The Spleen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBACDDCEEFFFGGHIIHJ GGGGJ KKLLMMMGGGGNOONNPP QQGGRSGGQGHNTHGGGUUU VVUUWXGVVGYYYVVGGUVV UVVVVV VVVVZVVA2ZVSJNSVGVGV VVVVB2B2VC2C2GGG C2C2GGC2C2C2MMVVVD2D 2GGG VVVVGVVGGGGE2E2What art thou SPLEEN which ev'ry thing dost ape | A |
Thou Proteus to abus'd Mankind | B |
Who never yet thy real Cause cou'd find | B |
Or fix thee to remain in one continued Shape | A |
Still varying thy perplexing Form | C |
Now a Dead Sea thou'lt represent | D |
A Calm of stupid Discontent | D |
Then dashing on the Rocks wilt rage into a Storm | C |
Trembling sometimes thou dost appear | E |
Dissolv'd into a Panick Fear | E |
On Sleep intruding dost thy Shadows spread | F |
Thy gloomy Terrours round the silent Bed | F |
And croud with boading Dreams the Melancholy Head | F |
Or when the Midnight Hour is told | G |
And drooping Lids thou still dost waking hold | G |
Thy fond Delusions cheat the Eyes | H |
Before them antick Spectres dance | I |
Unusual Fires their pointed Heads advance | I |
And airy Phantoms rise | H |
Such was the monstrous Vision seen | J |
When Brutus now beneath his Cares opprest | G |
And all Rome's Fortunes rolling in his Breast | G |
Before Philippi's latest Field | G |
Before his Fate did to Octavius lead | G |
Was vanquish'd by the Spleen | J |
- | |
Falsly the Mortal Part we blame | K |
Of our deprest and pond'rous Frame | K |
Which till the First degrading Sin | L |
Let Thee its dull Attendant in | L |
Still with the Other did comply | M |
Nor clogg'd the Active Soul dispos'd to fly | M |
And range the Mansions of it's native Sky | M |
Nor whilst in his own Heaven he dwelt | G |
Whilst Man his Paradice possest | G |
His fertile Garden in the fragrant East | G |
And all united Odours smelt | G |
No armed Sweets until thy Reign | N |
Cou'd shock the Sense or in the Face | O |
A flusht unhandsom Colour place | O |
Now the Jonquille o'ercomes the feeble Brain | N |
We faint beneath the Aromatick Pain | N |
Till some offensive Scent thy Pow'rs appease | P |
And Pleasure we resign for short and nauseous Ease | P |
- | |
In ev'ry One thou dost possess | Q |
New are thy Motions and thy Dress | Q |
Now in some Grove a list'ning Friend | G |
Thy false Suggestions must attend | G |
Thy whisper'd Griefs thy fancy'd Sorrows hear | R |
Breath'd in a Sigh and witness'd by a Tear | S |
Whilst in the light and vulgar Croud | G |
Thy Slaves more clamorous and loud | G |
By Laughters unprovok'd thy Influence too confess | Q |
In the Imperious Wife thou Vapours art | G |
Which from o'erheated Passions rise | H |
In Clouds to the attractive Brain | N |
Until descending thence again | T |
Thro' the o'er cast and show'ring Eyes | H |
Upon her Husband's soften'd Heart | G |
He the disputed Point must yield | G |
Something resign of the contested Field | G |
Til Lordly Man born to Imperial Sway | U |
Compounds for Peace to make that Right away | U |
And Woman arm'd with Spleen do's servilely Obey | U |
- | |
The Fool to imitate the Wits | V |
Complains of thy pretended Fits | V |
And Dulness born with him wou'd lay | U |
Upon thy accidental Sway | U |
Because sometimes thou dost presume | W |
Into the ablest Heads to come | X |
That often Men of Thoughts refin'd | G |
Impatient of unequal Sence | V |
Such slow Returns where they so much dispense | V |
Retiring from the Croud are to thy Shades inclin'd | G |
O'er me alas thou dost too much prevail | Y |
I feel thy Force whilst I against thee rail | Y |
I feel my Verse decay and my crampt Numbers fail | Y |
Thro' thy black Jaundice I all Objects see | V |
As Dark and Terrible as Thee | V |
My Lines decry'd and my Employment thought | G |
An useless Folly or presumptuous Fault | G |
Whilst in the Muses Paths I stray | U |
Whilst in their Groves and by their secret Springs | V |
My Hand delights to trace unusual Things | V |
And deviates from the known and common way | U |
Nor will in fading Silks compose | V |
Faintly th' inimitable Rose | V |
Fill up an ill drawn Bird or paint on Glass | V |
The Sov'reign's blurr'd and undistinguish'd Face | V |
The threatning Angel and the speaking Ass | V |
- | |
Patron thou art to ev'ry gross Abuse | V |
The sullen Husband's feign'd Excuse | V |
When the ill Humour with his Wife he spends | V |
And bears recruited Wit and Spirits to his Friends | V |
The Son of Bacchus pleads thy Pow'r | Z |
As to the Glass he still repairs | V |
Pretends but to remove thy Cares | V |
Snatch from thy Shades one gay and smiling Hour | A2 |
And drown thy Kingdom in a purple Show'r | Z |
When the Coquette whom ev'ry Fool admires | V |
Wou'd in Variety be Fair | S |
And changing hastily the Scene | J |
From Light Impertinent and Vain | N |
Assumes a soft a melancholy Air | S |
And of her Eyes rebates the wand'ring Fires | V |
The careless Posture and the Head reclin'd | G |
The thoughtful and composed Face | V |
Proclaiming the withdrawn the absent Mind | G |
Allows the Fop more liberty to gaze | V |
Who gently for the tender Cause inquires | V |
The Cause indeed is a Defect in Sense | V |
Yet is the Spleen alleg'd and still the dull Pretence | V |
But these are thy fantastic Harms | V |
The Tricks of thy pernicious Stage | B2 |
Which do the weaker Sort engage | B2 |
Worse are the dire Effects of thy more pow'rful Charms | V |
By Thee Religion all we know | C2 |
That shou'd enlighten here below | C2 |
Is veil'd in Darkness and perplext | G |
With anxious Doubts with endless Scruples vext | G |
And some Restraint imply'd from each perverted Text | G |
- | |
Whilst Touch not Taste not what is freely giv'n | C2 |
Is but thy niggard Voice disgracing bounteous Heav'n | C2 |
From Speech restrain'd by thy Deceits abus'd | G |
To Desarts banish'd or in Cells reclus'd | G |
Mistaken Vot'ries to the Pow'rs Divine | C2 |
Whilst they a purer Sacrifice design | C2 |
Do but the Spleen obey and worship at thy Shrine | C2 |
In vain to chase thee ev'ry Art we try | M |
In vain all Remedies apply | M |
In vain the Indian Leaf infuse | V |
Or the parch'd Eastern Berry bruise | V |
Some pass in vain those Bounds and nobler Liquors use | V |
Now Harmony in vain we bring | D2 |
Inspire the Flute and touch the String | D2 |
From Harmony no help is had | G |
Musick but soothes thee if too sweetly sad | G |
And if too light but turns thee gayly Mad | G |
- | |
Tho' the Physicians greatest Gains | V |
Altho' his growing Wealth he sees | V |
Daily increas'd by Ladies Fees | V |
Yet dost thou baffle all his studious Pains | V |
Not skilful Lower thy Source cou'd find | G |
Or thro' the well dissected Body trace | V |
The secret the mysterious ways | V |
By which thou dost surprize and prey upon the Mind | G |
Tho' in the Search too deep for Humane Thought | G |
With unsuccessful Toil he wrought | G |
'Til thinking Thee to've catch'd Himself by thee was caught | G |
Retain'd thy Pris'ner thy acknowleg'd Slave | E2 |
And sunk beneath thy Chain to a lamented Grave | E2 |
Anne Kingsmill Finch
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Spleen poem by Anne Kingsmill Finch
Best Poems of Anne Kingsmill Finch