The Apology. Addressed To The Critical Reviewers.[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AA BBCCDDEEAAFFGGHHIIAA JJAAKKLLFFMMAAJJFFNN AAOOPPQRSSTTBBMMKKUU AATTVVWWOOXXAAYYZA2G GB2B2AAC2C2D2E2 AATTUUF2F2GG2H2H2H2A AI2I2NJ2UUAAZZIIOOB2 B2BBMMC2C2AAK2K2I2I2 L2L2AAM2 KKN2N2AAO2O2P2P2SSWW Q2C2R2R2I2I2MMLLIIS2 S2GGIIJJAAT2T2S2S2 WWU2U2V2V2N2 S2S2DDW2W2UUX2X2SSY2 Y2AAAAOZ2AAJJM2M2A3A 3B2B2BBWWB3B3C2C2A2A 2C3C3BBS2S2AAC2C2D3D 3AAOOE2E2IIMMW2W2AAE 3E3Z2Z2F3F3G3G3FFX2X 2C2C2AAQ2C2AAMMS2S2S SH3H3AAI2I2I3I3XXP2P 2M2M2J3J3AAAAW2W2K3K 3RQGGAAL3L3M3M3T2T2K 3K3AAQ2Q2SSN3N3SSMMA AF3F3O3O3P3P3NNQRA2Z AAAALLWWSSZZEEAAAAQ3 Q3AAAAWWAAS2S2AAAAEE R3R3TTPPAAS3ES2AJ2J2 SST3T3AAHHUUS2PAAAAA AO2O2O3O3U3U3V3V3NJ2 AA

Tristitiam et Metus	A
HORACE	A
	-
Laughs not the heart when giants big with pride	B
Assume the pompous port the martial stride	B
O'er arm Herculean heave the enormous shield	C
Vast as a weaver's beam the javelin wield	C
With the loud voice of thundering Jove defy	D
And dare to single combat what A fly	D
And laugh we less when giant names which shine	E
Establish'd as it were by right divine	E
Critics whom every captive art adores	A
To whom glad Science pours forth all her stores	A
Who high in letter'd reputation sit	F
And hold Astraea like the scales of wit	F
With partial rage rush forth oh shame to tell	G
To crush a bard just bursting from the shell	G
Great are his perils in this stormy time	H
Who rashly ventures on a sea of rhyme	H
Around vast surges roll winds envious blow	I
And jealous rocks and quicksands lurk below	I
Greatly his foes he dreads but more his friends	A
He hurts me most who lavishly commends	A
Look through the world in every other trade	J
The same employment's cause of kindness made	J
At least appearance of good will creates	A
And every fool puffs off the fool he hates	A
Cobblers with cobblers smoke away the night	K
And in the common cause e'en players unite	K
Authors alone with more than savage rage	L
Unnatural war with brother authors wage	L
The pride of Nature would as soon admit	F
Competitors in empire as in wit	F
Onward they rush at Fame's imperious call	M
And less than greatest would not be at all	M
Smit with the love of honour or the pence	A
O'errun with wit and destitute of sense	A
Should any novice in the rhyming trade	J
With lawless pen the realms of verse invade	J
Forth from the court where sceptred sages sit	F
Abused with praise and flatter'd into wit	F
Where in lethargic majesty they reign	N
And what they won by dulness still maintain	N
Legions of factious authors throng at once	A
Fool beckons fool and dunce awakens dunce	A
To 'Hamilton's the ready lies repair	O
Ne'er was lie made which was not welcome there	O
Thence on maturer judgment's anvil wrought	P
The polish'd falsehood's into public brought	P
Quick circulating slanders mirth afford	Q
And reputation bleeds in every word	R
A critic was of old a glorious name	S
Whose sanction handed merit up to fame	S
Beauties as well as faults he brought to view	T
His judgment great and great his candour too	T
No servile rules drew sickly taste aside	B
Secure he walk'd for Nature was his guide	B
But now oh strange reverse our critics bawl	M
In praise of candour with a heart of gall	M
Conscious of guilt and fearful of the light	K
They lurk enshrouded in the vale of night	K
Safe from detection seize the unwary prey	U
And stab like bravoes all who come that way	U
When first my Muse perhaps more bold than wise	A
Bade the rude trifle into light arise	A
Little she thought such tempests would ensue	T
Less that those tempests would be raised by you	T
The thunder's fury rends the towering oak	V
Rosciads like shrubs might 'scape the fatal stroke	V
Vain thought a critic's fury knows no bound	W
Drawcansir like he deals destruction round	W
Nor can we hope he will a stranger spare	O
Who gives no quarter to his friend Voltaire	O
Unhappy Genius placed by partial Fate	X
With a free spirit in a slavish state	X
Where the reluctant Muse oppress'd by kings	A
Or droops in silence or in fetters sings	A
In vain thy dauntless fortitude hath borne	Y
The bigot's furious zeal and tyrant's scorn	Y
Why didst thou safe from home bred dangers steer	Z
Reserved to perish more ignobly here	A2
Thus when the Julian tyrant's pride to swell	G
Rome with her Pompey at Pharsalia fell	G
The vanquish'd chief escaped from Caesar's hand	B2
To die by ruffians in a foreign land	B2
How could these self elected monarchs raise	A
So large an empire on so small a base	A
In what retreat inglorious and unknown	C2
Did Genius sleep when Dulness seized the throne	C2
Whence absolute now grown and free from awe	D2
She to the subject world dispenses law	E2
	-
Without her licence not a letter stirs	A
And all the captive criss cross row is hers	A
The Stagyrite who rules from Nature drew	T
Opinions gave but gave his reasons too	T
Our great Dictators take a shorter way	U
Who shall dispute what the Reviewers say	U
Their word's sufficient and to ask a reason	F2
In such a state as theirs is downright treason	F2
True judgment now with them alone can dwell	G
Like Church of Rome they're grown infallible	G2
Dull superstitious readers they deceive	H2
Who pin their easy faith on critic's sleeve	H2
And knowing nothing everything believe	H2
But why repine we that these puny elves	A
Shoot into giants we may thank ourselves	A
Fools that we are like Israel's fools of yore	I2
The calf ourselves have fashion'd we adore	I2
But let true Reason once resume her reign	N
This god shall dwindle to a calf again	J2
Founded on arts which shun the face of day	U
By the same arts they still maintain their sway	U
Wrapp'd in mysterious secrecy they rise	A
And as they are unknown are safe and wise	A
At whomsoever aim'd howe'er severe	Z
The envenom'd slander flies no names appear	Z
Prudence forbids that step then all might know	I
And on more equal terms engage the foe	I
But now what Quixote of the age would care	O
To wage a war with dirt and fight with air	O
By interest join'd the expert confederates stand	B2
And play the game into each other's hand	B2
The vile abuse in turn by all denied	B
Is bandied up and down from side to side	B
It flies hey presto like a juggler's ball	M
Till it belongs to nobody at all	M
All men and things they know themselves unknown	C2
And publish every name except their own	C2
Nor think this strange secure from vulgar eyes	A
The nameless author passes in disguise	A
But veteran critics are not so deceived	K2
If veteran critics are to be believed	K2
Once seen they know an author evermore	I2
Nay swear to hands they never saw before	I2
Thus in 'The Rosciad ' beyond chance or doubt	L2
They by the writing found the writers out	L2
That's Lloyd's his manner there you plainly trace	A
And all the Actor stares you in the face	A
By Colman that was written on my life	M2
The strongest symptoms of the 'Jealous Wife '	-
That little disingenuous piece of spite	K
Churchill a wretch unknown perhaps might write	K
How doth it make judicious readers smile	N2
When authors are detected by their style	N2
Though every one who knows this author knows	A
He shifts his style much oftener than his clothes	A
Whence could arise this mighty critic spleen	O2
The Muse a trifler and her theme so mean	O2
What had I done that angry Heaven should send	P2
The bitterest foe where most I wish'd a friend	P2
Oft hath my tongue been wanton at thy name	S
And hail'd the honours of thy matchless fame	S
For me let hoary Fielding bite the ground	W
So nobler Pickle stands superbly bound	W
From Livy's temples tear the historic crown	Q2
Which with more justice blooms upon thine own	C2
Compared with thee be all life writers dumb	R2
But he who wrote the Life of Tommy Thumb	R2
Who ever read 'The Regicide ' but swore	I2
The author wrote as man ne'er wrote before	I2
Others for plots and under plots may call	M
Here's the right method have no plot at all	M
Who can so often in his cause engage	L
The tiny pathos of the Grecian stage	L
Whilst horrors rise and tears spontaneous flow	I
At tragic Ha and no less tragic Oh	I
To praise his nervous weakness all agree	S2
And then for sweetness who so sweet as he	S2
Too big for utterance when sorrows swell	G
The too big sorrows flowing tears must tell	G
But when those flowing tears shall cease to flow	I
Why then the voice must speak again you know	I
Rude and unskilful in the poet's trade	J
I kept no Na ads by me ready made	J
Ne'er did I colours high in air advance	A
Torn from the bleeding fopperies of France	A
No flimsy linsey woolsey scenes I wrote	T2
With patches here and there like Joseph's coat	T2
Me humbler themes befit secure for me	S2
Let play wrights smuggle nonsense duty free	S2
	-
Secure for me ye lambs ye lambkins bound	W
And frisk and frolic o'er the fairy ground	W
Secure for me thou pretty little fawn	U2
Lick Sylvia's hand and crop the flowery lawn	U2
Uncensured let the gentle breezes rove	V2
Through the green umbrage of the enchanted grove	V2
Secure for me let foppish Nature smile	N2
And play the coxcomb in the 'Desert Isle '	-
The stage I chose a subject fair and free	S2
'Tis yours 'tis mine 'tis public property	S2
All common exhibitions open lie	D
For praise or censure to the common eye	D
Hence are a thousand hackney writers fed	W2
Hence Monthly Critics earn their daily bread	W2
This is a general tax which all must pay	U
From those who scribble down to those who play	U
Actors a venal crew receive support	X2
From public bounty for the public sport	X2
To clap or hiss all have an equal claim	S
The cobbler's and his lordship's right's the same	S
All join for their subsistence all expect	Y2
Free leave to praise their worth their faults correct	Y2
When active Pickle Smithfield stage ascends	A
The three days' wonder of his laughing friends	A
Each or as judgment or as fancy guides	A
The lively witling praises or derides	A
And where's the mighty difference tell me where	O
Betwixt a Merry Andrew and a player	Z2
The strolling tribe a despicable race	A
Like wandering Arabs shift from place to place	A
Vagrants by law to justice open laid	J
They tremble of the beadle's lash afraid	J
And fawning cringe for wretched means of life	M2
To Madam Mayoress or his Worship's wife	M2
The mighty monarch in theatric sack	A3
Carries his whole regalia at his back	A3
His royal consort heads the female band	B2
And leads the heir apparent in her hand	B2
The pannier'd ass creeps on with conscious pride	B
Bearing a future prince on either side	B
No choice musicians in this troop are found	W
To varnish nonsense with the charms of sound	W
No swords no daggers not one poison'd bowl	B3
No lightning flashes here no thunders roll	B3
No guards to swell the monarch's train are shown	C2
The monarch here must be a host alone	C2
No solemn pomp no slow processions here	A2
No Ammon's entry and no Juliet's bier	A2
By need compell'd to prostitute his art	C3
The varied actor flies from part to part	C3
And strange disgrace to all theatric pride	B
His character is shifted with his side	B
Question and answer he by turns must be	S2
Like that small wit in modern tragedy	S2
Who to patch up his fame or fill his purse	A
Still pilfers wretched plans and makes them worse	A
Like gypsies lest the stolen brat be known	C2
Defacing first then claiming for his own	C2
In shabby state they strut and tatter'd robe	D3
The scene a blanket and a barn the globe	D3
No high conceits their moderate wishes raise	A
Content with humble profit humble praise	A
Let dowdies simper and let bumpkins stare	O
The strolling pageant hero treads in air	O
Pleased for his hour he to mankind gives law	E2
And snores the next out on a truss of straw	E2
But if kind Fortune who sometimes we know	I
Can take a hero from a puppet show	I
In mood propitious should her favourite call	M
On royal stage in royal pomp to bawl	M
Forgetful of himself he rears the head	W2
And scorns the dunghill where he first was bred	W2
Conversing now with well dress'd kings and queens	A
With gods and goddesses behind the scenes	A
He sweats beneath the terror nodding plume	E3
Taught by mock honours real pride to assume	E3
On this great stage the world no monarch e'er	Z2
Was half so haughty as a monarch player	Z2
Doth it more move our anger or our mirth	F3
To see these things the lowest sons of earth	F3
Presume with self sufficient knowledge graced	G3
To rule in letters and preside in taste	G3
The town's decisions they no more admit	F
Themselves alone the arbiters of wit	F
And scorn the jurisdiction of that court	X2
To which they owe their being and support	X2
Actors like monks of old now sacred grown	C2
Must be attack'd by no fools but their own	C2
Let the vain tyrant sit amidst his guards	A
His puny green room wits and venal bards	A
Who meanly tremble at the puppet's frown	Q2
And for a playhouse freedom lose their own	C2
In spite of new made laws and new made kings	A
The free born Muse with liberal spirit sings	A
Bow down ye slaves before these idols fall	M
Let Genius stoop to them who've none at all	M
Ne'er will I flatter cringe or bend the knee	S2
To those who slaves to all are slaves to me	S2
Actors as actors are a lawful game	S
The poet's right and who shall bar his claim	S
And if o'erweening of their little skill	H3
When they have left the stage they're actors still	H3
If to the subject world they still give laws	A
With paper crowns and sceptres made of straws	A
If they in cellar or in garret roar	I2
And kings one night are kings for evermore	I2
Shall not bold Truth e'en there pursue her theme	I3
And wake the coxcomb from his golden dream	I3
Or if well worthy of a better fate	X
They rise superior to their present state	X
If with each social virtue graced they blend	P2
The gay companion and the faithful friend	P2
If they like Pritchard join in private life	M2
The tender parent and the virtuous wife	M2
Shall not our verse their praise with pleasure speak	J3
Though Mimics bark and Envy split her cheek	J3
No honest worth's beneath the Muse's praise	A
No greatness can above her censure raise	A
Station and wealth to her are trifling things	A
She stoops to actors and she soars to kings	A
Is there a man in vice and folly bred	W2
To sense of honour as to virtue dead	W2
Whom ties nor human nor divine can bind	K3
Alien from God and foe to all mankind	K3
Who spares no character whose every word	R
Bitter as gall and sharper than the sword	Q
Cuts to the quick whose thoughts with rancour swell	G
Whose tongue on earth performs the work of hell	G
If there be such a monster the Reviews	A
Shall find him holding forth against abuse	A
Attack profession 'tis a deadly breach	L3
The Christian laws another lesson teach	L3
Unto the end shall Charity endure	M3
And Candour hide those faults it cannot cure	M3
Thus Candour's maxims flow from Rancour's throat	T2
As devils to serve their purpose Scripture quote	T2
The Muse's office was by Heaven design'd	K3
To please improve instruct reform mankind	K3
To make dejected Virtue nobly rise	A
Above the towering pitch of splendid Vice	A
To make pale Vice abash'd her head hang down	Q2
And trembling crouch at Virtue's awful frown	Q2
Now arm'd with wrath she bids eternal shame	S
With strictest justice brand the villain's name	S
Now in the milder garb of ridicule	N3
She sports and pleases while she wounds the fool	N3
Her shape is often varied but her aim	S
To prop the cause of Virtue still the same	S
In praise of Mercy let the guilty bawl	M
When Vice and Folly for correction call	M
Silence the mark of weakness justly bears	A
And is partaker of the crimes it spares	A
But if the Muse too cruel in her mirth	F3
With harsh reflections wounds the man of worth	F3
If wantonly she deviates from her plan	O3
And quits the actor to expose the man	O3
Ashamed she marks that passage with a blot	P3
And hates the line where candour was forgot	P3
But what is candour what is humour's vein	N
Though judgment join to consecrate the strain	N
If curious numbers will not aid afford	Q
Nor choicest music play in every word	R
Verses must run to charm a modern ear	A2
From all harsh rugged interruptions clear	Z
Soft let them breathe as Zephyr's balmy breeze	A
Smooth let their current flow as summer seas	A
Perfect then only deem'd when they dispense	A
A happy tuneful vacancy of sense	A
Italian fathers thus with barbarous rage	L
Fit helpless infants for the squeaking stage	L
Deaf to the calls of pity Nature wound	W
And mangle vigour for the sake of sound	W
Henceforth farewell then feverish thirst of fame	S
Farewell the longings for a poet's name	S
Perish my Muse a wish 'bove all severe	Z
To him who ever held the Muses dear	Z
If e'er her labours weaken to refine	E
The generous roughness of a nervous line	E
Others affect the stiff and swelling phrase	A
Their Muse must walk in stilts and strut in stays	A
The sense they murder and the words transpose	A
Lest poetry approach too near to prose	A
See tortured Reason how they pare and trim	Q3
And like Procrustes stretch or lop the limb	Q3
Waller whose praise succeeding bards rehearse	A
Parent of harmony in English verse	A
Whose tuneful Muse in sweetest accents flows	A
In couplets first taught straggling sense to close	A
In polish'd numbers and majestic sound	W
Where shall thy rival Pope be ever found	W
But whilst each line with equal beauty flows	A
E'en excellence unvaried tedious grows	A
Nature through all her works in great degree	S2
Borrows a blessing from variety	S2
Music itself her needful aid requires	A
To rouse the soul and wake our dying fires	A
Still in one key the nightingale would tease	A
Still in one key not Brent would always please	A
Here let me bend great Dryden at thy shrine	E
Thou dearest name to all the Tuneful Nine	E
What if some dull lines in cold order creep	R3
And with his theme the poet seems to sleep	R3
Still when his subject rises proud to view	T
With equal strength the poet rises too	T
With strong invention noblest vigour fraught	P
Thought still springs up and rises out of thought	P
Numbers ennobling numbers in their course	A
In varied sweetness flow in varied force	A
The powers of genius and of judgment join	S3
And the whole Art of Poetry is thine	E
But what are numbers what are bards to me	S2
Forbid to tread the paths of poesy	A
A sacred Muse should consecrate her pen	J2
Priests must not hear nor see like other men	J2
Far higher themes should her ambition claim	S
Behold where Sternhold points the way to fame	S
Whilst with mistaken zeal dull bigots burn	T3
Let Reason for a moment take her turn	T3
When coffee sages hold discourse with kings	A
And blindly walk in paper leading strings	A
What if a man delight to pass his time	H
In spinning reason into harmless rhyme	H
Or sometimes boldly venture to the play	U
Say where's the crime great man of prudence say	U
No two on earth in all things can agree	S2
All have some darling singularity	P
Women and men as well as girls and boys	A
In gew gaws take delight and sigh for toys	A
Your sceptres and your crowns and such like things	A
Are but a better kind of toys for kings	A
In things indifferent Reason bids us choose	A
Whether the whim's a monkey or a Muse	A
What the grave triflers on this busy scene	O2
When they make use of this word Reason mean	O2
I know not but according to my plan	O3
'Tis Lord Chief Justice in the court of man	O3
Equally form'd to rule in age or youth	U3
The friend of virtue and the guide to truth	U3
To her I bow whose sacred power I feel	V3
To her decision make my last appeal	V3
Condemn'd by her applauding worlds in vain	N
Should tempt me to take up the pen again	J2
By her absolved my course I'll still pursue	A
If Reason's for me God is for me too	A

Charles Churchill

Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation

<< Night.[1] An Epistle To Robert Lloyd Poem The Ghost. Book Iii Poem>>

Write your comment about The Apology. Addressed To The Critical Reviewers.[1] poem by Charles Churchill

Best Poems of Charles Churchill

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 0 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Wonderful Women
by Umaru Kanneh Boima
Freedom To Scratch In Peace
by Olute Aete
Happy New Year
by Felix Menda
Human Beings
by Dana Graslie
Lust
by Wisdom Greatness
An Isolated Tree's Song
by Sayeed Abubakar
A Strange Boy
by Sayeed Abubakar
O Soil
by Sayeed Abubakar
No War, No War-monger
by Sayeed Abubakar
Night's Town
by Sayeed Abubakar

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2414 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)