A.E.
When I first came across this title I thought it would be interesting to read because I know the name Byzantium which later became Constantinople when the Emperor Constantine named it the new Capitol. (Which is now known as Istanbul) So as usual I counted the lines to see if it was a sonnet, which it obviously wasn't. Its rhyming pattern is in the ABABCC form, again similar to a sonnet just like the last few poems. Though the odd thing about this poem's rhyming is when it gets to the CC part, the words do not sound the same but the consonance of the last two words in the last two stanzas were the same. As I read the poem a few times, I began to wonder was it talking about the how this city is becoming the "New Rome" because the line "whatever is begotten, born, and dies..." made me think of how empires are born and die. This city was the capitol of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, while the Western Roman Empire began to fall apart and "die." I didn't this was entirely true because why would it mention "old men" and "the young" and how something was "neglected" not to mention about art work and keeping an "Emperor " awake. I kept looking over it and asking myself those questions. Then it clicked, it mentions the "magnificent" sites such as the city itself and a "gold mosaic" and the sounds of music, but what were "the young" doing? They were neglecting all that was around them and the elderly were the only ones paying any true attention to it, even the "Emperor" stayed awake to admire these wonderful things that were around them. They knew that one day they will longer be here nor will these glorious sites hence the line "whatever is begotten, born, and dies."
When I first came across this title I thought it would be interesting to read because I know the name Byzantium which later became Constantinople when the Emperor Constantine named it the new Capitol. (Which is now known as Istanbul) So as usual I counted the lines to see if it was a sonnet, which it obviously wasn't. Its rhyming pattern is in the ABABCC form, again similar to a sonnet just like the last few poems. Though the odd thing about this poem's rhyming is when it gets to the CC part, the words do not sound the same but the consonance of the last two words in the last two stanzas were the same. As I read the poem a few times, I began to wonder was it talking about the how this city is becoming the "New Rome" because the line "whatever is begotten, born, and dies..." made me think of how empires are born and die. This city was the capitol of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, while the Western Roman Empire began to fall apart and "die." I didn't this was entirely true because why would it mention "old men" and "the young" and how something was "neglected" not to mention about art work and keeping an "Emperor " awake. I kept looking over it and asking myself those questions. Then it clicked, it mentions the "magnificent" sites such as the city itself and a "gold mosaic" and the sounds of music, but what were "the young" doing? They were neglecting all that was around them and the elderly were the only ones paying any true attention to it, even the "Emperor" stayed awake to admire these wonderful things that were around them. They knew that one day they will longer be here nor will these glorious sites hence the line "whatever is begotten, born, and dies."