A Poem Upon The Death Of O.c. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ KKLLCCMNCCCCOOPQRRKK SSSSSSCCCCTUCCSSSSRR CCCCVVMMCCWWSSSSXXCC SSSSEESSYYZZA2A2CCB2 B2C2C2EEVVD2YCCSSSSS SSSZZCCSSE2E2F2F2G2G 2SSSSH2H2SSZZSSI2I2S SZZE2E2SSSSSSSSTG2CC CCCCJ2J2K2K2CCSSZZSS CCSSG2That Providence which had so long the care | A |
Of Cromwell's head and numbred ev'ry hair | A |
Now in its self the Glass where all appears | B |
Had seen the period of his golden Years | B |
And thenceforth onely did attend to trace | C |
What death might least so sair a Life deface | C |
The People which what most they fear esteem | D |
Death when more horrid so more noble deem | D |
And blame the last Act like Spectators vain | E |
Unless the Prince whom they applaud be slain | E |
Nor Fate indeed can well refuse that right | F |
To those that liv'd in War to dye in Fight | F |
But long his Valour none had left that could | G |
Indanger him or Clemency that would | G |
And he whom Nature all for Peace had made | H |
But angry Heaven unto War had sway'd | H |
And so less useful where he most desir'd | I |
For what he least affected was admir'd | I |
Deserved yet an End whose ev'ry part | J |
Should speak the wondrous softness of his Heart | J |
To Love and Grief the fatal Writ was sign'd | K |
Those nobler weaknesses of humane Mind | K |
From which those Powers that issu'd the Decree | L |
Although immortal found they were not free | L |
That they to whom his Breast still open lyes | C |
In gentle Passions should his Death disguise | C |
And leave succeeding Ages cause to mourn | M |
As long as Grief shall weep or Love shall burn | N |
Streight does a slow and languishing Disease | C |
Eliza Natures and his darling seize | C |
Her when an infant taken with her Charms | C |
He oft would flourish in his mighty Arms | C |
And lest their force the tender burthen wrong | O |
Slacken the vigour of his Muscles strong | O |
Then to the Mothers brest her softly move | P |
Which while she drain'd of Milk she fill'd with Love | Q |
But as with riper Years her Virtue grew | R |
And ev'ry minute adds a Lustre new | R |
When with meridian height her Beauty shin'd | K |
And thorough that sparkled her fairer Mind | K |
When She with Smiles serene and Words discreet | S |
His hidden Soul at ev'ry turn could meet | S |
Then might y' ha' daily his Affection spy'd | S |
Doubling that knot which Destiny had ty'd | S |
While they by sence not knowing comprehend | S |
How on each other both their Fates depend | S |
With her each day the pleasing Hours he shares | C |
And at her Aspect calms her growing Cares | C |
Or with a Grandsire's joy her Children sees | C |
Hanging about her neck or at his knees | C |
Hold fast dear Infants hold them both or none | T |
This will not stay when once the other's gone | U |
A silent fire now wasts those Limbs of Wax | C |
And him with his tortur'd Image racks | C |
So the Flowr with'ring which the Garden crown'd | S |
The sad Root pines in secret under ground | S |
Each Groan he doubled and each Sigh he sigh'd | S |
Repeated over to the restless Night | S |
No trembling String compos'd to numbers new | R |
Answers the touch in Notes more sad more true | R |
She lest He grieve hides what She can her pains | C |
And He to lessen hers his Sorrow feigns | C |
Yet both perceiv'd yet both conceal'd their Skills | C |
And so diminishing increast their ills | C |
That whether by each others grief they fell | V |
Or on their own redoubled none can tell | V |
And now Eliza's purple Locks were shorn | M |
Where she so long her Fathers fate had worn | M |
And frequent lightning to her Soul that flyes | C |
Devides the Air and opens all the Skyes | C |
And now his Life suspended by her breath | W |
Ran out impetuously to hasting Death | W |
Like polish'd Mirrours so his steely Brest | S |
Had ev'ry figure of her woes exprest | S |
And with the damp of her last Gasps obscur'd | S |
Had drawn such staines as were not to be cur'd | S |
Fate could not either reach with single stroke | X |
But the dear Image fled the Mirrour broke | X |
Who now shall tell us more of mournful Swans | C |
Of Halcyons kind or bleeding Pelicans | C |
No downy breast did ere so gently beat | S |
Or fan with airy plumes so soft an heat | S |
For he no duty by his height excus'd | S |
Nor though a Prince to be a Man refus'd | S |
But rather then in his Eliza's pain | E |
Not love not grieve would neither live nor reign | E |
And in himself so oft immortal try'd | S |
Yet in compassion of another dy'd | S |
So have I seen a Vine whose lasting Age | Y |
Of many a Winter hath surviv'd the rage | Y |
Under whose shady tent Men ev'ry year | Z |
At its rich bloods expence their Sorrows chear | Z |
If some dear branch where it extends its life | A2 |
Chance to be prun'd by an untimely knife | A2 |
The Parent Tree unto the Grief succeeds | C |
And through the Wound its vital humour bleeds | C |
Trickling in watry drops whose flowing shape | B2 |
Weeps that it falls ere fix'd into a Grape | B2 |
So the dry Stock no more that spreading Vine | C2 |
Frustrates the Autumn and the hopes of Wine | C2 |
A secret Cause does sure those Signs ordain | E |
Fore boding Princes falls and seldom vain | E |
Whether some Kinder Pow'rs that wish us well | V |
What they above cannot prevent foretell | V |
Or the great World do by consent presage | D2 |
As hollow Seas with future Tempests rage | Y |
Or rather Heav'n which us so long fore sees | C |
Their fun'rals celebrate while it decrees | C |
But never yet was any humane Fate | S |
By nature solemniz'd with so much state | S |
He unconcern'd the dreadful passage crost | S |
But oh what pangs that Death did Nature cost | S |
First the great Thunder was shot off and sent | S |
The Signal from the starry Battlement | S |
The Winds receive it and its force out do | S |
As practising how they could thunder too | S |
Out of the Binders Hand the Sheaves they tore | Z |
And thrash'd the Harvest in the airy floore | Z |
Or of huge Trees whose growth with his did rise | C |
The deep foundations open'd to the Skyes | C |
Then heavy Showres the winged Tempests dead | S |
And pour the Deluge ore the Chaos head | S |
The Race of warlike Horses at his Tomb | E2 |
Offer themselves in many an Hecatomb | E2 |
With pensive head towards the ground they fall | F2 |
And helpless languish at the tainted Stall | F2 |
Numbers of Men decrease with pains unknown | G2 |
And hasten not to see his Death their own | G2 |
Such Tortures all the Elements unfix'd | S |
Troubled to part where so exactly mix'd | S |
And as through Air his wasting Spirits flow'd | S |
The Universe labour'd beneath their load | S |
Nature it seem'd with him would Nature vye | H2 |
He with Eliza It with him would dye | H2 |
He without noise still travell'd to his End | S |
As silent Suns to meet the Night descend | S |
The Stars that for him fought had only pow'r | Z |
Left to determine now his fatal Hour | Z |
Which since they might not hinder yet they cast | S |
To chuse it worthy of his Glories past | S |
No part of time but bore his mark away | I2 |
Of honour all the Year was Cromwell's day | I2 |
But this of all the most auspicious found | S |
Twice had in open field him Victor crown'd | S |
When up the armed Mountains of Dunbar | Z |
He march'd and through deep Severn ending war | Z |
What day should him eternize but the same | E2 |
That had before immortaliz'd his Name | E2 |
That so who ere would at his Death have joy'd | S |
In their own Griefs might find themselves imploy'd | S |
But those that sadly his departure griev'd | S |
Yet joy'd remembring what he once atcheiv'd | S |
And the last minute his victorious Ghost | S |
Gave chase to Ligny on the Belgick Coast | S |
Here ended all his mortal toyles He lay'd | S |
And slept in Peace under the Lawrel Shade | S |
O Cromwell Heavens Favourite To none | T |
Have such high honours from above been shown | G2 |
For whom the Elements we Mourners see | C |
And Heav'n it self would the great Herald be | C |
Which with more Care set forth his Obsequies | C |
Then those of Moses hid from humane Eyes | C |
As jealous only here lest all be less | C |
That we could to his Memory express | C |
Then let us to our course of Mourning keep | J2 |
Where Heaven leads 'tis Piety to weep | J2 |
Stand back ye Seas and shrunk beneath the vail | K2 |
Of your Abysse with cover'd Head bewail | K2 |
Your Monarch We demand not your supplies | C |
To compass in our Isle our Tears suffice | C |
Since him away the dismal Tempest rent | S |
Who once more joyn'd us to the Continent | S |
Who planted England on the Flandrick shoar | Z |
And stretch'd our frontire to the Indian Ore | Z |
Whose greater Truths obscure the Fables old | S |
Whether of British Saints or Worthy's told | S |
And in a valour less'ning Arthur's deeds | C |
For Holyness the Confessor exceeds | C |
He first put Armes into Religions hand | S |
And tim'rous Conscience unto Courage man'd | S |
The Souldier taught that inw | G2 |
Andrew Marvell
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