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Dedication To The Prophecy Of Dante.
By George Gordon Byron
Lady! if for the cold and cloudy clime
Where I was born, but where I would not die,
Of the great Poet-Sire of Italy
I dare to build[276] the imitative rhyme,
Harsh Runic[277] copy of the South's sublime,
Thou art the cause; and howsoever I
Fall short of his immortal harmony,
Thy gentle heart will pardon me the crime.
Thou, in the pride of Beauty and of Youth,
Spakest; and for thee to speak and be obeyed
Are one; but only in the sunny South
Such sounds are uttered, and such charms displayed,
So sweet a language from so fair a mouth - [278]
Ah! to what effort would it not persuade?
Ravenna, June 21, 1819.
Extra Info:
[276] {241}[Compare -
"He knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhime."
Milton, Lycidas, line 11.]
[277] [By "Runic" Byron means "Northern," "Anglo-Saxon."]
[278] [Compare "In that word, beautiful in all languages, but most so in yours - Amor mio - is comprised my existence here and hereafter." - Letter of Byron to the Countess Guiccioli, August 25, 1819, Letters, 1900, iv. 350. Compare, too, Beppo, stanza xliv.; vide ante, p. 173.]
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