On The Death Of Mr. Crashaw Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDD EEFFGGBBHHDDIIBJKKLL MMBBNNOO PPFFQRSSTT UUVVWWXYZZBB A2A2B2C2D2D2E2E2F2F2 G2H2BBI2I2| Poet and saint to thee alone are given | A |
| The two most sacred names of earth and heaven | A |
| The hard and rarest union which can be | B |
| Next that of Godhead with humanity | B |
| Long did the Muses banished slaves abide | C |
| And built vain pyramids to mortal pride | C |
| Like Moses thou though spells and charms withstand | D |
| Hast brought them nobly home back to their Holy Land | D |
| - | |
| Ah wretched we poets of earth but thou | E |
| Wert living the same poet which thou 'rt now | E |
| Whilst angels sing to thee their airs divine | F |
| And joy in an applause so great as thine | F |
| Equal society with them to hold | G |
| Thou need'd not make new songs but say the old | G |
| And they kind spirits shall all rejoice to see | B |
| How little less than they exalted man may be | B |
| Still the old heathen gods in numbers swell | H |
| The heav'nliest thing on earth still keeps up hell | H |
| Nor have we yet quite purged the Christian land | D |
| Still idols here like calves at Bethel stand | D |
| And though Pan's death long since all oracles broke | I |
| Yet still in rhyme the fiend Apollo spoke | I |
| Nay with the worst of heathen dotage we | B |
| Vain men the monster woman deify | J |
| Find stars and tie our fates there in a face | K |
| And paradise in them by whom we lost it place | K |
| What different faults corrupt our muses thus | L |
| Wanton as girls as old wives fabulous | L |
| - | |
| Thy spotless muse like Mary did contain | M |
| The boundless Godhead she did well disdain | M |
| That her eternal verse employed should be | B |
| On a less subject than eternity | B |
| And for a sacred mistress scorned to take | N |
| But her whom God himself scorned not his spouse to make | N |
| It in a kind her miracle did do | O |
| A fruitful mother was and virgin too | O |
| - | |
| How well blest swan did fate contrive thy death | P |
| And made thee render up thy tuneful breath | P |
| In thy great mistress' arms thou most divine | F |
| And richest off'ring of Loretto's shrine | F |
| Where like some holy sacrifice t' expire | Q |
| A fever burns thee and love lights the fire | R |
| Angels they say brought the famed chapel there | S |
| And bore the sacred load in triumph through the air | S |
| 'Tis surer much they brought thee there and they | T |
| And thou their charge went singing all the way | T |
| - | |
| Pardon my mother church if I consent | U |
| That angels led him when from thee he went | U |
| For even in error sure no danger is | V |
| When joined with so much piety as his | V |
| Ah mighty God with shame I speak 't and grief | W |
| Ah that our greatest faults were in belief | W |
| And our weak reason were ev'n weaker yet | X |
| Rather than thus our wills too strong for it | Y |
| His faith perhaps in some nice tenents might | Z |
| Be wrong his life I'm sure was in the right | Z |
| And I myself a Catholic will be | B |
| So far at least great saint to pray to thee | B |
| - | |
| Hail bard triumphant and some care bestow | A2 |
| On us the poets militant below | A2 |
| Opposed by our old en'my adverse chance | B2 |
| Attacked by envy and by ignorance | C2 |
| Enchained by beauty tortured by desires | D2 |
| Exposed by tyrant love to savage beasts and fires | D2 |
| Thou from low earth in nobler flames didst rise | E2 |
| And like Elijah mount alive the skies | E2 |
| Elisha like but with a wish much less | F2 |
| More fit thy greatness and my littleness | F2 |
| Lo here I beg I whom thou once didst prove | G2 |
| So humble to esteem so good to love | H2 |
| Not that thy spirit might on me doubled be | B |
| I ask but half thy mighty spirit for me | B |
| And when my muse soars with so strong a wing | I2 |
| 'Twill learn of things divine and first of thee to sing | I2 |
Abraham Cowley
(1)
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