Essay On Man Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFFGGHHDDIIJK LLMNOOPPHQRRSS TTUUVVWWVVSSXDYYZZXX A2A2LLRRB2B2VVVVCVVV C2C2D2E2II VVIIVVVVIIZZVVGGIIVV F2G2VVVVIIVVVVKKCI H2I2J2J2VVE2E2VVHHHH K2AHH IIPPIIHHHHVVL2L2HHII HHHHHHIIW

The First EpistleA
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Awake my ST JOHN leave all meaner thingsB
To low ambition and the pride of KingsB
Let us since Life can little more supplyC
Than just to look about us and to dieC
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of ManD
A mighty maze but not without a planD
A Wild where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shootE
Or Garden tempting with forbidden fruitE
Together let us beat this ample fieldF
Try what the open what the covert yieldF
The latent tracts the giddy heights exploreG
Of all who blindly creep or sightless soarG
Eye Nature's walks shoot Folly as it fliesH
And catch the Manners living as they riseH
Laugh where we must be candid where we canD
But vindicate the ways of God to ManD
Say first of God above or Man belowI
What can we reason but from what we knowI
Of Man what see we but his station hereJ
From which to reason or to which referK
Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the God be knownL
'Tis ours to trace him only in our ownL
He who thro' vast immensity can pierceM
See worlds on worlds compose one universeN
Observe how system into system runsO
What other planets circle other sunsO
What vary'd being peoples ev'ry starP
May tell why Heav'n has made us as we areP
But of this frame the bearings and the tiesH
The strong connections nice dependenciesQ
Gradations just has thy pervading soulR
Look'd thro' or can a part contain the wholeR
Is the great chain that draws all to agreeS
And drawn supports upheld by God or theeS
-
II Presumptuous Man the reason wouldst thou findT
Why form'd so weak so little and so blindT
First if thou canst the harder reason guessU
Why form'd no weaker blinder and no lessU
Ask of thy mother earth why oaks are madeV
Taller or stronger than the weeds they shadeV
Or ask of yonder argent fields aboveW
Why JOVE'S Satellites are less than JOVEW
Of Systems possible if 'tis confestV
That Wisdom infinite must form the bestV
Where all must full or not coherent beS
And all that rises rise in due degreeS
Then in the scale of reas'ning life 'tis plainX
There must be somewhere such rank as ManD
And all the question wrangle e'er so longY
Is only this if God has plac'd him wrongY
Respecting Man whatever wrong we callZ
Nay must be right as relative to allZ
In human works tho' labour'd on with painX
A thousand movements scarce one purpose gainX
In God's one single can its end produceA2
Yet serves to second too some other useA2
So Man who here seems principal aloneL
Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknownL
Touches some wheel or verges to some goalR
'Tis but a part we see and not a wholeR
When the proud steed shall know why Man restrainsB2
His fiery course or drives him o'er the plainsB2
When the dull Ox why now he breaks the clodV
Is now a victim and now Egypt's GodV
Then shall Man's pride and dullness comprehendV
His actions' passions' being's use and endV
Why doing suff'ring check'd impell'd and whyC
This hour a slave the next a deityV
Then say not Man's imperfect Heav'n in faultV
Say rather Man's as perfect as he oughtV
His knowledge measur'd to his state and placeC2
His time a moment and a point his spaceC2
If to be perfect in a certain sphereD2
What matter soon or late or here or thereE2
The blest today is as completely soI
As who began a thousand years agoI
-
III Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of FateV
All but the page prescrib'd their present stateV
From brutes what men from men what spirits knowI
Or who could suffer Being here belowI
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to dayV
Had he thy Reason would he skip and playV
Pleas'd to the last he crops the flow'ry foodV
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his bloodV
Oh blindness to the future kindly giv'nI
That each may fill the circle mark'd by Heav'nI
Who sees with equal eye as God of allZ
A hero perish or a sparrow fallZ
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'dV
And now a bubble burst and now a worldV
Hope humbly then with trembling pinions soarG
Wait the great teacher Death and God adoreG
What future bliss he gives not thee to knowI
But gives that Hope to be thy blessing nowI
Hope springs eternal in the human breastV
Man never Is but always To be blestV
The soul uneasy and confin'd from homeF2
Rests and expatiates in a life to comeG2
Lo the poor Indian whose untutor'd mindV
Sees God in clouds or hears him in the windV
His soul proud Science never taught to strayV
Far as the solar walk or milky wayV
Yet simple Nature to his hope has giv'nI
Behind the cloud topt hill an humbler heav'nI
Some safer world in depth of woods embrac'dV
Some happier island in the watry wasteV
Where slaves once more their native land beholdV
No fiends torment no Christians thirst for goldV
To Be contents his natural desireK
He asks no Angel's wing no Seraph's fireK
But thinks admitted to that equal skyC
His faithful dog shall bear him companyI
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IV Go wiser thou and in thy scale of senseH2
Weigh thy Opinion against ProvidenceI2
Call Imperfection what thou fancy'st suchJ2
Say here he gives too little there too muchJ2
Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gustV
Yet cry If Man's unhappy God's unjustV
If Man alone ingross not Heav'n's high careE2
Alone made perfect here immortal thereE2
Snatch from his hand the balance and the rodV
Re judge his justice be the GOD of GODV
In Pride in reas'ning Pride our error liesH
All quit their sphere and rush into the skiesH
Pride still is aiming at the blest abodesH
Men would be Angels Angels would be GodsH
Aspiring to be Gods if Angels fellK2
Aspiring to be Angels Men rebelA
And who but wishes to invert the lawsH
Of ORDER sins against th' Eternal CauseH
-
V Ask for what end the heav'nly bodies shineI
Earth for whose use Pride answers Tis for mineI
For me kind Nature wakes her genial pow'rP
Suckles each herb and spreads out ev'ry flow'rP
Annual for me the grape the rose renewI
The juice nectareous and the balmy dewI
For me the mine a thousand treasures bringsH
For me health gushes from a thousand springsH
Seas roll to waft me suns to light me riseH
My foot stool earth my canopy the skiesH
But errs not Nature from this gracious endV
From burning suns when livid deaths descendV
When earthquakes swallow or when tempests sweepL2
Towns to one grave whole nations to the deepL2
No 'tis reply'd the first Almighty CauseH
Acts not by partial but by gen'ral lawsH
Th' exceptions few some change since all beganI
And what created perfect Why then ManI
If the great end be human HappinessH
Then Nature deviates and can Man do lessH
As much that end a constant course requiresH
Of show'rs and sun shine as of Man's desiresH
As much eternal springs and cloudless skiesH
As Men for ever temp'rate calm and wiseH
If plagues or earthquakes break not Heav'n's designI
Why then a Borgia or a CatilineI
Who knows but he whose hand the light'ning foW

Alexander Pope



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