The Apology Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL MMNNOOPPHHQQRRMMHHSS TTUUVVWXYYZZCCQQOOA2 A2TTZZB2B2C2C2UUD2D2 TTE2E2F2G2IIH2H2TTI2 I2J2K2TTZZA2A2L2L2IM 2N2N2N2TTO2O2SP2A2A2 TTF2F2KKUUH2H2CCQQI2 I2TTQ2Q2O2O2R2R2TTS2 OOT2T2TTU2U2V2V2YYC2 C2W2I2X2X2O2O2QQPPKK Y2Y2IIKKMMTTZ2Z2Y2Y2 C2C2A3B3ADDRESSED TO THE CRITICAL REVIEWERS | A |
- | |
Tristitiam et Metus HORACE | B |
- | |
Laughs not the heart when giants big with pride | C |
Assume the pompous port the martial stride | C |
O'er arm Herculean heave the enormous shield | D |
Vast as a weaver's beam the javelin wield | D |
With the loud voice of thundering Jove defy | E |
And dare to single combat what A fly | E |
And laugh we less when giant names which shine | F |
Establish'd as it were by right divine | F |
Critics whom every captive art adores | G |
To whom glad Science pours forth all her stores | G |
Who high in letter'd reputation sit | H |
And hold Astraea like the scales of wit | H |
With partial rage rush forth oh shame to tell | I |
To crush a bard just bursting from the shell | I |
Great are his perils in this stormy time | J |
Who rashly ventures on a sea of rhyme | J |
Around vast surges roll winds envious blow | K |
And jealous rocks and quicksands lurk below | K |
Greatly his foes he dreads but more his friends | L |
He hurts me most who lavishly commends | L |
Look through the world in every other trade | M |
The same employment's cause of kindness made | M |
At least appearance of good will creates | N |
And every fool puffs off the fool he hates | N |
Cobblers with cobblers smoke away the night | O |
And in the common cause e'en players unite | O |
Authors alone with more than savage rage | P |
Unnatural war with brother authors wage | P |
The pride of Nature would as soon admit | H |
Competitors in empire as in wit | H |
Onward they rush at Fame's imperious call | Q |
And less than greatest would not be at all | Q |
Smit with the love of honour or the pence | R |
O'errun with wit and destitute of sense | R |
Should any novice in the rhyming trade | M |
With lawless pen the realms of verse invade | M |
Forth from the court where sceptred sages sit | H |
Abused with praise and flatter'd into wit | H |
Where in lethargic majesty they reign | S |
And what they won by dulness still maintain | S |
Legions of factious authors throng at once | T |
Fool beckons fool and dunce awakens dunce | T |
To 'Hamilton's the ready lies repair | U |
Ne'er was lie made which was not welcome there | U |
Thence on maturer judgment's anvil wrought | V |
The polish'd falsehood's into public brought | V |
Quick circulating slanders mirth afford | W |
And reputation bleeds in every word | X |
A critic was of old a glorious name | Y |
Whose sanction handed merit up to fame | Y |
Beauties as well as faults he brought to view | Z |
His judgment great and great his candour too | Z |
No servile rules drew sickly taste aside | C |
Secure he walk'd for Nature was his guide | C |
But now oh strange reverse our critics bawl | Q |
In praise of candour with a heart of gall | Q |
Conscious of guilt and fearful of the light | O |
They lurk enshrouded in the vale of night | O |
Safe from detection seize the unwary prey | A2 |
And stab like bravoes all who come that way | A2 |
When first my Muse perhaps more bold than wise | T |
Bade the rude trifle into light arise | T |
Little she thought such tempests would ensue | Z |
Less that those tempests would be raised by you | Z |
The thunder's fury rends the towering oak | B2 |
Rosciads like shrubs might 'scape the fatal stroke | B2 |
Vain thought a critic's fury knows no bound | C2 |
Drawcansir like he deals destruction round | C2 |
Nor can we hope he will a stranger spare | U |
Who gives no quarter to his friend Voltaire | U |
Unhappy Genius placed by partial Fate | D2 |
With a free spirit in a slavish state | D2 |
Where the reluctant Muse oppress'd by kings | T |
Or droops in silence or in fetters sings | T |
In vain thy dauntless fortitude hath borne | E2 |
The bigot's furious zeal and tyrant's scorn | E2 |
Why didst thou safe from home bred dangers steer | F2 |
Reserved to perish more ignobly here | G2 |
Thus when the Julian tyrant's pride to swell | I |
Rome with her Pompey at Pharsalia fell | I |
The vanquish'd chief escaped from Caesar's hand | H2 |
To die by ruffians in a foreign land | H2 |
How could these self elected monarchs raise | T |
So large an empire on so small a base | T |
In what retreat inglorious and unknown | I2 |
Did Genius sleep when Dulness seized the throne | I2 |
Whence absolute now grown and free from awe | J2 |
She to the subject world dispenses law | K2 |
Without her licence not a letter stirs | T |
And all the captive criss cross row is hers | T |
The Stagyrite who rules from Nature drew | Z |
Opinions gave but gave his reasons too | Z |
Our great Dictators take a shorter way | A2 |
Who shall dispute what the Reviewers say | A2 |
Their word's sufficient and to ask a reason | L2 |
In such a state as theirs is downright treason | L2 |
True judgment now with them alone can dwell | I |
Like Church of Rome they're grown infallible | M2 |
Dull superstitious readers they deceive | N2 |
Who pin their easy faith on critic's sleeve | N2 |
And knowing nothing everything believe | N2 |
But why repine we that these puny elves | T |
Shoot into giants we may thank ourselves | T |
Fools that we are like Israel's fools of yore | O2 |
The calf ourselves have fashion'd we adore | O2 |
But let true Reason once resume her reign | S |
This god shall dwindle to a calf again | P2 |
Founded on arts which shun the face of day | A2 |
By the same arts they still maintain their sway | A2 |
Wrapp'd in mysterious secrecy they rise | T |
And as they are unknown are safe and wise | T |
At whomsoever aim'd howe'er severe | F2 |
The envenom'd slander flies no names appear | F2 |
Prudence forbids that step then all might know | K |
And on more equal terms engage the foe | K |
But now what Quixote of the age would care | U |
To wage a war with dirt and fight with air | U |
By interest join'd the expert confederates stand | H2 |
And play the game into each other's hand | H2 |
The vile abuse in turn by all denied | C |
Is bandied up and down from side to side | C |
It flies hey presto like a juggler's ball | Q |
Till it belongs to nobody at all | Q |
All men and things they know themselves unknown | I2 |
And publish every name except their own | I2 |
Nor think this strange secure from vulgar eyes | T |
The nameless author passes in disguise | T |
But veteran critics are not so deceived | Q2 |
If veteran critics are to be believed | Q2 |
Once seen they know an author evermore | O2 |
Nay swear to hands they never saw before | O2 |
Thus in 'The Rosciad ' beyond chance or doubt | R2 |
They by the writing found the writers out | R2 |
That's Lloyd's his manner there you plainly trace | T |
And all the Actor stares you in the face | T |
By Colman that was written on my life | S2 |
The strongest symptoms of the 'Jealous Wife ' | - |
That little disingenuous piece of spite | O |
Churchill a wretch unknown perhaps might write | O |
How doth it make judicious readers smile | T2 |
When authors are detected by their style | T2 |
Though every one who knows this author knows | T |
He shifts his style much oftener than his clothes | T |
Whence could arise this mighty critic spleen | U2 |
The Muse a trifler and her theme so mean | U2 |
What had I done that angry Heaven should send | V2 |
The bitterest foe where most I wish'd a friend | V2 |
Oft hath my tongue been wanton at thy name | Y |
And hail'd the honours of thy matchless fame | Y |
For me let hoary Fielding bite the ground | C2 |
So nobler Pickle stands superbly bound | C2 |
From Livy's temples tear the historic crown | W2 |
Which with more justice blooms upon thine own | I2 |
Compared with thee be all life writers dumb | X2 |
But he who wrote the Life of Tommy Thumb | X2 |
Who ever read 'The Regicide ' but swore | O2 |
The author wrote as man ne'er wrote before | O2 |
Others for plots and under plots may call | Q |
Here's the right method have no plot at all | Q |
Who can so often in his cause engage | P |
The tiny pathos of the Grecian stage | P |
Whilst horrors rise and tears spontaneous flow | K |
At tragic Ha and no less tragic Oh | K |
To praise his nervous weakness all agree | Y2 |
And then for sweetness who so sweet as he | Y2 |
Too big for utterance when sorrows swell | I |
The too big sorrows flowing tears must tell | I |
But when those flowing tears shall cease to flow | K |
Why then the voice must speak again you know | K |
Rude and unskilful in the poet's trade | M |
I kept no Naiads by me ready made | M |
Ne'er did I colours high in air advance | T |
Torn from the bleeding fopperies of France | T |
No flimsy linsey woolsey scenes I wrote | Z2 |
With patches here and there like Joseph's coat | Z2 |
Me humbler themes befit secure for me | Y2 |
Let play wrights smuggle nonsense duty free | Y2 |
Secure for me ye lambs ye lambkins bound | C2 |
And frisk and frolic o'er the fairy ground | C2 |
Secure for me thou pretty little fawn | A3 |
Lick Sylvia's hand and crop the | B3 |
Charles Churchill
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Apology poem by Charles Churchill
Best Poems of Charles Churchill