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
	-
HOR	B
	-
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 '	-
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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 '	-
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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 '	-
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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 '	-
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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 '	-
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
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
	-
'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
	-
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

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The Second Epistle Of The Second Book Of Horace is a poem by Alexander Pope. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.

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