Herod’s Lament for Mariamne
Herod’s Lament for Mariamne - meaning Summary
Regret After Jealous Murder
The poem gives voice to a remorseful Herod who laments murdering Mariamne. He moves from desperate pleading to horrified self-reproach, admitting that jealous rage produced irrevocable loss. The speaker recognizes his sole guilt and anticipates torment, portraying grief as both emotional devastation and moral damnation. The poem centers on personal responsibility, the destructive consequences of jealousy, and a ruler’s private suffering after a violent, irrevocable act.
Read Complete AnalysesOh, Mariamne! now for thee The heart of which thou bled’st is bleeding; Revenge is lost in agony, And wild remorse to rage succeeding. Oh, Mariamne! where art thou? Thou canst not hear my bitter pleading: Ah! could’st thou–thou would’st pardon now, Though Heaven were to my prayer unheeding. And is she dead?–and did they dare Obey my frenzy’s jealous raving? My wrath but doom’d my own despair: The sword that smote her’s o’er me waving.– But thou art cold, my murder’d love! And this dark heart is vainly craving For her who soars alone above, And leaves my soul unworthy saving. She’s gone, who shared my diadem; She sunk, with her my joys entombing; I swept that flower from Judah’s stem, Whose leaves for me alone were blooming; And mine’s the guilt, and mine the hell, This bosom’s desolation dooming; And I have earn’d those tortures well, Which unconsumed are still consuming!
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