The Dunciad: Book Iv Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDD EEFGAAHH IIJJ KKLLMMNNOPQQRRSSQQTT QQUU SSQQQQVW XYYZZTTA2SA2 KKZZB2B2C2C2 A2 D2D2EEQQQQE2E2 DDF2F2G2H2I2I2J2J2 QQSSQQI2I2QQ QQFFRRQQSSK2K2TTL2M2 QQ J2J2N2N2MMQQ D2D2O2O2QQQ F2F2P2P2QQP2P2P2P2P2 P2P2P2 D2D2GGQQP2P2YYQ2Q2QQ SSSSGA2QQP2P2R2 YL2D2D2SSEE| Yet yet a moment one dim ray of light | A |
| Indulge dread Chaos and eternal Night | A |
| Of darkness visible so much be lent | B |
| As half to show half veil the deep intent | B |
| Ye pow'rs whose mysteries restor'd I sing | C |
| To whom time bears me on his rapid wing | C |
| Suspend a while your force inertly strong | D |
| Then take at once the poet and the song | D |
| - | |
| Now flam'd the Dog Star's unpropitious ray | E |
| Smote ev'ry brain and wither'd every bay | E |
| Sick was the sun the owl forsook his bow'r | F |
| The moon struck prophet felt the madding hour | G |
| Then rose the seed of Chaos and of Night | A |
| To blot out order and extinguish light | A |
| Of dull and venal a new world to mould | H |
| And bring Saturnian days of lead and gold | H |
| - | |
| She mounts the throne her head a cloud conceal'd | I |
| In broad effulgence all below reveal'd | I |
| 'Tis thus aspiring Dulness ever shines | J |
| Soft on her lap her laureate son reclines | J |
| - | |
| Beneath her footstool Science groans in chains | K |
| And Wit dreads exile penalties and pains | K |
| There foam'd rebellious Logic gagg'd and bound | L |
| There stripp'd fair Rhet'ric languish'd on the ground | L |
| His blunted arms by Sophistry are borne | M |
| And shameless Billingsgate her robes adorn | M |
| Morality by her false guardians drawn | N |
| Chicane in furs and Casuistry in lawn | N |
| Gasps as they straighten at each end the cord | O |
| And dies when Dulness gives her page the word | P |
| Mad Mathesis alone was unconfin'd | Q |
| Too mad for mere material chains to bind | Q |
| Now to pure space lifts her ecstatic stare | R |
| Now running round the circle finds it square | R |
| But held in tenfold bonds the Muses lie | S |
| Watch'd both by Envy's and by Flatt'ry's eye | S |
| There to her heart sad Tragedy addres'd | Q |
| The dagger wont to pierce the tyrant's breast | Q |
| But sober History restrain'd her rage | T |
| And promised vengeance on a barb'rous age | T |
| There sunk Thalia nerveless cold and dead | Q |
| Had not her sister Satire held her head | Q |
| Nor couldst thou Chesterfield a tear refuse | U |
| Thou weptst and with thee wept each gentle Muse | U |
| - | |
| When lo a harlot form soft sliding by | S |
| With mincing step small voice and languid eye | S |
| Foreign her air her robe's discordant pride | Q |
| In patchwork flutt'ring and her head aside | Q |
| By singing peers upheld on either hand | Q |
| She tripp'd and laugh'd too pretty much to stand | Q |
| Cast on the prostrate Nine a scornful look | V |
| Then thus in quaint recitativo spoke | W |
| - | |
| 'O | - |
| Cara Cara | X |
| silence all that train | Y |
| Joy to great Chaos let Division reign | Y |
| Chromatic tortures soon shall drive them hence | Z |
| Break all their nerves and fritter all their sense | Z |
| One trill shall harmonize joy grief and rage | T |
| Wake the dull Church and lull the ranting Stage | T |
| To the same notes thy sons shall hum or snore | A2 |
| And all thy yawning daughters cry | S |
| encore | A2 |
| - | |
| Another Phoebus thy own Phoebus reigns | K |
| Joys in my jigs and dances in my chains | K |
| But soon ah soon Rebellion will commence | Z |
| If Music meanly borrows aid from Sense | Z |
| Strong in new arms lo Giant Handel stands | B2 |
| Like bold Briarerus with a hundred hands | B2 |
| To stir to rouse to shake the soul he comes | C2 |
| And Jove's own thunders follow Mars's drums | C2 |
| Arrest him Empress or you sleep no more ' | - |
| She heard and drove him to th' Hibernian shore | A2 |
| - | |
| And now had Fame's posterior trumpet blown | D2 |
| And all the nations summoned to the throne | D2 |
| The young the old who feel her inward sway | E |
| One instinct seizes and transports away | E |
| None need a guide by sure attraction led | Q |
| And strong impulsive gravity of head | Q |
| None want a place for all their centre found | Q |
| Hung to the Goddess and coher'd around | Q |
| Not closer orb in orb conglob'd are seen | E2 |
| The buzzing bees about their dusky Queen | E2 |
| - | |
| The gath'ring number as it moves along | D |
| Involves a vast involuntary throng | D |
| Who gently drawn and struggling less and less | F2 |
| Roll in her Vortex and her pow'r confess | F2 |
| Not those alone who passive own her laws | G2 |
| But who weak rebels more advance her cause | H2 |
| Whate'er of dunce in college or in town | I2 |
| Sneers at another in toupee or gown | I2 |
| Whate'er of mongrel no one class admits | J2 |
| A wit with dunces and a dunce with wits | J2 |
| - | |
| Nor absent they no members of her state | Q |
| Who pay her homage in her sons the Great | Q |
| Who false to Phoebus bow the knee to Baal | S |
| Or impious preach his Word without a call | S |
| Patrons who sneak from living worth to dead | Q |
| Withhold the pension and set up the head | Q |
| Or vest dull Flattery in the sacred gown | I2 |
| Or give from fool to fool the laurel crown | I2 |
| And last and worst with all the cant of wit | Q |
| Without the soul the Muse's hypocrite | Q |
| - | |
| There march'd the bard and blockhead side by side | Q |
| Who rhym'd for hire and patroniz'd for pride | Q |
| Narcissus prais'd with all a Parson's pow'r | F |
| Look'd a white lily sunk beneath a show'r | F |
| There mov'd Montalto with superior air | R |
| His stretch'd out arm display'd a volume fair | R |
| Courtiers and Patriots in two ranks divide | Q |
| Through both he pass'd and bow'd from side to side | Q |
| But as in graceful act with awful eye | S |
| Compos'd he stood bold Benson thrust him by | S |
| On two unequal crutches propp'd he came | K2 |
| Milton's on this on that one Johnston's name | K2 |
| The decent knight retir'd with sober rage | T |
| Withdrew his hand and closed the pompous page | T |
| But happy for him as the times went then | L2 |
| Appear'd Apollo's mayor and aldermen | M2 |
| On whom three hundred gold capp'd youths await | Q |
| To lug the pond'rous volume off in state | Q |
| - | |
| When Dulness smiling 'Thus revive the Wits | J2 |
| But murder first and mince them all to bits | J2 |
| As erst Medea cruel so to save | N2 |
| A new edition of old Aeson gave | N2 |
| Let standard authors thus like trophies born | M |
| Appear more glorious as more hack'd and torn | M |
| And you my Critics in the chequer'd shade | Q |
| Admire new light through holes yourselves have made | Q |
| - | |
| Leave not a foot of verse a foot of stone | D2 |
| A page a grave that they can call their own | D2 |
| But spread my sons your glory thin or thick | O2 |
| On passive paper or on solid brick | O2 |
| So by each bard an Alderman shall sit | Q |
| A heavy lord shall hang at ev'ry wit | Q |
| And while on Fame's triumphal Car they ride | Q |
| Some Slave of mine be pinion'd to their side ' | - |
| - | |
| Now crowds on crowds around the Goddess press | F2 |
| Each eager to present their first address | F2 |
| Dunce scorning dunce beholds the next advance | P2 |
| But fop shows fop superior complaisance | P2 |
| When lo a spector rose whose index hand | Q |
| Held forth the virtue of the dreadful wand | Q |
| His beaver'd brow a birchen garland wears | P2 |
| Dropping with infant's blood and mother's tears | P2 |
| O'er every vein a shud'ring horror runs | P2 |
| Eton and Winton shake through all their sons | P2 |
| All flesh is humbl'd Westminster's bold race | P2 |
| Shrink and confess the Genius of the place | P2 |
| The pale boy senator yet tingling stands | P2 |
| And holds his breeches close with both his hands | P2 |
| - | |
| Then thus 'Since man from beast by words is known | D2 |
| Words are man's province words we teach alone | D2 |
| When reason doubtful like the Samian letter | G |
| Points him two ways the narrower is the better | G |
| Plac'd at the door of learning youth to guide | Q |
| We never suffer it to stand too wide | Q |
| To ask to guess to know as they commence | P2 |
| As fancy opens the quick springs of sense | P2 |
| We ply the memory we load the brain | Y |
| Bind rebel Wit and double chain on chain | Y |
| Confine the thought to exercise the breath | Q2 |
| And keep them in the pale of words till death | Q2 |
| Whate'er the talents or howe'er design'd | Q |
| We hang one jingling padlock on the mind | Q |
| A Poet the first day he dips his quill | S |
| And what the last A very Poet still | S |
| Pity the charm works only in our wall | S |
| Lost lost too soon in yonder house or hall | S |
| There truant Wyndham every Muse gave o'er | G |
| There Talbot sunk and was a wit no more | A2 |
| How sweet an Ovid Murray was our boast | Q |
| How many Martials were in Pult'ney lost | Q |
| Else sure some bard to our eternal praise | P2 |
| In twice ten thousand rhyming nights and days | P2 |
| Had reach'd the work and All that mortal can | R2 |
| And South beheld that Masterpiece of Man ' | - |
| - | |
| 'Oh' cried the Goddess 'for some pedant Reign | Y |
| Some gentle James to bless the land again | L2 |
| To stick the Doctor's chair into the throne | D2 |
| Give law to words or war with words alone | D2 |
| Senates and courts with Greek and Latin rule | S |
| And turn the council to a grammar school | S |
| For sure if Dulness sees a grateful day | E |
| 'Tis in the shade of arbitrary sway | E |
Alexander Pope
(1)
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About The Dunciad: Book Iv
The Dunciad: Book Iv is a poem by Alexander Pope. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
