110 01101010111 1101110111 1111110111 110101011 1001110101 1111010101 1101010111 1101010101 1101010101 110101010 1111010111 111101011 1111111101 11011111 0111110001 1011010111 111111011 111110101 111111111 1111101101 0111011111 010101010 01011101011 11110010101 01001010101 0111111101 1111010100 1111001111 1101111110 01001010111 1100111111 1111010101 1001010111 1011010111 1101010101 0101110101 1101110011 1111111111 1100111111 10010101 1001011101 1111010101 111100011 1111011111 1111111101 110101011 0100110111 1001110101 1001010111 10010100111 11111110111 101011101 11001111101 0111111111 1101110101 1111000111 110111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,271 |
Words | 772 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 24 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 96 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 140 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:52 min read
- 84 Views
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"Two Lovers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20685/two-lovers>.
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