The Innocent Ill Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDCEFFF GGHHAIAIJKL AAMMNONPQQQ RRSSATATUUV| Though all thy gestures and discourses be | A |
| Coin'd and stamp'd by modesty | A |
| Though from thy tongue ne'er slipp'd away | B |
| One word which nuns at th' altar might not say | B |
| Yet such a sweetness such a grace | C |
| In all thy speech appear | D |
| That what to th' eye a beauteous face | C |
| That thy tongue is to th' ear | E |
| So cunningly it wounds the heart | F |
| It strikes such heat through every part | F |
| That thou a tempter worse than Satan art | F |
| - | |
| Though in thy thoughts scarce any tracks have been | G |
| So much as of original sin | G |
| Such charms thy beauty wears as might | H |
| Desires in dying confess'd saints excite | H |
| Thou with strange adultery | A |
| Dost in each breast a brothel keep | I |
| Awake all men do lust for thee | A |
| And some enjoy thee when they sleep | I |
| Ne'er before did woman live | J |
| Who to such multitudes did give | K |
| The root and cause of sin but only Eve | L |
| - | |
| Though in thy breast so quick a pity be | A |
| That a fly's death 's a wound to thee | A |
| Though savage and rock hearted those | M |
| Appear that weep not ev'n Romance's woes | M |
| Yet ne'er before was tyrant known | N |
| Whose rage was of so large extent | O |
| The ills thou dost are whole thine own | N |
| Thou 'rt principal and instrument | P |
| In all the deaths that come from you | Q |
| You do the treble office do | Q |
| Of judge of torturer and of weapon too | Q |
| - | |
| Thou lovely instrument of angry Fate | R |
| Which God did for our faults create | R |
| Thou pleasant universal ill | S |
| Which sweet as health yet like a plague dost kill | S |
| Thou kind well natur'd tyranny | A |
| Thou chaste committer of a rape | T |
| Thou voluntary destiny | A |
| Which no man can or would escape | T |
| So gentle and so glad to spare | U |
| So wondrous good and wondrous fair | U |
| We know ev'n the destroying angels are | V |
Abraham Cowley
(1)
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