The Second Epistle Of The Second Book Of Horace Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDEFFBBEEGGHIJJKKL MMNNOO PPQQRR SSPPPPPTTPPBBEE UP VVPPWXYYPPPPPPPPZZEE PPPPRRA2A2 PPEEB2B2EE EEEEPPBBC2VE PPPPEEBB PPVVPPBB PPC2VBBBEEPP EEEEPP PPD2D2EEEEP E EEPPE2E2 PPF2GPPBBEEPPEEG2G2E EGGF2D2D2EEEE H2H2EEPPPPI2I2YYPPBB P PPJ2H2PPK2K2 BBPPPP UL2EEE J2J2EEBBM2M2PPEE N2ZPPO2P2PPPP Q2Q2PPP2O2PPBBPPL2UE ER2R2BBS2S2TT KKBB PPVVEEPPK2K2BBA2A2T2 T2 U2U2EEEEBBBBPP PPBBV2W2PP X2BBA2A2P2P2BBPPPPPP VV A2A2Y2Y2EE'Ludentis speciem dabit et torquebitur ' | A |
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HOR | B |
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Dear Colonel Cobham's and your country's friend | C |
You love a verse take such as I can send | C |
A Frenchman comes presents you with his boy | D |
Bows and begins 'The lad sir is of Blois | E |
Observe his shape how clean his locks how curl'd | F |
My only son I'd have him see the world | F |
His French is pure his voice too you shall hear | B |
Sir he's your slave for twenty pound a year | B |
Mere wax as yet you fashion him with ease | E |
Your barber cook upholsterer what you please | E |
A perfect genius at an opera song | G |
To say too much might do my honour wrong | G |
Take him with all his virtues on my word | H |
His whole ambition was to serve a lord | I |
But sir to you with what would I not part | J |
Though faith I fear 'twill break his mother's heart | J |
Once and but once I caught him in a lie | K |
And then unwhipp'd he had the grace to cry | K |
The fault he has I fairly shall reveal | L |
Could you o'erlook but that it is to steal ' | - |
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If after this you took the graceless lad | M |
Could you complain my friend he proved so bad | M |
Faith in such case if you should prosecute | N |
I think Sir Godfrey should decide the suit | N |
Who sent the thief that stole the cash away | O |
And punish'd him that put it in his way | O |
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Consider then and judge me in this light | P |
I told you when I went I could not write | P |
You said the same and are you discontent | Q |
With laws to which you gave your own assent | Q |
Nay worse to ask for verse at such a time | R |
D' ye think me good for nothing but to rhyme | R |
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In Anna's wars a soldier poor and old | S |
Had dearly earn'd a little purse of gold | S |
Tired with a tedious march one luckless night | P |
He slept poor dog and lost it to a doit | P |
This put the man in such a desperate mind | P |
Between revenge and grief and hunger join'd | P |
Against the foe himself and all mankind | P |
He leap'd the trenches scaled a castle wall | T |
Tore down a standard took the fort and all | T |
'Prodigious well ' his great commander cried | P |
Gave him much praise and some reward beside | P |
Next pleased his excellence a town to batter | B |
Its name I know not and it's no great matter | B |
'Go on my friend ' he cried 'see yonder walls | E |
Advance and conquer go where glory calls | E |
More honours more rewards attend the brave ' | - |
Don't you remember what reply he gave | U |
'D' ye think me noble general such a sot | P |
Let him take castles who has ne'er a groat ' | - |
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Bred up at home full early I begun | V |
To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' son | V |
Besides my father taught me from a lad | P |
The better art to know the good from bad | P |
And little sure imported to remove | W |
To hunt for truth in Maudlin's learned grove | X |
But knottier points we knew not half so well | Y |
Deprived us soon of our paternal cell | Y |
And certain laws by sufferers thought unjust | P |
Denied all posts of profit or of trust | P |
Hopes after hopes of pious Papists fail'd | P |
While mighty William's thundering arm prevail'd | P |
For right hereditary tax'd and fined | P |
He stuck to poverty with peace of mind | P |
And me the Muses help'd to undergo it | P |
Convict a Papist he and I a poet | P |
But thanks to Homer since I live and thrive | Z |
Indebted to no prince or peer alive | Z |
Sure I should want the care of ten Monroes | E |
If I would scribble rather than repose | E |
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Years following years steal something every day | P |
At last they steal us from ourselves away | P |
In one our frolics one amusements end | P |
In one a mistress drops in one a friend | P |
This subtle thief of life this paltry time | R |
What will it leave me if it snatch my rhyme | R |
If every wheel of that unwearied mill | A2 |
That turn'd ten thousand verses now stands still | A2 |
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But after all what would you have me do | P |
When out of twenty I can please not two | P |
When this heroics only deigns to praise | E |
Sharp satire that and that Pindaric lays | E |
One likes the pheasant's wing and one the leg | B2 |
The vulgar boil the learned roast an egg | B2 |
Hard task to hit the palate of such guests | E |
When Oldfield loves what Dartineuf detests | E |
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But grant I may relapse for want of grace | E |
Again to rhyme can London be the place | E |
Who there his Muse or self or soul attends | E |
In crowds and courts law business feasts and friends | E |
My counsel sends to execute a deed | P |
A poet begs me I will hear him read | P |
In Palace yard at nine you'll find me there | B |
At ten for certain sir in Bloomsbury Square | B |
Before the Lords at twelve my cause comes on | C2 |
There's a rehearsal sir exact at one | V |
'Oh but a wit can study in the streets | E |
And raise his mind above the mob he meets ' | - |
Not quite so well however as one ought | P |
A hackney coach may chance to spoil a thought | P |
And then a nodding beam or pig of lead | P |
God knows may hurt the very ablest head | P |
Have you not seen at Guildhall's narrow pass | E |
Two aldermen dispute it with an ass | E |
And peers give way exalted as they are | B |
Even to their own s r v nce in a car | B |
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Go lofty poet and in such a crowd | P |
Sing thy sonorous verse but not aloud | P |
Alas to grottos and to groves we run | V |
To ease and silence every Muse's son | V |
Blackmore himself for any grand effort | P |
Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl's Court | P |
How shall I rhyme in this eternal roar | B |
How match the bards whom none e'er match'd before | B |
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The man who stretch'd in Isis' calm retreat | P |
To books and study gives seven years complete | P |
See strew'd with learned dust his nightcap on | C2 |
He walks an object new beneath the sun | V |
The boys flock round him and the people stare | B |
So stiff so mute some statue you would swear | B |
Stepp'd from its pedestal to take the air | B |
And here while town and court and city roars | E |
With mobs and duns and soldiers at their doors | E |
Shall I in London act this idle part | P |
Composing songs for fools to get by heart | P |
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The Temple late two brother sergeants saw | E |
Who deem'd each other oracles of law | E |
With equal talents these congenial souls | E |
One lull'd th' Exchequer and one stunn'd the Rolls | E |
Each had a gravity would make you split | P |
And shook his head at Murray as a wit | P |
''Twas sir your law' and 'Sir your eloquence ' | - |
'Yours Cowper's manner and yours Talbot's sense ' | - |
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Thus we dispose of all poetic merit | P |
Yours Milton's genius and mine Homer's spirit | P |
Call Tibbald Shakspeare and he'll swear the Nine | D2 |
Dear Cibber never match'd one ode of thine | D2 |
Lord how we strut through Merlin's cave to see | E |
No poets there but Stephen you and me | E |
Walk with respect behind while we at ease | E |
Weave laurel crowns and take what names we please | E |
'My dear Tibullus ' if that will not do | P |
'Let me be Horace and be Ovid you ' | - |
Or 'I'm content allow me Dryden's strains | E |
And you shall rise up Otway for your pains ' | - |
Much do I suffer much to keep in peace | E |
This jealous waspish wrong head rhyming race | E |
And much must flatter if the whim should bite | P |
To court applause by printing what I write | P |
But let the fit pass o'er I'm wise enough | E2 |
To stop my ears to their confounded stuff | E2 |
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In vain bad rhymers all mankind reject | P |
They treat themselves with most profound respect | P |
'Tis to small purpose that you hold your tongue | F2 |
Each praised within is happy all day long | G |
But how severely with themselves proceed | P |
The men who write such verse as we can read | P |
Their own strict judges not a word they spare | B |
That wants or force or light or weight or care | B |
Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place | E |
Nay though at court perhaps it may find grace | E |
Such they'll degrade and sometimes in its stead | P |
In downright charity revive the dead | P |
Mark where a bold expressive phrase appears | E |
Bright through the rubbish of some hundred years | E |
Command old words that long have slept to wake | G2 |
Words that wise Bacon or brave Raleigh spake | G2 |
Or bid the new be English ages hence | E |
For use will father what's begot by sense | E |
Pour the full tide of eloquence along | G |
Serenely pure and yet divinely strong | G |
Rich with the treasures of each foreign tongue | F2 |
Prune the luxuriant the uncouth refine | D2 |
But show no mercy to an empty line | D2 |
Then polish all with so much life and ease | E |
You think 'tis nature and a knack to please | E |
But ease in writing flows from art not chance | E |
As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance | E |
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If such the plague and pains to write by rule | H2 |
Better say I be pleased and play the fool | H2 |
Call if you will bad rhyming a disease | E |
It gives men happiness or leaves them ease | E |
There lived in primo Georgii they record | P |
A worthy member no small fool a lord | P |
Who though the House was up delighted sat | P |
Heard noted answer'd as in full debate | P |
In all but this a man of sober life | I2 |
Fond of his friend and civil to his wife | I2 |
Not quite a madman though a pasty fell | Y |
And much too wise to walk into a well | Y |
Him the damn'd doctors and his friends immured | P |
They bled they cupp'd they purged in short they cured | P |
Whereat the gentleman began to stare | B |
'My friends ' he cried 'pox take you for your care | B |
That from a patriot of distinguish'd note | P |
Have bled and purged me to a simple vote ' | - |
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Well on the whole plain prose must be my fate | P |
Wisdom curse on it will come soon or late | P |
There is a time when poets will grow dull | J2 |
I'll e'en leave verses to the boys at school | H2 |
To rules of poetry no more confined | P |
I learn to smooth and harmonise my mind | P |
Teach every thought within its bounds to roll | K2 |
And keep the equal measure of the soul | K2 |
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Soon as I enter at my country door | B |
My mind resumes the thread it dropped before | B |
Thoughts which at Hyde park corner I forgot | P |
Meet and rejoin me in the pensive grot | P |
There all alone and compliments apart | P |
I ask these sober questions of my heart | P |
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If when the more you drink the more you crave | U |
You tell the doctor when the more you have | L2 |
The more you want why not with equal ease | E |
Confess as well your folly as disease | E |
The heart resolves this matter in a trice | E |
'Men only feel the smart but not the vice ' | - |
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When golden angels cease to cure the evil | J2 |
You give all royal witchcraft to the devil | J2 |
When servile chaplains cry that birth and place | E |
Indue a peer with honour truth and grace | E |
Look in that breast most dirty D be fair | B |
Say can you find out one such lodger there | B |
Yet still not heeding what your heart can teach | M2 |
You go to church to hear these flatterers preach | M2 |
Indeed could wealth bestow or wit or merit | P |
A grain of courage or a spark of spirit | P |
The wisest man might blush I must agree | E |
If D loved sixpence more than he | E |
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If there be truth in law and use can give | N2 |
A property that's yours on which you live | Z |
Delightful Abbs Court if its fields afford | P |
Their fruits to you confesses you its lord | P |
All Worldly's hens nay partridge sold to town | O2 |
His ven'son too a guinea makes your own | P2 |
He bought at thousands what with better wit | P |
You purchase as you want and bit by bit | P |
Now or long since what difference will be found | P |
You pay a penny and he paid a pound | P |
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Heathcote himself and such large acred men | Q2 |
Lords of fat Ev'sham or of Lincoln fen | Q2 |
Buy every stick of wood that lends them heat | P |
Buy every pullet they afford to eat | P |
Yet these are wights who fondly call their own | P2 |
Half that the devil o'erlooks from Lincoln town | O2 |
The laws of God as well as of the land | P |
Abhor a perpetuity should stand | P |
Estates have wings and hang in fortune's power | B |
Loose on the point of every wavering hour | B |
Ready by force or of your own accord | P |
By sale at least by death to change their lord | P |
Man and for ever wretch what wouldst thou have | L2 |
Heir urges heir like wave impelling wave | U |
All vast possessions just the same the case | E |
Whether you call them villa park or chase | E |
Alas my Bathurst what will they avail | R2 |
Join Cotswood hills to Saperton's fair dale | R2 |
Let rising granaries and temples here | B |
There mingled farms and pyramids appear | B |
Link towns to towns with avenues of oak | S2 |
Enclose whole downs in walls 'tis all a joke | S2 |
Inexorable death shall level all | T |
And trees and stones and farms and farmer fall | T |
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Gold silver ivory vases sculptured high | K |
Paint marble gems and robes of Persian dye | K |
There are who have not and thank Heaven there are | B |
Who if they have not think not worth their care | B |
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Talk what you will of taste my friend you'll find | P |
Two of a face as soon as of a mind | P |
Why of two brothers rich and restless one | V |
Ploughs burns manures and toils from sun to sun | V |
The other slights for women sports and wines | E |
All Townshend's turnips and all Grosvenor's mines | E |
Why one like Bu with pay and scorn content | P |
Bows and votes on in court and parliament | P |
One driven by strong benevolence of soul | K2 |
Shall fly like Oglethorpe from pole to pole | K2 |
Is known alone to that Directing Power | B |
Who forms the genius in the natal hour | B |
That God of Nature who within us still | A2 |
Inclines our action not constrains our will | A2 |
Various of temper as of face or frame | T2 |
Each individual His great end the same | T2 |
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Yes sir how small soever be my heap | U2 |
A part I will enjoy as well as keep | U2 |
My heir may sigh and think it want of grace | E |
A man so poor would live without a place | E |
But sure no statute in his favour says | E |
How free or frugal I shall pass my days | E |
I who at some times spend at others spare | B |
Divided between carelessness and care | B |
'Tis one thing madly to disperse my store | B |
Another not to heed to treasure more | B |
Glad like a boy to snatch the first good day | P |
And pleased if sordid want be far away | P |
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What is't to me a passenger God wot | P |
Whether my vessel be first rate or not | P |
The ship itself may make a better figure | B |
But I that sail am neither less nor bigger | B |
I neither strut with every favouring breath | V2 |
Nor strive with all the tempest in my teeth | W2 |
In power wit figure virtue fortune placed | P |
Behind the foremost and before the last | P |
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'But why all this of avarice I have none ' | - |
I wish you joy sir of a tyrant gone | X2 |
But does no other lord it at this hour | B |
As wild and mad the avarice of power | B |
Does neither rage inflame nor fear appal | A2 |
Not the black fear of death that saddens all | A2 |
With terrors round can reason hold her throne | P2 |
Despise the known nor tremble at the unknown | P2 |
Survey both worlds intrepid and entire | B |
In spite of witches devils dreams and fire | B |
Pleased to look forward pleased to look behind | P |
And count each birthday with a grateful mind | P |
Has life no sourness drawn so near its end | P |
Canst thou endure a foe forgive a friend | P |
Has age but melted the rough parts away | P |
As winter fruits grow mild ere they decay | P |
Or will you think my friend your business done | V |
When of a hundred thorns you pull out one | V |
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Learn to live well or fairly make your will | A2 |
You've play'd and loved and eat and drank your fill | A2 |
Walk sober off before a sprightlier age | Y2 |
Comes tittering on and shoves you from the stage | Y2 |
Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease | E |
Whom folly pleases and whose follies please | E |
Alexander Pope
(1)
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