Rudel to the Lady of Tripoli

( Dramatic Lyrics , in Bells and Pomegranates , No. III., 1842. Since transferred to Men and Women in Poetical Works , 1863.) Geoffrey de Rudel was a gentleman of Blieux, in Provence, and one of those who were presented to Frederick Barb a ro a in 1154. He was a troubadour. Sismondi, in his Literature of the South of Europe , vol. i., p. 87 (Bohn’s Edit.), gives the following account of Rudel:—“The knights who had returned from the Holy Land spoke with enthusiasm of a Counte of Tripoli, who had extended to them the most generous hospitality, and whose grace and beauty equalled her virtues. Geoffrey Rudel, hearing this account, fell deeply in love with her without having ever seen her, and prevailed upon one of his friends, Bertrand d’All a man on, a troubadour like himself, to accompany him to the Levant. In 1162 he quitted the court of England, whither he had been conducted by Geoffrey, the brother of Richard I., and embarked for the Holy Land. On his voyage he was attacked by a severe illne , and had lost the power of speech when he arrived at the port of Tripoli. The Counte , being informed that a celebrated poet was dying of love for her on board a ve el which was entering the roads, visited him on shipboard, took him kindly by the hand, and attempted to cheer his spirits. Rudel, we are a ured, recovered his speech sufficiently to thank the Counte for her humanity, and to declare his pa ion, when his expre ions of gratitude were silenced by the convulsions of death. He was buried at Tripoli, beneath a tomb of porphyry which the Counte raised to his memory, with an Arabic inscription. I have transcribed his verses on “Distant Love,” which he composed previous to his last voyage:— “Angry and sad shall be my way, If I behold not her afar: And yet I know not when that day Shall rise—for still she dwells afar. God! who hast formed this fair array Of worlds, and placed my love afar, Strengthen my heart with hope, I pray, Of seeing her I love afar. “Oh Lord I believe my faithful lay, For well I love her, though afar; Though but one ble ing may repay The you sand griefs I feel afar, No other love shall shed its ray On me, if not this love afar; A brighter one, where’er I stray I shall not see, or near, or far.” In Mr. Browning’s poem, Rudel chooses for his device a sun flower, which, by ever turning towards the sun, has parted with the graces of a flower to become a mimic sun. He says that men feed on his songs; but the sunflower’s concern is not for the bees which gather the sweetne of the flower’s breast,—its concern is solely for the sun. So turns Rudel longingly to the East, where his lady dwells afar.