Windsor Forest Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFGHHIIJJKK BBLLMMNNIINNOOPQRRSS TTUVJJWXYYZZFFA2A2FF B2B2C2C2EEA2A2D2E2F2 F2A2A2F2F2F2F2FFG2G2 JJF2F2A2A2F2F2FFA2A2 F2F2F2F2A2A2A2A2JJF2 F2H2E2F2F2A2A2A2A2F2 F2A2A2F2F2I2I2H2H2A2 A2A2A2A2A2I2I2J2K2H2 H2A2A2A2A2A2A2I2I2A2 A2A2A2L2E2A2A2FFA2A2 M2M2A2A2FFN2N2FFA2A2 O2O2A2A2A2A2P2P2H2D2Thy forests Windsor and thy green retreats | A |
At once the Monarch's and the Muse's seats | A |
Invite my lays Be present sylvan maids | B |
Unlock your springs and open all your shades | B |
Granville commands your aid O Muses bring | C |
What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing | C |
The groves of Eden vanish'd now so long | D |
Live in description and look green in song | D |
These were my breast inspir'd with equal flame | E |
Like them in beauty should be like in fame | E |
Here hills and vales the woodland and the plain | F |
Here earth and water seem to strive again | G |
Not Chaos like together crush'd and bruis'd | H |
But as the world harmoniously confus'd | H |
Where order in variety we see | I |
And where tho' all things differ all agree | I |
Here waving groves a checquer'd scene display | J |
And part admit and part exclude the day | J |
As some coy nymph her lover's warm address | K |
Nor quite indulges nor can quite repress | K |
There interspers'd in lawns and opening glades | B |
Thin trees arise that shun each other's shades | B |
Here in full light the russet plains extend | L |
There wrapt in clouds the blueish hills ascend | L |
Ev'n the wild heath displays her purple dyes | M |
And 'midst the desart fruitful fields arise | M |
That crown'd with tufted trees and springing corn | N |
Like verdant isles the sable waste adorn | N |
Let India boast her plants nor envy we | I |
The weeping amber or the balmy tree | I |
While by our oaks the precious loads are born | N |
And realms commanded which those trees adorn | N |
Not proud Olympus yields a nobler sight | O |
Tho' Gods assembled grace his tow'ring height | O |
Than what more humble mountains offer here | P |
Where in their blessings all those Gods appear | Q |
See Pan with flocks with fruits Pomona crown'd | R |
Here blushing Flora paints th' enamel'd ground | R |
Here Ceres' gifts in waving prospect stand | S |
And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand | S |
Rich Industry sits smiling on the plains | T |
And peace and plenty tell a Stuart reigns | T |
Not thus the land appear'd in ages past | U |
A dreary desart and a gloomy waste | V |
To savage beasts and savage laws a prey | J |
And kings more furious and severe than they | J |
Who claim'd the skies dispeopled air and floods | W |
The lonely lords of empty wilds and woods | X |
Cities laid waste they storm'd the dens and caves | Y |
For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves | Y |
What could be free when lawless beasts obey'd | Z |
And ev'n the elements a Tyrant sway'd | Z |
In vain kind seasons swell'd the teeming grain | F |
Soft show'rs distill'd and suns grew warm in vain | F |
The swain with tears his frustrate labour yields | A2 |
And famish'd dies amidst his ripen'd fields | A2 |
What wonder then a beast or subject slain | F |
Were equal crimes in a despotick reign | F |
Both doom'd alike for sportive Tyrants bled | B2 |
But that the subject starv'd the beast was fed | B2 |
Proud Nimrod first the bloody chace began | C2 |
A mighty hunter and his prey was man | C2 |
Our haughty Norman boasts that barb'rous name | E |
And makes his trembling slaves the royal game | E |
The fields are ravish'd from th' industrious swains | A2 |
From men their cities and from Gods their fanes | A2 |
The levell'd towns with weeds lie cover'd o'er | D2 |
The hollow winds thro' naked temples roar | E2 |
Round broken columns clasping ivy twin'd | F2 |
O'er heaps of ruin stalk'd the stately hind | F2 |
The fox obscene to gaping tombs retires | A2 |
And savage howlings fill the sacred quires | A2 |
Aw'd by his Nobles by his Commons curst | F2 |
Th' Oppressor rul'd tyrannic where he durst | F2 |
Stretch'd o'er the Poor and Church his iron rod | F2 |
And serv'd alike his Vassals and his God | F2 |
Whom ev'n the Saxon spar'd and bloody Dane | F |
The wanton victims of his sport remain | F |
But see the man who spacious regions gave | G2 |
A waste for beasts himself deny'd a grave | G2 |
Stretch'd on the lawn his second hope survey | J |
At once the chaser and at once the prey | J |
Lo Rufus tugging at the deadly dart | F2 |
Bleeds in the forest like a wounded hart | F2 |
Succeeding Monarchs heard the subjects cries | A2 |
Nor saw displeas'd the peaceful cottage rise | A2 |
Then gath'ring flocks on unknown mountains fed | F2 |
O'er sandy wilds were yellow harvests spread | F2 |
The forests wonder'd at th' unusual grain | F |
And secret transport touch'd the conscious swain | F |
Fair Liberty Britannia's Goddess rears | A2 |
Her chearful head and leads the golden years | A2 |
Ye vig'rous swains while youth ferments your blood | F2 |
And purer spirits swell the sprightly flood | F2 |
Now range the hills the thickest woods beset | F2 |
Wind the shrill horn or spread the waving net | F2 |
When milder autumn summer's heat succeeds | A2 |
And in the new shorn field the partridge feeds | A2 |
Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds | A2 |
Panting with hope he tries the furrow'd grounds | A2 |
But when the tainted gales the game betray | J |
Couch'd close he lies and meditates the prey | J |
Secure they trust th' unfaithful field beset | F2 |
Till hov'ring o'er 'em sweeps the swelling net | F2 |
Thus if small things we may with great compare | H2 |
When Albion sends her eager sons to war | E2 |
Some thoughtless Town with ease and plenty blest | F2 |
Near and more near the closing lines invest | F2 |
Sudden they seize th' amaz'd defenceless prize | A2 |
And high in air Britannia's standard flies | A2 |
See from the brake the whirring pheasant springs | A2 |
And mounts exulting on triumphant wings | A2 |
Short is his joy he feels the fiery wound | F2 |
Flutters in blood and panting beats the ground | F2 |
Ah what avail his glossy varying dyes | A2 |
His purple crest and scarlet circled eyes | A2 |
The vivid green his shining plumes unfold | F2 |
His painted wings and breast that flames with gold | F2 |
Nor yet when moist Arcturus clouds the sky | I2 |
The woods and fields their pleasing toils deny | I2 |
To plains with well breath'd beagles we repair | H2 |
And trace the mazes of the circling hare | H2 |
Beasts urg'd by us their fellow beasts pursue | A2 |
And learn of man each other to undo | A2 |
With slaught'ring guns th' unweary'd fowler roves | A2 |
When frosts have whiten'd all the naked groves | A2 |
Where doves in flocks the leafless trees o'ershade | A2 |
And lonely woodcocks haunt the wat'ry glade | A2 |
He lifts the tube and levels with his eye | I2 |
Strait a short thunder breaks the frozen sky | I2 |
Oft' as in airy rings they skim the heath | J2 |
The clam'rous plovers feel the leaden death | K2 |
Oft' as the mounting larks their notes prepare | H2 |
They fall and leave their little lives in air | H2 |
In genial spring beneath the quiv'ring shade | A2 |
Where cooling vapours breathe along the mead | A2 |
The patient fisher takes his silent stand | A2 |
Intent his angle trembling in his hand | A2 |
With looks unmov'd he hopes the scaly breed | A2 |
And eyes the dancing cork and bending reed | A2 |
Our plenteous streams a various race supply | I2 |
The bright ey'd perch with fins of Tyrian dye | I2 |
The silver eel in shining volumes roll'd | A2 |
The yellow carp in scales bedrop'd with gold | A2 |
Swift trouts diversify'd with crimson stains | A2 |
And pykes the tyrants of the watry plains | A2 |
Now Cancer glows with Phoebus' fiery car | L2 |
The youth rush eager to the sylvan war | E2 |
Swarm o'er the lawns the forest walks surround | A2 |
Rouze the fleet hart and chear the opening hound | A2 |
Th' impatient courser pants in ev'ry vein | F |
And pawing seems to beat the distant plain | F |
Hills vales and floods appear already cross'd | A2 |
And e'er he starts a thousand steps are lost | A2 |
See the bold youth strain up the threat'ning steep | M2 |
Rush thro' the thickets down the valleys sweep | M2 |
Hang o'er their coursers heads with eager speed | A2 |
And earth rolls back beneath the flying steed | A2 |
Let old Arcadia boast her ample plain | F |
Th' immortal huntress and her virgin train | F |
Nor envy Windsor since thy shades have seen | N2 |
As bright a Goddess and as chaste a Queen | N2 |
Whose care like hers protects the sylvan reign | F |
The Earth's fair light and Empress of the main | F |
Here as old bards have sung Diana stray'd | A2 |
Bath'd in the springs or sought the cooling shade | A2 |
Here arm'd with silver bows in early dawn | O2 |
Her buskin'd Virgins trac'd the dewy lawn | O2 |
Above the rest a rural nymph was fam'd | A2 |
Thy offspring Thames the fair Lodona nam'd | A2 |
Lodona's fate in long oblivion cast | A2 |
The Muse shall sing and what she sings shall last | A2 |
Scarce could the Goddess from her nymph be known | P2 |
But by the crescent and the golden zone | P2 |
She scorn'd the praise of beauty and the care | H2 |
A belt her | D2 |
Alexander Pope
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