The Dunciad: Book The Third Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDDDEFFGGHH CCIIJJKKLLMMDDCCNNOO DP QQKKHHRR SSKTCCDDCCUUVVWXCCDD CCWW YYZZCC RRA2A2B2B2 C2C2DD DDC2C2D2D2E2E2HHDDKK E2E2F2F2 KKCCG2H2E2E2H2H2CC CCE2E2I2J2CCK2K2 NNWXE2E2CCDDCCCCE2E2 E2E2H2H2 L2L2PPH2G2 M2DN2N2O2O2E2E2HHE2E 2P2P2DD E2E2 CCQ2Q2DD K2K2KKKK CCCCB2T CCCCCC R2R2CC S2S2EEE2E2T2T2WWK2K2 E2E2DDE2E2 CCHHE2E2E2E2CCC DDTU2C CCE2E2B2KV2V2DDL2 L2E2E2E2E2E2E2 C CCCCE2E2CCTTE2E2W2W2 B2B2CCJ2J2E2E2 L2L2ZZCCE2E2E2E2E2E2 X2RTB2E2E2CCL2X2NNCC CCNNK2K2KKCCY2Y2TTB2 B2CC Z2Z2E2E2Q2Q2E2E2CCDD E2E2CC KKNNC E2E2 E2 Y2 Y2Y2 E2 M2D Y2 E2E2 Y2 H C Q2A3 E2 KKCC C D Y2 NNCCB3 Y2 E2E2CCDDC3C3P E2 C3C3 D3 E2 Q2Q2NNDD

ARGUMENT	A
	-
After the other persons are disposed in their proper places of rest the goddess transports the king to her temple and there lays him to slumber with his head on her lap a position of marvellous virtue which causes all the visions of wild enthusiasts projectors politicians inamoratos castle builders chemists and poets He is immediately carried on the wings of Fancy and led by a mad poetical Sibyl to the Elysian shade where on the banks of Lethe the souls of the dull are dipped by Bavius before their entrance into this world There he is met by the ghost of Settle and by him made acquainted with the wonders of the place and with those which he himself is destined to perform He takes him to a mount of vision from whence he shows him the past triumphs of the empire of Dulness then the present and lastly the future how small a part of the world was ever conquered by science how soon those conquests were stopped and those very nations again reduced to her dominion then distinguishing the island of Great Britain shows by what aids by what persons and by what degrees it shall be brought to her empire Some of the persons he causes to pass in review before his eyes describing each by his proper figure character and qualifications On a sudden the scene shifts and a vast number of miracles and prodigies appear utterly surprising and unknown to the king himself till they are explained to be the wonders of his own reign now commencing On this subject Settle breaks into a congratulation yet not unmixed with concern that his own times were but the types of these He prophesies how first the nation shall be overrun with farces operas and shows how the throne of Dulness shall be advanced over the theatres and set up even at Court then how her sons shall preside in the seats of arts and sciences giving a glimpse or Pisgah sight of the future fulness of her glory the accomplishment whereof is the subject of the fourth and last book	B
	-
But in her temple's last recess enclosed	C
On Dulness' lap the anointed head reposed	C
Him close the curtains round with vapours blue	D
And soft besprinkles with Cimmerian dew	D
Then raptures high the seat of sense o'erflow	D
Which only heads refined from reason know	E
Hence from the straw where Bedlam's prophet nods	F
He hears loud oracles and talks with gods	F
Hence the fool's Paradise the statesman's scheme	G
The air built castle and the golden dream	G
The maid's romantic wish the chemist's flame	H
And poet's vision of eternal fame	H
	-
And now on Fancy's easy wing convey'd	C
The king descending views the Elysian shade	C
A slip shod sibyl led his steps along	I
In lofty madness meditating song	I
Her tresses staring from poetic dreams	J
And never wash'd but in Castalia's streams	J
Taylor their better Charon lends an oar	K
Once swan of Thames though now he sings no more	K
Benlowes propitious still to blockheads bows	L
And Shadwell nods the poppy on his brows	L
Here in a dusky vale where Lethe rolls	M
Old Bavius sits to dip poetic souls	M
And blunt the sense and fit it for a skull	D
Of solid proof impenetrably dull	D
Instant when dipp'd away they wing their flight	C
Where Brown and Mears unbar the gates of light	C
Demand new bodies and in calf's array	N
Rush to the world impatient for the day	N
Millions and millions on these banks he views	O
Thick as the stars of night or morning dews	O
As thick as bees o'er vernal blossoms fly	D
As thick as eggs at Ward in pillory	P
	-
Wond'ring he gazed when lo a sage appears	Q
By his broad shoulders known and length of ears	Q
Known by the band and suit which Settle wore	K
His only suit for twice three years before	K
All as the vest appear'd the wearer's frame	H
Old in new state another yet the same	H
Bland and familiar as in life begun	R
Thus the great father to the greater son	R
	-
'Oh born to see what none can see awake	S
Behold the wonders of the oblivious lake	S
Thou yet unborn hast touch'd this sacred shore	K
The hand of Bavius drench'd thee o'er and o'er	T
But blind to former as to future fate	C
What mortal knows his pre existent state	C
Who knows how long thy transmigrating soul	D
Might from Boeotian to Boeotian roll	D
How many Dutchmen she vouchsafed to thrid	C
How many stages through old monks she rid	C
And all who since in mild benighted days	U
Mix'd the owl's ivy with the poet's bays	U
As man's meanders to the vital spring	V
Roll all their tides then back their circles bring	V
Or whirligigs twirl'd round by skilful swain	W
Suck the thread in then yield it out again	X
All nonsense thus of old or modern date	C
Shall in thee centre from thee circulate	C
For this our queen unfolds to vision true	D
Thy mental eye for thou hast much to view	D
Old scenes of glory times long cast behind	C
Shall first recall'd rush forward to thy mind	C
Then stretch thy sight o'er all thy rising reign	W
And let the past and future fire thy brain	W
	-
'Ascend this hill whose cloudy point commands	Y
Her boundless empire over seas and lands	Y
See round the poles where keener spangles shine	Z
Where spices smoke beneath the burning line	Z
Earth's wide extremes her sable flag display'd	C
And all the nations cover'd in her shade	C
	-
'Far eastward cast thine eye from whence the sun	R
And orient science their bright course begun	R
One god like monarch all that pride confounds	A2
He whose long wall the wandering Tartar bounds	A2
Heavens what a pile whole ages perish there	B2
And one bright blaze turns learning into air	B2
	-
'Thence to the south extend thy gladden'd eyes	C2
There rival flames with equal glory rise	C2
From shelves to shelves see greedy Vulcan roll	D
And lick up all their physic of the soul	D
	-
'How little mark that portion of the ball	D
Where faint at best the beams of science fall	D
Soon as they dawn from Hyperborean skies	C2
Embodied dark what clouds of Vandals rise	C2
Lo where Maeotis sleeps and hardly flows	D2
The freezing Tanais through a waste of snows	D2
The North by myriads pours her mighty sons	E2
Great nurse of Goths of Alans and of Huns	E2
See Alaric's stern port the martial frame	H
Of Genseric and Attila's dread name	H
See the bold Ostrogoths on Latium fall	D
See the fierce Visigoths on Spain and Gaul	D
See where the morning gilds the palmy shore	K
The soil that arts and infant letters bore	K
His conquering tribes the Arabian prophet draws	E2
And saving ignorance enthrones by laws	E2
See Christians Jews one heavy sabbath keep	F2
And all the western world believe and sleep	F2
	-
'Lo Rome herself proud mistress now no more	K
Of arts but thundering against heathen lore	K
Her gray hair'd synods damning books unread	C
And Bacon trembling for his brazen head	C
Padua with sighs beholds her Livy burn	G2
And ev'n the Antipodes Virgilius mourn	H2
See the cirque falls the unpillar'd temple nods	E2
Streets paved with heroes Tiber choked with gods	E2
Till Peter's keys some christen'd Jove adorn	H2
And Pan to Moses lends his pagan horn	H2
See graceless Venus to a virgin turn'd	C
Or Phidias broken and Apelles burn'd	C
	-
'Behold yon isle by palmers pilgrims trod	C
Men bearded bald cowl'd uncowl'd shod unshod	C
Peel'd patch'd and piebald linsey woolsey brothers	E2
Grave mummers sleeveless some and shirtless others	E2
That once was Britain happy had she seen	I2
No fiercer sons had Easter never been	J2
In peace great goddess ever be adored	C
How keen the war if Dulness draw the sword	C
Thus visit not thy own on this bless'd age	K2
Oh spread thy influence but restrain thy rage	K2
	-
'And see my son the hour is on its way	N
That lifts our goddess to imperial sway	N
This favourite isle long sever'd from her reign	W
Dove like she gathers to her wings again	X
Now look through Fate behold the scene she draws	E2
What aids what armies to assert her cause	E2
See all her progeny illustrious sight	C
Behold and count them as they rise to light	C
As Berecynthia while her offspring vie	D
In homage to the mother of the sky	D
Surveys around her in the bless'd abode	C
An hundred sons and every son a god	C
Not with less glory mighty Dulness crown'd	C
Shall take through Grub Street her triumphant round	C
And her Parnassus glancing o'er at once	E2
Behold an hundred sons and each a dunce	E2
	-
'Mark first that youth who takes the foremost place	E2
And thrusts his person full into your face	E2
With all thy father's virtues bless'd be born	H2
And a new Cibber shall the stage adorn	H2
	-
'A second see by meeker manners known	L2
And modest as the maid that sips alone	L2
From the strong fate of drams if thou get free	P
Another D'Urfey Ward shall sing in thee	P
Thee shall each ale house thee each gill house mourn	H2
And answering gin shops sourer sighs return	G2
	-
'Jacob the scourge of grammar mark with awe	M2
Nor less revere him blunderbuss of law	D
Lo Popple's brow tremendous to the town	N2
Horneck's fierce eye and Roome's funereal frown	N2
Lo sneering Goode half malice and half whim	O2
A fiend in glee ridiculously grim	O2
Each cygnet sweet of Bath and Tunbridge race	E2
Whose tuneful whistling makes the waters pass	E2
Each songster riddler every nameless name	H
All crowd who foremost shall be damn'd to fame	H
Some strain in rhyme the Muses on their racks	E2
Scream like the winding of ten thousand jacks	E2
Some free from rhyme or reason rule or check	P2
Break Priscian's head and Pegasus's neck	P2
Down down the 'larum with impetuous whirl	D
The Pindars and the Miltons of a Curll	D
	-
'Silence ye wolves while Ralph to Cynthia howls	E2
And makes night hideous answer him ye owls	E2
	-
'Sense speech and measure living tongues and dead	C
Let all give way and Morris may be read	C
Flow Welsted flow like thine inspirer beer	Q2
Though stale not ripe though thin yet never clear	Q2
So sweetly mawkish and so smoothly dull	D
Heady not strong o'erflowing though not full	D
	-
'Ah Dennis Gildon ah what ill starr'd rage	K2
Divides a friendship long confirm'd by age	K2
Blockheads with reason wicked wits abhor	K
But fool with fool is barbarous civil war	K
Embrace embrace my sons be foes no more	K
Nor glad vile poets with true critics' gore	K
	-
'Behold yon pair in strict embraces join'd	C
How like in manners and how like in mind	C
Equal in wit and equally polite	C
Shall this a Pasquin that a Grumbler write	C
Like are their merits like rewards they share	B2
That shines a consul this commissioner	T
	-
'But who is he in closet close y pent	C
Of sober face with learned dust besprent	C
Right well mine eyes arede the myster wight	C
On parchment scraps y fed and Wormius hight	C
To future ages may thy dulness last	C
As thou preserv'st the dulness of the past	C
	-
'There dim in clouds the poring scholiasts mark	R2
Wits who like owls see only in the dark	R2
A lumberhouse of books in every head	C
For ever reading never to be read	C
	-
'But where each science lifts its modern type	S2
History her pot divinity her pipe	S2
While proud philosophy repines to show	E
Dishonest sight his breeches rent below	E
Embrown'd with native bronze lo Henley stands	E2
Tuning his voice and balancing his hands	E2
How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue	T2
How sweet the periods neither said nor sung	T2
Still break the benches Henley with thy strain	W
While Sherlock Hare and Gibson preach in vain	W
O great restorer of the good old stage	K2
Preacher at once and zany of thy age	K2
O worthy thou of Egypt's wise abodes	E2
A decent priest where monkeys were the gods	E2
But fate with butchers placed thy priestly stall	D
Meek modern faith to murder hack and maul	D
And bade thee live to crown Britannia's praise	E2
In Toland's Tindal's and in Woolston's days	E2
	-
'Yet O my sons a father's words attend	C
So may the fates preserve the ears you lend	C
'Tis yours a Bacon or a Locke to blame	H
A Newton's genius or a Milton's flame	H
But O with One immortal One dispense	E2
The source of Newton's light of Bacon's sense	E2
Content each emanation of his fires	E2
That beams on earth each virtue he inspires	E2
Each art he prompts each charm he can create	C
Whate'er he gives are given for you to hate	C
Persist by all divine in man unawed	C
But Learn ye Dunces not to scorn your God '	-
	-
Thus he for then a ray of reason stole	D
Half through the solid darkness of his soul	D
But soon the cloud return'd and thus the sire	T
'See now what Dulness and her sons admire	U2
See what the charms that smite the simple heart	C
Not touch'd by Nature and not reach'd by art '	-
	-
His never blushing head he turn'd aside	C
Not half so pleased when Goodman prophesied	C
And looked and saw a sable sorcerer rise	E2
Swift to whose hand a winged volume flies	E2
All sudden Gorgons hiss and dragons glare	B2
And ten horn'd fiends and giants rush to war	K
Hell rises heaven descends and dance on earth	V2
Gods imps and monsters music rage and mirth	V2
A fire a jig a battle and a ball	D
Till one wide conflagration swallows all	D
Thence a new world to Nature's laws unknown	L2
	-
Breaks out refulgent with a heaven its own	L2
Another Cynthia her new journey runs	E2
And other planets circle other suns	E2
The forests dance the rivers upward rise	E2
Whales sport in woods and dolphins in the skies	E2
And last to give the whole creation grace	E2
Lo one vast egg produces human race	E2
	-
Joy fills his soul joy innocent of thought	C
'What power ' he cries 'what power these wonders wrought '	-
'Son what thou seek'st is in thee Look and find	C
Each monster meets his likeness in thy mind	C
Yet would'st thou more In yonder cloud behold	C
Whose sarsenet skirts are edged with flamy gold	C
A matchless youth his nod these worlds controls	E2
Wings the red lightning and the thunder rolls	E2
Angel of Dulness sent to scatter round	C
Her magic charms o'er all unclassic ground	C
Yon stars yon suns he rears at pleasure higher	T
Illumes their light and sets their flames on fire	T
Immortal Rich how calm he sits at ease	E2
'Mid snows of paper and fierce hail of pease	E2
And proud his mistress' orders to perform	W2
Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm	W2
	-
'But lo to dark encounter in mid air	B2
New wizards rise I see my Cibber there	B2
Booth in his cloudy tabernacle shrined	C
On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind	C
Dire is the conflict dismal is the din	J2
Here shouts all Drury there all Lincoln's inn	J2
Contending theatres our empire raise	E2
Alike their labours and alike their praise	E2
	-
'And are these wonders son to thee unknown	L2
Unknown to thee These wonders are thy own	L2
These Fate reserved to grace thy reign divine	Z
Foreseen by me but ah withheld from mine	Z
In Lud's old walls though long I ruled renown'd	C
Far as loud Bow's stupendous bells resound	C
Though my own Aldermen conferred the bays	E2
To me committing their eternal praise	E2
Their full fed heroes their pacific mayors	E2
Their annual trophies and their monthly wars	E2
Though long my party built on me their hopes	E2
For writing pamphlets and for roasting popes	E2
Yet lo in me what authors have to brag on	X2
Reduced at last to hiss in my own dragon	R
Avert it Heaven that thou my Cibber e'er	T
Should'st wag a serpent tail in Smithfield fair	B2
Like the vile straw that's blown about the streets	E2
The needy poet sticks to all he meets	E2
Coach'd carted trod upon now loose now fast	C
And carried off in some dog's tail at last	C
Happier thy fortunes like a rolling stone	L2
Thy giddy dulness still shall lumber on	X2
Safe in its heaviness shall never stray	N
But lick up every blockhead in the way	N
Thee shall the patriot thee the courtier taste	C
And every year be duller than the last	C
Till raised from booths to theatre to court	C
Her seat imperial Dulness shall transport	C
Already Opera prepares the way	N
The sure forerunner of her gentle sway	N
Let her thy heart next drabs and dice engage	K2
The third mad passion of thy doting age	K2
Teach thou the warbling Polypheme to roar	K
And scream thyself as none e'er scream'd before	K
To aid our cause if Heaven thou can'st not bend	C
Hell thou shalt move for Faustus is our friend	C
Pluto with Cato thou for this shalt join	Y2
And link the Mourning Bride to Proserpine	Y2
Grub Street thy fall should men and gods conspire	T
Thy stage shall stand ensure it but from fire	T
Another schylus appears prepare	B2
For new abortions all ye pregnant fair	B2
In flames like Semele's be brought to bed	C
While opening Hell spouts wild fire at your head	C
	-
'Now Bavius take the poppy from thy brow	Z2
And place it here here all ye heroes bow	Z2
This this is he foretold by ancient rhymes	E2
Th' Augustus born to bring Saturnian times	E2
Signs following signs lead on the mighty year	Q2
See the dull stars roll round and re appear	Q2
See see our own true Phoebus wears the bays	E2
Our Midas sits Lord Chancellor of Plays	E2
On poets' tombs see Benson's titles writ	C
Lo Ambrose Philips is preferr'd for wit	C
See under Ripley rise a new Whitehall	D
While Jones' and Boyle's united labours fall	D
While Wren with sorrow to the grave descends	E2
Gay dies unpension'd with a hundred friends	E2
Hibernian politics O Swift thy fate	C
And Pope's ten years to comment and translate	C
	-
'Proceed great days till Learning fly the shore	K
Till Birch shall blush with noble blood no more	K
Till Thames see Eton's sons for ever play	N
Till Westminster's whole year be holiday	N
Till Isis' elders reel their pupils sport	C
And Alma Mater lie dissolved in port '	-
	-
Enough enough the raptured monarch cries	E2
And through the Ivory Gate the vision flies	E2
	-
	-
VARIATIONS	E2
	-
VER In the former edition	Y2
	-
Far eastward cast thine eye from whence the sun	Y2
And orient science at a birth begun	Y2
	-
VER In the first edition it was	E2
	-
Woolston the scourge of scripture mark with awe	M2
And mighty Jacob blunderbuss of law	D
	-
VER Lo Popple's brow c In the former edition	Y2
	-
Haywood Centlivre glories of their race	E2
Lo Horneck's fierce and Roome's funereal face	E2
	-
VER Each songster riddler c In the former edition	Y2
	-
Lo Bond and Foxton every nameless name	H
	-
After VER in the first edition followed	C
	-
How proud how pale how earnest all appear	Q2
How rhymes eternal jingle in their ear	A3
	-
VER In the first edition it was	E2
	-
And proud philosophy with breeches tore	K
And English music with a dismal score	K
Fast by in darkness palpable enshrined	C
W s B r M n all the poring kind	C
	-
After VER in the former edition followed	C
	-
For works like these let deathless journals tell	D
'None but thyself can be thy parallel '	-
	-
VER Safe in its heaviness etc In the former edition	Y2
	-
Too safe in inborn heaviness to stray	N
And lick up every blockhead in the way	N
Thy dragons magistrates and peers shall taste	C
And from each show rise duller than the last	C
Till raised from booths etc	B3
	-
VER See see our own c In the former edition	Y2
	-
Beneath his reign shall Eusden wear the bays	E2
Cibber preside Lord Chancellor of plays	E2
Benson sole Judge of Architecture sit	C
And Namby Pamby be preferr'd for wit	C
I see the unfinish'd dormitory wall	D
I see the Savoy totter to her fall	D
Hibernian politics O Swift thy doom	C3
And Pope's translating three whole years with Broome	C3
Proceed great days c	P
	-
VER In the former edition thus	E2
	-
O Swift thy doom	C3
And Pope's translating ten whole years with Broome	C3
	-
See Life	D3
	-
After VER in the first edition were the following lines	E2
	-
Then when these signs declare the mighty year	Q2
When the dull stars roll round and re appear	Q2
Let there be darkness the dread Power shall say	N
All shall be darkness as it ne'er were day	N
To their first Chaos wit's vain works shall fall	D
And universal darkness cover all	D

Alexander Pope

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