The Challenge: A Court Ballad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCCCD A EFEFGGD AHIHJIID KLMNMOOD KPKPKIID KKFFKKD KQIQIGGD KRGRGMMD| I | A |
| To one fair lady out of Court | B |
| And two fair ladies in | C |
| Who think the Turk and Pope a sport | B |
| And wit and love no sin | C |
| Come these soft lines with nothing stiff in | C |
| To Bellenden Lepell and Griffin | C |
| With a fa la la | D |
| - | |
| II | A |
| - | |
| What passes in the dark third row | E |
| And what behind the scene | F |
| Couches and crippled chairs I know | E |
| And garrets hung with green | F |
| I know the swing of sinful hack | G |
| Where many damsels cry alack | G |
| With a fa la la | D |
| - | |
| III | A |
| Then why to Courts should I repair | H |
| Where's such ado with Townsend | I |
| To hear each mortal stamp and swear | H |
| And every speech with 'Zounds' end | J |
| To hear them rail at honest Sunderland | I |
| And rashly blame the realm of Blunderland | I |
| With a fa la la | D |
| - | |
| IV | K |
| Alas like Schutz I cannot pun | L |
| Like Grafton court the Germans | M |
| Tell Pickenbourg how slim she's grown | N |
| Like Meadows run to sermons | M |
| To court ambitious men may roam | O |
| But I and Marlbro' stay at home | O |
| With a fa la la | D |
| - | |
| V | K |
| In truth by what I can discern | P |
| Of courtiers 'twixt you three | K |
| Some wit you have and more may learn | P |
| From Court than Gay or Me | K |
| Perhaps in time you'll leave high diet | I |
| To sup with us on milk and quiet | I |
| With a fa la la | D |
| - | |
| VI | K |
| At Leicester Fields a house full nigh | K |
| With door all painted green | F |
| A Milliner I mean | F |
| There may you meet us three to three | K |
| For Gay can well make two of Me | K |
| With a fa la la | D |
| - | |
| VII | K |
| But should you catch the prudish itch | Q |
| And each become a coward | I |
| Bring sometimes with you lady Rich | Q |
| And sometimes mistress Howard | I |
| For virgins to keep chaste must go | G |
| Abroad with such as are not so | G |
| With a fa la la | D |
| - | |
| VIII | K |
| And thus fair maids my ballad ends | R |
| God send the king safe landing | G |
| And make all honest ladies friends | R |
| To armies that are standing | G |
| Preserve the limits of those nations | M |
| And take off ladies' limitations | M |
| With a fa la la | D |
Alexander Pope
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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About The Challenge: A Court Ballad
The Challenge: A Court Ballad is a poem by Alexander Pope. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.