The Prophecy Of Famine Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJIIKK IILLIIMMNOPQIIRRSSTT UUVVWWEJXXIIXYZZIIII A2A2IIVVAAIIB2B2IIA2 A2C2C2IID2D2IITTE2E2 F2F2IIQPIIB2B2VVWWII G2G2H2H2MMA2A2III2I2 VVJ2J2K2K2 L2L2M2M2VVN2N2J2J2O2 O2P2P2IILLQ2Q2IIR2R2 L2L2S2S2N2N2EEEEVVC2 C2TTT2T2U2U2IIN2N2II H2H2F2F2V2A SCOTS PASTORAL INSCRIBED TO JOHN WILKES ESQ | A |
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Nos patriam fugimus VIRGIL | B |
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When Cupid first instructs his darts to fly | C |
From the sly corner of some cook maid's eye | C |
The stripling raw just enter'd in his teens | D |
Receives the wound and wonders what it means | D |
His heart like dripping melts and new desire | E |
Within him stirs each time she stirs the fire | E |
Trembling and blushing he the fair one views | F |
And fain would speak but can't without a Muse | F |
So to the sacred mount he takes his way | G |
Prunes his young wings and tunes his infant lay | G |
His oaten reed to rural ditties frames | H |
To flocks and rocks to hills and rills proclaims | H |
In simplest notes and all unpolish'd strains | I |
The loves of nymphs and eke the loves of swains | I |
Clad as your nymphs were always clad of yore | J |
In rustic weeds a cook maid now no more | J |
Beneath an aged oak Lardella lies | I |
Green moss her couch her canopy the skies | I |
From aromatic shrubs the roguish gale | K |
Steals young perfumes and wafts them through the vale | K |
The youth turn'd swain and skill'd in rustic lays | I |
Fast by her side his amorous descant plays | I |
Herds low flocks bleat pies chatter ravens scream | L |
And the full chorus dies a down the stream | L |
The streams with music freighted as they pass | I |
Present the fair Lardella with a glass | I |
And Zephyr to complete the love sick plan | M |
Waves his light wings and serves her for a fan | M |
But when maturer Judgment takes the lead | N |
These childish toys on Reason's altar bleed | O |
Form'd after some great man whose name breeds awe | P |
Whose every sentence Fashion makes a law | Q |
Who on mere credit his vain trophies rears | I |
And founds his merit on our servile fears | I |
Then we discard the workings of the heart | R |
And nature's banish'd by mechanic art | R |
Then deeply read our reading must be shown | S |
Vain is that knowledge which remains unknown | S |
Then Ostentation marches to our aid | T |
And letter'd Pride stalks forth in full parade | T |
Beneath their care behold the work refine | U |
Pointed each sentence polish'd every line | U |
Trifles are dignified and taught to wear | V |
The robes of ancients with a modern air | V |
Nonsense with classic ornaments is graced | W |
And passes current with the stamp of taste | W |
Then the rude Theocrite is ransack'd o'er | E |
And courtly Maro call'd from Mincio's shore | J |
Sicilian Muses on our mountains roam | X |
Easy and free as if they were at home | X |
Nymphs naiads nereids dryads satyrs fauns | I |
Sport in our floods and trip it o'er our lawns | I |
Flowers which once flourish'd fair in Greece and Rome | X |
More fair revive in England's meads to bloom | Y |
Skies without cloud exotic suns adorn | Z |
And roses blush but blush without a thorn | Z |
Landscapes unknown to dowdy Nature rise | I |
And new creations strike our wondering eyes | I |
For bards like these who neither sing nor say | I |
Grave without thought and without feeling gay | I |
Whose numbers in one even tenor flow | A2 |
Attuned to pleasure and attuned to woe | A2 |
Who if plain Common Sense her visit pays | I |
And mars one couplet in their happy lays | I |
As at some ghost affrighted start and stare | V |
And ask the meaning of her coming there | V |
For bards like these a wreath shall Mason bring | A |
Lined with the softest down of Folly's wing | A |
In Love's pagoda shall they ever doze | I |
And Gisbal kindly rock them to repose | I |
My Lord to letters as to faith most true | B2 |
At once their patron and example too | B2 |
Shall quaintly fashion his love labour'd dreams | I |
Sigh with sad winds and weep with weeping streams | I |
Curious in grief for real grief we know | A2 |
Is curious to dress up the tale of woe | A2 |
From the green umbrage of some Druid's seat | C2 |
Shall his own works in his own way repeat | C2 |
Me whom no Muse of heavenly birth inspires | I |
No judgment tempers when rash genius fires | I |
Who boast no merit but mere knack of rhyme | D2 |
Short gleams of sense and satire out of time | D2 |
Who cannot follow where trim fancy leads | I |
By prattling streams o'er flower empurpled meads | I |
Who often but without success have pray'd | T |
For apt Alliteration's artful aid | T |
Who would but cannot with a master's skill | E2 |
Coin fine new epithets which mean no ill | E2 |
Me thus uncouth thus every way unfit | F2 |
For pacing poesy and ambling wit | F2 |
Taste with contempt beholds nor deigns to place | I |
Amongst the lowest of her favour'd race | I |
Thou Nature art my goddess to thy law | Q |
Myself I dedicate Hence slavish awe | P |
Which bends to fashion and obeys the rules | I |
Imposed at first and since observed by fools | I |
Hence those vile tricks which mar fair Nature's hue | B2 |
And bring the sober matron forth to view | B2 |
With all that artificial tawdry glare | V |
Which virtue scorns and none but strumpets wear | V |
Sick of those pomps those vanities that waste | W |
Of toil which critics now mistake for taste | W |
Of false refinements sick and labour'd ease | I |
Which art too thinly veil'd forbids to please | I |
By Nature's charms inglorious truth subdued | G2 |
However plain her dress and 'haviour rude | G2 |
To northern climes my happier course I steer | H2 |
Climes where the goddess reigns throughout the year | H2 |
Where undisturb'd by Art's rebellious plan | M |
She rules the loyal laird and faithful clan | M |
To that rare soil where virtues clustering grow | A2 |
What mighty blessings doth not England owe | A2 |
What waggon loads of courage wealth and sense | I |
Doth each revolving day import from thence | I |
To us she gives disinterested friend | I2 |
Faith without fraud and Stuarts without end | I2 |
When we prosperity's rich trappings wear | V |
Come not her generous sons and take a share | V |
And if by some disastrous turn of fate | J2 |
Change should ensue and ruin seize the state | J2 |
Shall we not find safe in that hallow'd ground | K2 |
Such refuge as the holy martyr found | K2 |
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Nor less our debt in science though denied | L2 |
By the weak slaves of prejudice and pride | L2 |
Thence came the Ramsays names of worthy note | M2 |
Of whom one paints as well as t'other wrote | M2 |
Thence Home disbanded from the sons of prayer | V |
For loving plays though no dull Dean was there | V |
Thence issued forth at great Macpherson's call | N2 |
That old new epic pastoral Fingal | N2 |
Thence Malloch friend alike to Church and State | J2 |
Of Christ and Liberty by grateful Fate | J2 |
Raised to rewards which in a pious reign | O2 |
All daring infidels should seek in vain | O2 |
Thence simple bards by simple prudence taught | P2 |
To this wise town by simple patrons brought | P2 |
In simple manner utter simple lays | I |
And take with simple pensions simple praise | I |
Waft me some Muse to Tweed's inspiring stream | L |
Where all the little Loves and Graces dream | L |
Where slowly winding the dull waters creep | Q2 |
And seem themselves to own the power of sleep | Q2 |
Where on the surface lead like feathers swims | I |
There let me bathe my yet unhallow'd limbs | I |
As once a Syrian bathed in Jordan's flood | R2 |
Wash off my native stains correct that blood | R2 |
Which mutinies at call of English pride | L2 |
And deaf to prudence rolls a patriot tide | L2 |
From solemn thought which overhangs the brow | S2 |
Of patriot care when things are God knows how | S2 |
From nice trim points where Honour slave to Rule | N2 |
In compliment to Folly plays the fool | N2 |
From those gay scenes where Mirth exalts his power | E |
And easy Humour wings the laughing hour | E |
From those soft better moments when desire | E |
Beats high and all the world of man's on fire | E |
When mutual ardours of the melting fair | V |
More than repay us for whole years of care | V |
At Friendship's summons will my Wilkes retreat | C2 |
And see once seen before that ancient seat | C2 |
That ancient seat where majesty display'd | T |
Her ensigns long before the world was made | T |
Mean narrow maxims which enslave mankind | T2 |
Ne'er from its bias warp thy settled mind | T2 |
Not duped by party nor opinion's slave | U2 |
Those faculties which bounteous nature gave | U2 |
Thy honest spirit into practice brings | I |
Nor courts the smile nor dreads the frown of kings | I |
Let rude licentious Englishmen comply | N2 |
With tumult's voice and curse they know not why | N2 |
Unwilling to condemn thy soul disdains | I |
To wear vile faction's arbitrary chains | I |
And strictly weighs in apprehension clear | H2 |
Things as they are and not as they appear | H2 |
With thee good humour tempers lively wit | F2 |
Enthroned with Judgment Candour loves to sit | F2 |
And nature gave thee op | V2 |
Charles Churchill
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