by Coleridge · Cluster: Martyrdom · Martyr Saint · Cross
Abstract
A note on casual metre and rhyme found in a prose narrative of Jerome of Prague, who from the flames summons his judges before God; martyrdom rendered as accidental verse.
Connections
Archetypes: Martyr Saint Motifs: Fire, Blood Themes & Concepts: Martyrdom, Justice Right and Wrong Forms & Genres: Fragment Historical References: Reformation
Testo integrale / Full text
Curious instance of casual metre and rhyme in a prose narrative (The
Life of Jerome of Prague). The metre is Amphibrach dimeter Catalectic
Ø ¯ Ø | Ø ¯, and the rhymes antistrophic.
Then Jerome did call a
From his flame-pointed Fence; b
Which under he trod, c
As upward to mount d
From the fiery flood, — e
‘I summon you all, a
A hundred years hence, b
To appear before God, c
To give an account d
Of my innocent blood!’ e
July 7, 1826. Now first published from an MS.