An Essay On Man: Epistle Iv Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B C DDEEFFGGHHIIJJKLCC MMNNOOPP QB RRSSNN T PPMMUUVVWWOO XXYYQBZZA2A2VVB2B2XX C2C2 D2D2KKE2E2 FFF2F2 MMYG2H2H2OOI2I2J2J2K 2K2L2L2 GGXXPPM2M2N2N2O2O2P2 Q2R2R2CC S2S2L2L2PPOONN TT2U2U2XXEEPP O2V2CCLW2SSX2X2XXHHY 2Y2Z2Z2 A3JJOOAC2Q2 A2 B3B3RC3D3D3 E3E3F3F3G3G3LH3I3I3N 2N2MMA2A2B3B3M2M2J3J 3MMKK FFK3K3K3K3 L3M3M3GN3 O3O3P3P3K3K3K3K3Q3R3 P3P3 P3 K3K3K3K3P3P3P3P3S3T3 K3K3O2O2P3P3K3K3 R2R2H2H2P3P3K3K3HHK3 K3O2O2K3K3K3K3P3P3P3 P3 P3P3H2H2U3U3K3K3Y2Y2 K3K3K3K3P3P3PPCCN2N2 K3K3DDPPK3K3Z2Z2P3P3 V3V3K3K3P3P3DDN2N2K3 K3Z2Z2DD G S2S2P3P3OOK3K3P3P3K3 K3K3K3OO GGK3K3K3K3HHGGB2B2V3 V3 B2B2K3K3H2H2K3K3P3P3 K3K3 HHK3K3P3P3CC B2B2S3S3P3P3P3P3K3K3 K3K3 R3R3P3P3P3P3KKP3P3DD W3W3P3P3K3K3K3K3K3K3 DDGG P3 P3 P2Q2EE P3 P3 H2B3 P3 Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2 P3 X3Y3 P3 V3V3 P3 N2N2 P3 P3P3 P3 Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2 P3 P3P3Z2Z2E3E3 P3 OOP3P3Z2Z2 P3 V3V3

ARGUMENT	A
	-
OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HAPPINESS	B
	-
I False notions of happiness philosophical and popular answered from ver to ver II It is the end of all men and attainable by all ver God intends happiness to be equal and to be so it must be social since all particular happiness depends on general and since he governs by general not particular laws ver As it is necessary for order and the peace and welfare of society that external goods should be unequal happiness is not made to consist in these ver But notwithstanding that inequality the balance of happiness among mankind is kept even by Providence by the two passions of hope and fear ver III What the happiness of individuals is as far as is consistent with the constitution of this world and that the good man has here the advantage ver The error of imputing to virtue what are only the calamities of nature or of fortune ver IV The folly of expecting that God should alter his general laws in favour of particulars ver V That we are not judges who are good but that whoever they are they must be happiest ver c VI That external goods are not the proper rewards but often inconsistent with or destructive of virtue ver That even these can make no man happy without virtue instanced in riches ver honours ver nobility ver greatness ver fame ver superior talents ver c With pictures of human infelicity in men possessed of them all ver c VII That virtue only constitutes a happiness whose object is universal and whose prospect eternal ver c That the perfection of virtue and happiness consists in a conformity to the order of Providence here and a resignation to it here and hereafter ver c	C
	-
O Happiness our being's end and aim	D
Good Pleasure Ease Content whate'er thy name	D
That something still which prompts th' eternal sigh	E
For which we bear to live or dare to die	E
Which still so near us yet beyond us lies	F
O'erlook'd seen double by the fool and wise	F
Plant of celestial seed if dropp'd below	G
Say in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow	G
Fair opening to some court's propitious shine	H
Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine	H
Twined with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield	I
Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field	I
Where grows where grows it not If vain our toil	J
We ought to blame the culture not the soil	J
Fix'd to no spot is happiness sincere	K
Tis nowhere to be found or everywhere	L
'Tis never to be bought but always free	C
And fled from monarchs St John dwells with thee	C
	-
I Ask of the learn'd the way the learn'd are blind	M
This bids to serve and that to shun mankind	M
Some place the bliss in action some in ease	N
Those call it Pleasure and Contentment these	N
Some sunk to beasts find pleasure end in pain	O
Some swell'd to gods confess even virtue vain	O
Or indolent to each extreme they fall	P
To trust in every thing or doubt of all	P
	-
Who thus define it say they more or less	Q
Than this that happiness is happiness	B
	-
II Take Nature's path and mad Opinion's leave	R
All states can reach it and all heads conceive	R
Obvious her goods in no extreme they dwell	S
There needs but thinking right and meaning well	S
And mourn our various portions as we please	N
Equal is common sense and common ease	N
	-
Remember Man 'The Universal Cause	T
Acts not by partial but by general laws '	-
And makes what happiness we justly call	P
Subsist not in the good of one but all	P
There's not a blessing individuals find	M
But some way leans and hearkens to the kind	M
No bandit fierce no tyrant mad with pride	U
No cavern'd hermit rests self satisfied	U
Who most to shun or hate mankind pretend	V
Seek an admirer or would fix a friend	V
Abstract what others feel what others think	W
All pleasures sicken and all glories sink	W
Each has his share and who would more obtain	O
Shall find the pleasure pays not half the pain	O
	-
Order is Heaven's first law and this confess'd	X
Some are and must be greater than the rest	X
More rich more wise but who infers from hence	Y
That such are happier shocks all common sense	Y
Heaven to mankind impartial we confess	Q
If all are equal in their happiness	B
But mutual wants this happiness increase	Z
All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace	Z
Condition circumstance is not the thing	A2
Bliss is the same in subject or in king	A2
In who obtain defence or who defend	V
In him who is or him who finds a friend	V
Heaven breathes through every member of the whole	B2
One common blessing as one common soul	B2
But Fortune's gifts if each alike possess'd	X
And each were equal must not all contest	X
If then to all Men happiness was meant	C2
God in externals could not place content	C2
	-
Fortune her gifts may variously dispose	D2
And these be happy call'd unhappy those	D2
But Heaven's just balance equal will appear	K
While those are placed in hope and these in fear	K
Not present good or ill the joy or curse	E2
But future views of better or of worse	E2
	-
O sons of earth attempt ye still to rise	F
By mountains piled on mountains to the skies	F
Heaven still with laughter the vain toil surveys	F2
And buries madmen in the heaps they raise	F2
	-
III Know all the good that individuals find	M
Or God and Nature meant to mere mankind	M
Reason's whole pleasure all the joys of sense	Y
Lie in three words Health Peace and Competence	G2
But health consists with temperance alone	H2
And peace O Virtue peace is all thy own	H2
The good or bad the gifts of Fortune gain	O
But these less taste them as they worse obtain	O
Say in pursuit of profit or delight	I2
Who risk the most that take wrong means or right	I2
Of vice or virtue whether bless'd or cursed	J2
Which meets contempt or which compassion first	J2
Count all th' advantage prosperous vice attains	K2
'Tis but what virtue flies from and disdains	K2
And grant the bad what happiness they would	L2
One they must want which is to pass for good	L2
	-
Oh blind to truth and God's whole scheme below	G
Who fancy bliss to vice to virtue woe	G
Who sees and follows that great scheme the best	X
Best knows the blessing and will most be bless'd	X
But fools the good alone unhappy call	P
For ills or accidents that chance to all	P
See Falkland dies the virtuous and the just	M2
See godlike Turenne prostrate on the dust	M2
See Sidney bleeds amid the martial strife	N2
Was this their virtue or contempt of life	N2
Say was it virtue more though Heaven ne'er gave	O2
Lamented Digby sunk thee to the grave	O2
Tell me if virtue made the son expire	P2
Why full of days and honour lives the sire	Q2
Why drew Marseilles' good bishop purer breath	R2
When Nature sicken'd and each gale was death	R2
Or why so long in life if long can be	C
Lent Heaven a parent to the poor and me	C
	-
What makes all physical or moral ill	S2
There deviates Nature and here wanders Will	S2
God sends not ill if rightly understood	L2
Or partial ill is universal good	L2
Or change admits or Nature lets it fall	P
Short and but rare till Man improved it all	P
We just as wisely might of Heaven complain	O
That righteous Abel was destroy'd by Cain	O
As that the virtuous son is ill at ease	N
When his lewd father gave the dire disease	N
	-
IV Think we like some weak prince th' Eternal Cause	T
Prone for his favourites to reverse his laws	T2
Shall burning AEtna if a sage requires	U2
Forget to thunder and recall her fires	U2
On air or sea new motions be impress'd	X
O blameless Bethel to relieve thy breast	X
When the loose mountain trembles from on high	E
Shall gravitation cease if you go by	E
Or some old temple nodding to its fall	P
For Chartres' head reserve the hanging wall	P
	-
V But still this world so fitted for the knave	O2
Contents us not A better shall we have	V2
A kingdom of the just then let it be	C
But first consider how those just agree	C
The good must merit God's peculiar care	L
But who but God can tell us who they are	W2
One thinks on Calvin Heaven's own spirit fell	S
Another deems him instrument of hell	S
If Calvin feel Heaven's blessing or its rod	X2
This cries there is and that there is no God	X2
What shocks one part will edify the rest	X
Nor with one system can they all be bless'd	X
The very best will variously incline	H
And what rewards your virtue punish mine	H
Whatever is is right This world 'tis true	Y2
Was made for Caesar but for Titus too	Y2
And which more bless'd who chain'd his country say	Z2
Or he whose virtue sigh'd to lose a day	Z2
	-
'But sometimes virtue starves while vice is fed '	-
What then Is the reward of virtue bread	A3
That vice may merit 'tis the price of toil	J
The knave deserves it when he tills the soil	J
The knave deserves it when he tempts the main	O
Where Folly fights for kings or dives for gain	O
The good man may be weak be indolent	A
Nor is his claim to plenty but content	C2
But grant him riches your demand is o'er	Q2
'No shall the good want health the good want power '	-
Add health and power and every earthly thing	A2
'Why bounded power why private why no king '	-
Nay why external for internal given	B3
Why is not man a god and earth a heaven	B3
Who ask and reason thus will scarce conceive	R
God gives enough while he has more to give	C3
Immense the power immense were the demand	D3
Say at what part of nature will they stand	D3
	-
VI What nothing earthly gives or can destroy	E3
The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy	E3
Is virtue's prize a better would you fix	F3
Then give humility a coach and six	F3
Justice a conqueror's sword or truth a gown	G3
Or public spirit its great cure a crown	G3
Weak foolish man will Heaven reward us there	L
With the same trash mad mortals wish for here	H3
The boy and man an individual makes	I3
Yet sigh'st thou now for apples and for cakes	I3
Go like the Indian in another life	N2
Expect thy dog thy bottle and thy wife	N2
As well as dream such trifles are assign'd	M
As toys and empires for a godlike mind	M
Rewards that either would to virtue bring	A2
No joy or be destructive of the thing	A2
How oft by these at sixty are undone	B3
The virtues of a saint at twenty one	B3
To whom can riches give repute or trust	M2
Content or pleasure but the good and just	M2
Judges and senates have been bought for gold	J3
Esteem and love were never to be sold	J3
O fool to think God hates the worthy mind	M
The lover and the love of human kind	M
Whose life is healthful and whose conscience clear	K
Because he wants a thousand pounds a year	K
	-
Honour and shame from no condition rise	F
Act well your part there all the honour lies	F
Fortune in men has some small difference made	K3
One flaunts in rags one flutters in brocade	K3
The cobbler apron'd and the parson gown'd	K3
The friar hooded and the monarch crown'd	K3
'What differ more' you cry 'than crown and cowl '	-
I'll tell you friend a wise man and a fool	L3
You'll find if once the monarch acts the monk	M3
Or cobbler like the parson will be drunk	M3
Worth makes the man and want of it the fellow	G
The rest is all but leather or prunella	N3
	-
Stuck o'er with titles and hung round with strings	O3
That thou may'st be by kings or whores of kings	O3
Boast the pure blood of an illustrious race	P3
In quiet flow from Lucrece to Lucrece	P3
But by your fathers' worth if yours you rate	K3
Count me those only who were good and great	K3
Go if your ancient but ignoble blood	K3
Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood	K3
Go and pretend your family is young	Q3
Nor own your fathers have been fools so long	R3
What can ennoble sots or slaves or cowards	P3
Alas not all the blood of all the Howards	P3
	-
Look next on greatness say where greatness lies	P3
'Where but among the heroes and the wise '	-
Heroes are much the same the point's agreed	K3
From Macedonia's madman to the Swede	K3
The whole strange purpose of their lives to find	K3
Or make an enemy of all mankind	K3
Not one looks backward onward still he goes	P3
Yet ne'er looks forward further than his nose	P3
No less alike the politic and wise	P3
All sly slow things with circumspective eyes	P3
Men in their loose unguarded hours they take	S3
Not that themselves are wise but others weak	T3
But grant that those can conquer these can cheat	K3
'Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great	K3
Who wickedly is wise or madly brave	O2
Is but the more a fool the more a knave	O2
Who noble ends by noble means obtains	P3
Or failing smiles in exile or in chains	P3
Like good Aurelius let him reign or bleed	K3
Like Socrates that man is great indeed	K3
	-
What's fame A fancied life in others' breath	R2
A thing beyond us even before our death	R2
Just what you hear you have and what's unknown	H2
The same my Lord if Tully's or your own	H2
All that we feel of it begins and ends	P3
In the small circle of our foes or friends	P3
To all beside as much an empty shade	K3
An Eugene living as a Caesar dead	K3
Alike or when or where they shone or shine	H
Or on the Rubicon or on the Rhine	H
A wit's a feather and a chief a rod	K3
An honest man's the noblest work of God	K3
Fame but from death a villain's name can save	O2
As justice tears his body from the grave	O2
When what t' oblivion better were resign'd	K3
Is hung on high to poison half mankind	K3
All fame is foreign but of true desert	K3
Plays round the head but comes not to the heart	K3
One self approving hour whole years out weighs	P3
Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas	P3
And more true joy Marcellus exiled feels	P3
Than Caesar with a senate at his heels	P3
	-
In parts superior what advantage lies	P3
Tell for you can what is it to be wise	P3
'Tis but to know how little can be known	H2
To see all others' faults and feel our own	H2
Condemn'd in business or in arts to drudge	U3
Without a second or without a judge	U3
Truths would you teach or save a sinking land	K3
All fear none aid you and few understand	K3
Painful pre eminence yourself to view	Y2
Above life's weakness and its comforts too	Y2
	-
Bring then these blessings to a strict account	K3
Make fair deductions see to what they mount	K3
How much of other each is sure to cost	K3
How each for other oft is wholly lost	K3
How inconsistent greater goods with these	P3
How sometimes life is risk'd and always ease	P3
Think and if still the things thy envy call	P
Say wouldst thou be the man to whom they fall	P
To sigh for ribands if thou art so silly	C
Mark how they grace Lord Umbra or Sir Billy	C
Is yellow dirt the passion of thy life	N2
Look but on Gripus or on Gripus' wife	N2
If parts allure thee think how Bacon shined	K3
The wisest brightest meanest of mankind	K3
Or ravish'd with the whistling of a name	D
See Cromwell damn'd to everlasting fame	D
If all united thy ambition call	P
From ancient story learn to scorn them all	P
There in the rich the honour'd famed and great	K3
See the false scale of happiness complete	K3
In hearts of kings or arms of queens who lay	Z2
How happy those to ruin these betray	Z2
Mark by what wretched steps their glory grows	P3
From dirt and sea weed as proud Venice rose	P3
In each how guilt and greatness equal ran	V3
And all that raised the hero sunk the man	V3
Now Europe's laurels on their brows behold	K3
But stain'd with blood or ill exchanged for gold	K3
Then see them broke with toils or sunk in ease	P3
Or infamous for plunder'd provinces	P3
Oh wealth ill fated which no act of fame	D
E'er taught to shine or sanctified from shame	D
What greater bliss attends their close of life	N2
Some greedy minion or imperious wife	N2
The trophied arches storied halls invade	K3
And haunt their slumbers in the pompous shade	K3
Alas not dazzled with their noontide ray	Z2
Compute the morn and evening to the day	Z2
The whole amount of that enormous fame	D
A tale that blends their glory with their shame	D
	-
VII Know then this truth enough for man to know	G
'Virtue alone is happiness below '	-
The only point where human bliss stands still	S2
And tastes the good without the fall to ill	S2
Where only merit constant pay receives	P3
Is bless'd in what it takes and what it gives	P3
The joy unequall'd if its end it gain	O
And if it lose attended with no pain	O
Without satiety though e'er so bless'd	K3
And but more relish'd as the more distress'd	K3
The broadest mirth unfeeling Folly wears	P3
Less pleasing far than Virtue's very tears	P3
Good from each object from each place acquired	K3
For ever exercised yet never tired	K3
Never elated while one man's oppress'd	K3
Never dejected while another's bless'd	K3
And where no wants no wishes can remain	O
Since but to wish more virtue is to gain	O
	-
See the sole bliss Heaven could on all bestow	G
Which who but feels can taste but thinks can know	G
Yet poor with fortune and with learning blind	K3
The bad must miss the good untaught will find	K3
Slave to no sect who takes no private road	K3
But looks through Nature up to Nature's God	K3
Pursues that chain which links th' immense design	H
Joins Heaven and Earth and mortal and divine	H
Sees that no being any bliss can know	G
But touches some above and some below	G
Learns from this union of the rising whole	B2
The first last purpose of the human soul	B2
And knows where faith law morals all began	V3
All end in love of God and love of Man	V3
	-
For him alone Hope leads from goal to goal	B2
And opens still and opens on his soul	B2
Till lengthen'd on to Faith and unconfined	K3
It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind	K3
He sees why Nature plants in Man alone	H2
Hope of known bliss and faith in bliss unknown	H2
Nature whose dictates to no other kind	K3
Are given in vain but what they seek they find	K3
Wise is her present she connects in this	P3
His greatest virtue with his greatest bliss	P3
At once his own bright prospect to be bless'd	K3
And strongest motive to assist the rest	K3
	-
Self love thus push'd to social to divine	H
Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine	H
Is this too little for the boundless heart	K3
Extend it let thy enemies have part	K3
Grasp the whole worlds of Reason Life and Sense	P3
In one close system of Benevolence	P3
Happier as kinder in whate'er degree	C
And height of bliss but height of charity	C
	-
God loves from whole to parts but human soul	B2
Must rise from individual to the whole	B2
Self love but serves the virtuous mind to wake	S3
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake	S3
The centre moved a circle straight succeeds	P3
Another still and still another spreads	P3
Friend parent neighbour first it will embrace	P3
His country next and next all human race	P3
Wide and more wide th' o'erflowings of the mind	K3
Take every creature in of every kind	K3
Earth smiles around with boundless bounty bless'd	K3
And Heaven beholds its image in his breast	K3
	-
Come then my friend my genius come along	R3
O master of the poet and the song	R3
And while the Muse now stoops or now ascends	P3
To Man's low passions or their glorious ends	P3
Teach me like thee in various Nature wise	P3
To fall with dignity with temper rise	P3
Form'd by thy converse happily to steer	K
From grave to gay from lively to severe	K
Correct with spirit eloquent with ease	P3
Intent to reason or polite to please	P3
Oh while along the stream of Time thy name	D
Expanded flies and gathers all its fame	D
Say shall my little bark attendant sail	W3
Pursue the triumph and partake the gale	W3
When statesmen heroes kings in dust repose	P3
Whose sons shall blush their fathers were thy foes	P3
Shall then this verse to future age pretend	K3
Thou wert my guide philosopher and friend	K3
That urged by thee I turn'd the tuneful art	K3
From sounds to things from fancy to the heart	K3
For Wit's false mirror held up Nature's light	K3
Show'd erring pride Whatever is is right	K3
That Reason Passion answer one great aim	D
That true Self love and Social are the same	D
That Virtue only makes our bliss below	G
And all our knowledge is Ourselves to know	G
	-
	-
	-
VARIATIONS	P3
	-
VER in the MS thus	P3
	-
O Happiness to which we all aspire	P2
Wing'd with strong hope and borne by full desire	Q2
That ease for which in want in wealth we sigh	E
That ease for which we labour and we die	E
	-
After VER in the MS	P3
	-
Say not 'Heaven's here profuse there poorly saves	P3
And for one monarch makes a thousand slaves '	-
You'll find when causes and their ends are known	H2
'Twas for the thousand Heaven has made that one	B3
	-
After VER in the MS	P3
	-
'Tis peace of mind alone is at a stay	Z2
The rest mad Fortune gives or takes away	Z2
All other bliss by accident's debarr'd	Z2
But virtue's in the instant a reward	Z2
In hardest trials operates the best	Z2
And more is relish'd as the more distress'd	Z2
	-
After VER in the MS	P3
	-
Let sober moralists correct their speech	X3
No bad man's happy he is great or rich	Y3
	-
After VER in the MS	P3
	-
Of every evil since the world began	V3
The real source is not in God but man	V3
	-
After VER in some editions	P3
	-
Give each a system all must be at strife	N2
What different systems for a man and wife	N2
	-
After VER in the MS	P3
	-
Say what rewards this idle world imparts	P3
Or fit for searching heads or honest hearts	P3
	-
VER in the MS thus	P3
	-
The richest blood right honourably old	Z2
Down from Lucretia to Lucretia roll'd	Z2
May swell thy heart and gallop in thy breast	Z2
Without one dash of usher or of priest	Z2
Thy pride as much despise all other pride	Z2
As Christ church once all colleges beside	Z2
	-
After VER in the MS	P3
	-
Even while it seems unequal to dispose	P3
And chequers all the good man's joys with woes	P3
'Tis but to teach him to support each state	Z2
With patience this with moderation that	Z2
And raise his base on that one solid joy	E3
Which conscience gives and nothing can destroy	E3
	-
VER in the MS thus	P3
	-
And now transported o'er so vast a plain	O
While the wing'd courser flies with all her rein	O
While heavenward now her mounting wing she feels	P3
Now scatter'd fools fly trembling from her heels	P3
Wilt thou my St John keep her course in sight	Z2
Confine her fury and assist her flight	Z2
	-
VER in the MS thus	P3
	-
That just to find a God is all we can	V3
And all the study of mankind is Man	V3

Alexander Pope

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