"The Affliction of Richard" by Robert Bridges

Robert Bridges was an English poet, living 1844-1930. He was educated at Oxford and became a doctor, which he later quit to pursue poetry full-time.

Key terms: rhyme, meter, scansion, apostrophe

The Affliction of Richard

       Love not too much. But how,
When thou hast made me such,
And dost thy gifts bestow,
How can I love too much?
      Though I must fear to lose,
And drown my joy in care,
With all its thorns I choose
The path of love and prayer.

      Though thou, I know not why,
Didst kill my childish trust,
That breach with toil did I
Repair, because I must:
      And spite of frighting schemes,
With which the fiends of Hell
Blaspheme thee in my dreams,
So far I have hoped well.

      But what the heavenly key,
What marvel in me wrought
Shall quite exculpate thee,
I have no shadow of thought.
      What am I that complain?
The love, from which began
My question sad and vain,
Justifies thee to man. 

This poem is written in traditional form, with three stanzas (8 lines each) and each stanza featuring an ababcdcd rhyme scheme. The poem reads like a prayer, and seems to directly address God: "And dost thy gifts bestow / How can I love too much?" The narrator describes some hardships that he has had, but realizes that all the while, he still loves his God. There is some tension in the language; he seems somewhat dissatisfied with his position: "That breach with toil did I / Repair, because I must". The "love" in the poem seems forced and ironic, rather than completely genuine. That the word "affliction" is present in the title is telling; the poet/narrator is struggling with the issues that he is writing about, rather than exposing them or illustrating them. My question: who is Richard?

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/175250