A Century of Roundels

by Algernon Charles Swinburne Narrated by LibriVox Community

Overview

A roundel (not to be confused with the rondel) is a form of verse used in English language poetry devised by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909). It is a variation of the French rondeau form. It makes use of refrains, repeated according to a certain stylized pattern. A roundel consists of nine lines each having the same number of syllables, plus a refrain after the third line and after the last line. The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line: it may be a half-line, and rhymes with the second line. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows: A B A R ; B A B ; A B A R ; where R is the refrain. Swinburne had published a book A Century of Roundels. He dedicated these poems to his friend Christina Rossetti, who then started writing roundels herself, as evidenced by the following examples from her anthology of poetry: Wife to Husband; A Better Resurrection; A Life's Parallels; Today for me; It is finished; From Metastasio. (Summary by wikipedia)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169101645
Publisher:	LibriVox
Publication date:	08/25/2014

Read an Excerpt

A Dead Friend. True and tender, single-souled, What should memory do Weeping o'er the trust we hold True ? Known and loved of few, But of these, though small their fold, Loved how well were you ! Change, that makes of new things old, Leaves one old thing new ; Love which promised truth, and told True. A Dead Friend. Kind as heaven, while earth's control Still had leave to bind Thee, thy heart was toward man's whole Kind. Thee no shadows blind Now .- the change of hours that roll Leaves thy sleep behind. Love, that hears thy death-bell toll Yet, may call to mind Scarce a soul as thy sweet soul Kind. A Dead Friend. How should life, ? friend, forget Death, whose guest art thou ? Faith responds to love's regret, How? Still, for us that bow Sorrowing, still, though life be set, Shines thy bright mild brow. Yea, though death and thou be met, Love may find thee now Still, albeit we know not yet A Dead Friend. Past as music fades, that shone While its life might last ; As a song-bird's shadow flown Past! Death's reverberate blast Now for music's lord has blown Whom thy love held fast. Dead thy king, and void his throne . Yet for grief at last Love makes music of his own Past. PAST DAYS. Dead and gone, the days we had together, Shadow-stricken all the lights that shone Round them, llown as flies the blown-foam's feather, Dead and gone. Where we went, we twain, in time foregone, Forth by land and sea, and cared not whether, If I go again, I go alone. Bound am I with time as with a tether ; Thee perchance death leads enfranchised on, Far from deathlike life and changeful weather, Dead and gone. Past Days. Above the sea and sea-washed town we dwelt, We twain together, two brief summe...

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