Enigma
Enigma - form Summary
A Riddle Sonnet's Compressed Form
This sonnet functions as a verbal riddle: it strings together a series of descriptive epithets—each evoking a different celebrated writer or tradition—and then claims they converge into a single concealed name. The compact sonnet form forces economy: character sketches and allusions accumulate quickly, creating a puzzle-like momentum that invites readers to identify the unified identity implied by the listed glories.
Read Complete AnalysesThe noblest name in Allegory’s page, The hand that traced inexorable rage; A pleasing moralist whose page refined, Displays the deepest knowledge of the mind; A tender poet of a foreign tongue, (Indited in the language that he sung.) A bard of brilliant but unlicensed page At once the shame and glory of our age, The prince of harmony and stirling sense, The ancient dramatist of eminence, The bard that paints imagination’s powers, And him whose song revives departed hours, Once more an ancient tragic bard recall, In boldness of design surpassing all. These names when rightly read, a name (make) known Which gathers all their glories in its own.
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