On The Hurricane Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDCBEEFFGGHIHIEJ JK LLMMNOPPQQRRSSTTUUVD VDOOWTTW XYZYA2B2A2B2 GGLLC2C2ELLEEYYYYD2Y D2 RRYYY LLYYYRRYRRLRRR YYE2E2OOYRYRF2G2G2 YYYLLYYEERH2H2RYYYYY YYI2F2F2RRRRYYJ2RRJ2 YYYYYY YYYYRYYYRYYYRR YYI2I2K2K2I2I2BBLLL RRR YLYH2You have obey'd you WINDS that must fulfill | A |
The Great Disposer's righteous Will | A |
Throughout the Land unlimited you flew | B |
Nor sought as heretofore with Friendly Aid | C |
Only new Motion to bestow | D |
Upon the sluggish Vapours bred below | D |
Condensing into Mists and melancholy Shade | C |
No more such gentle Methods you pursue | B |
But marching now in terrible Array | E |
Undistinguish'd was your Prey | E |
In vain the Shrubs with lowly Bent | F |
Sought their Destruction to prevent | F |
The Beech in vain with out stretch'd Arms | G |
Deprecates th' approaching Harms | G |
In vain the Oak so often storm'd | H |
Rely'd upon that native Force | I |
By which already was perform'd | H |
So much of his appointed Course | I |
As made him fearless of Decay | E |
Wait but the accomplish'd Time | J |
Of his long wish'd and useful Prime | J |
To be remov'd with Honor to the Sea | K |
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The strait and ornamental Pine | L |
Did in the like Ambition joyn | L |
And thought his Fame shou'd ever last | M |
When in some Royal Ship he stood the planted Mast | M |
And shou'd again his Length of Timber rear | N |
And new engrafted Branches wear | O |
Of fibrous Cordage and impending Shrouds | P |
Still trimm'd with human Care and water'd by the Clouds | P |
But oh you Trees who solitary stood | Q |
Or you whose Numbers form'd a Wood | Q |
You who on Mountains chose to rise | R |
And drew them nearer to the Skies | R |
Or you whom Valleys late did hold | S |
In flexible and lighter Mould | S |
You num'rous Brethren of the Leafy Kind | T |
To whatsoever Use design'd | T |
Now vain you found it to contend | U |
With not alas one Element your Friend | U |
Your Mother Earth thro' long preceding Rains | V |
Which undermining sink below | D |
No more her wonted Strength retains | V |
Nor you so fix'd within her Bosom grow | D |
That for your sakes she can resolve to bear | O |
These furious Shocks of hurrying Air | O |
But finding All your Ruin did conspire | W |
She soon her beauteous Progeny resign'd | T |
To this destructive this imperious Wind | T |
That check'd your nobler Aims and gives you to the Fire | W |
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Thus have thy Cedars Libanus been struck | X |
As the lythe Oziers twisted round | Y |
Thus Cadez has thy Wilderness been shook | Z |
When the appalling and tremendous Sound | Y |
Of rattl'ing Tempests o'er you broke | A2 |
And made your stubborn Glories bow | B2 |
When in such Whirlwinds the Almighty spoke | A2 |
Warning Judea then as our Britannia now | B2 |
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Yet these were the remoter Harms | G |
Foreign the Care and distant the Alarms | G |
Whilst but sheltring Trees alone | L |
Master'd soon and soon o'erthrown | L |
Felt those Gusts which since prevail | C2 |
And loftier Palaces assail | C2 |
Whose shaken Turrets now give way | E |
With vain Inscriptions which the Freeze has borne | L |
Through Ages past t'extol and to adorn | L |
And to our latter Times convey | E |
Who did the Structures deep Foundation lay | E |
Forcing his Praise upon the gazing Croud | Y |
And whilst he moulders in a scanty Shroud | Y |
Telling both Earth and Skies he when alive was proud | Y |
Now down at once comes the superfluous Load | Y |
The costly Fret work with it yields | D2 |
Whose imitated Fruits and Flow'rs are strew'd | Y |
Like those of real Growth o'er the Autumnal Fields | D2 |
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The present Owner lifts his Eyes | R |
And the swift Change with sad Affrightment spies | R |
The Cieling gone that late the Roof conceal'd | Y |
The Roof untyl'd thro' which the Heav'ns reveal'd | Y |
Exposes now his Head when all Defence has fail'd | Y |
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What alas is to be done | L |
Those who in Cities wou'd from Dangers run | L |
Do but encreasing Dangers meet | Y |
And Death in various shapes attending in the Street | Y |
While some too tardy in their Flight | Y |
O'ertaken by a worse Mischance | R |
Their upward Parts do scarce advance | R |
When on their following Limbs th' extending Ruins light | Y |
One half's interr'd the other yet survives | R |
And for Release with fainting Vigour strives | R |
Implores the Aid of absent Friends in vain | L |
With fault'ring Speech and dying Wishes calls | R |
Those whom perhaps their own Domestick Walls | R |
By parallel Distress or swifter Death retains | R |
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O Wells thy Bishop's Mansion we lament | Y |
So tragical the Fall so dire th'Event | Y |
But let no daring Thought presume | E2 |
To point a Cause for that oppressive Doom | E2 |
Yet strictly pious KEN had'st Thou been there | O |
This Fate we think had not become thy share | O |
Nor had that awful Fabrick bow'd | Y |
Sliding from its loosen'd Bands | R |
Nor yielding Timbers been allow'd | Y |
To crush thy ever lifted Hands | R |
Or interrupt thy Pray'r | F2 |
Those Orizons that nightly Watches keep | G2 |
Had call'd thee from thy Bed or there secur'd thy Sleep | G2 |
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Whilst you bold Winds and Storms his Word obey'd | Y |
Whilst you his Scourge the Great Jehova made | Y |
And into ruin'd Heaps our Edifices laid | Y |
You South and West the Tragedy began | L |
As with disorder'd haste you o'er the Surface ran | L |
Forgetting that you were design'd | Y |
Chiefly thou Zephyrus thou softest Wind | Y |
Only our Heats when sultry to allay | E |
And chase the od'rous Gums by your dispersing Play | E |
Now by new Orders and Decrees | R |
For our Chastisement issu'd forth | H2 |
You on his Confines the alarmed North | H2 |
With equal Fury sees | R |
And summons swiftly to his Aid | Y |
Eurus his Confederate made | Y |
His eager Second in th' opposing Fight | Y |
That even the Winds may keep the Balance right | Y |
Nor yield increase of Sway to arbitrary Might | Y |
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Meeting now they all contend | Y |
Those assail while These defend | Y |
Fierce and turbulent the War | I2 |
And in the loud tumultuous Jar | F2 |
Winds their own Fifes and Clarions are | F2 |
Each Cavity which Art or Nature leaves | R |
Their Inspiration hastily receives | R |
Whence from their various Forms and Size | R |
As various Symphonies arise | R |
Their Trumpet ev'ry hollow Tube is made | Y |
And when more solid Bodies they invade | Y |
Enrag'd they can no farther come | J2 |
The beaten Flatt whilst it repels the Noise | R |
Resembles but with more outrageous Voice | R |
The Soldier's threatning Drum | J2 |
And when they compass thus our World around | Y |
When they our Rocks and Mountains rend | Y |
When they our Sacred Piles to their Foundations send | Y |
No wonder if our ecchoing Caves rebound | Y |
No wonder if our list'ning Sense they wound | Y |
When arm'd with so much Force and usher'd with such Sound | Y |
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Nor scarce amidst the Terrors of that Night | Y |
When you fierce Winds such Desolations wrought | Y |
When you from out his Stores the Great Commander brought | Y |
Cou'd the most Righteous stand upright | Y |
Scarcely the Holiest Man performs | R |
The Service that becomes it best | Y |
By ardent Vows or solemn Pray'rs addrest | Y |
Nor finds the Calm so usual to his Breast | Y |
Full Proof against such Storms | R |
How shou'd the Guilty then be found | Y |
The Men in Wine or looser Pleasures drown'd | Y |
To fix a stedfast Hope or to maintain their Ground | Y |
When at his Glass the late Companion feels | R |
That Giddy like himself the tott'ring Mansion reels | R |
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The Miser who with many a Chest | Y |
His gloomy Tenement opprest | Y |
Now fears the over burthen'd Floor | I2 |
And trembles for his Life but for his Treasure more | I2 |
What shall he do or to what Pow'rs apply | K2 |
To those which threaten from on High | K2 |
By him ne'er call'd upon before | I2 |
Who also will suggest th' impossible Restore | I2 |
No Mammon to thy Laws he will be true | B |
And rather than his Wealth will bid the World adieu | B |
The Rafters sink and bury'd with his Coin | L |
That Fate does with his living Thoughts combine | L |
For still his Heart's inclos'd within a Golden Mine | L |
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Contention with its angry Brawls | R |
By Storms o'er clamour'd shrinks and falls | R |
Nor WHIG nor TORY now the rash Contender calls | R |
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Those who but Vanity allow'd | Y |
Nor thought it reach'd the Name of Sin | L |
To be of their Perfections proud | Y |
Too much adorn'd withou | H2 |
Anne Kingsmill Finch
(1)
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