The Troubadour. Canto 2 G The Last Song

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



THE LAST SONG.

IT is the latest song of mine
    That ever breathes thy name,
False idol of a dream-raised shrine,
    Thy very thought is shame,--
Shame that I could my sprit bow
To one so very false as thou.

I had past years where the green wood
    Makes twilight of the noon,
And I had watch'd the silver flood
    Kiss'd by the rising moon;
And gazed upon the clear midnight
In all its luxury of light.

And, thrown where the blue violets dwell,
    I would pass hours away,
Musing o'er some old chronicle
    Fill'd with a wild love lay;
Till beauty seem'd to me a thing
Made for all nature's worshipping.

I saw thee, and the air grew bright
    In thy clear eyes' sunshine;
I oft had dream'd of shapes of light,
    But not of shape like thine.
My heart bow'd down,—I worshipp'd thee,
A woman and a deity.

I may not say how thy first look
    Turn'd my whole soul to flame,
I read it as a glorious book
    Fill'd with high deeds of fame;
I felt a hero's spirit rise,
Unknown till lighted at thine eyes.

False look, false hope, and falsest love!
    All meteors sent to me
To show how they the heart could move,
    And how deceiving be:
They left me, darken'd, crush'd, alone,
My bosom's household gods o'erthrown.

The world itself was changed, and all
    That I had loved before
Seem'd as if gone beyond recall,
    And I could hope no more;
The sear of fire, the dint of steel,
Are easier than Love's wounds to heal.

But this is past, and I can cope
    With what I'd fain forget;
I have a sweet, a gentle hope
    That lingers with me yet,—
A hope too fair, too pure to be
Named in the words that speak of thee.

Henceforth within the last recess
    Of my heart shall remain
Thy name in all its bitterness,
    But never named again;
The only memory of that heart
Will be to think how false thou art.

And yet I fain would name thy name,
    My heart's now gentle queen,
E'en as they burn the perfumed flame
    Where the plague spot has been;
Methinks that it will cleanse away
The ills that on my spirit prey.

Sweet EVA ! the last time I gazed
    Upon thy deep blue eyes,
The cheek whereon my look had raised
    A blush's crimson dyes,
I marvell'd, love, this heart of mine
Had worshipp'd at another shrine.

I will think of thee when the star,
    That lit our own fair river,
Shines in the blue sky from afar,
    As beautiful as ever;
That twilight star, sweet love, shall be
A sign and seal with thee and me!
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Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on June 20, 2016

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:23 min read
64

Quick analysis:

Scheme X ABABCC XDXDEE XFXFGG EAEAHH IBIBJJ XHXHXA KLKLMM NONOHH XXXXPP BXBXFF QJQJAA RSRSHH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 2,357
Words 455
Stanzas 13
Stanza Lengths 1, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

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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