The Spartan Boy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEE FFEEGGEEHHEEIIJJKKLL EEEEMMNNEEKKOOPQRRNN SSMMII

When I the memory repeatA
Of the heroic actions greatB
Which in contempt of pain and deathC
Were done by men who drew their breathC
In ages past I find no deedD
That can in fortitude exceedD
The noble boy in Sparta bredE
Who in the temple ministeredE
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By the sacrifice he standsF
The lighted incense in his handsF
Through the smoking censer's lidE
Dropped a burning coal which slidE
Into his sleeve and pass d inG
Between the folds even to the skinG
Dire was the pain which then he provedE
But not for this his sleeve he movedE
Or would the scorching ember shakeH
Out from the folds lest it should makeH
Any confusion or exciteE
Disturbance at the sacred riteE
But close he kept the burning coalI
Till it eat itself a holeI
In his flesh The standers byJ
Saw no sign and heard no cryJ
Of his pangs had no discerningK
Till they smelled the flesh a burningK
All this he did in noble scornL
And for he was a Spartan bornL
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Young student who this story readestE
And with the same thy thoughts now feedestE
Thy weaker nerves might thee forbidE
To do the thing the Spartan didE
Thy feebler heart could not sustainM
Such dire extremity of painM
But in this story thou mayst seeN
What may useful prove to theeN
By his example thou wilt findE
That to the ingenuous mindE
Shame can greater anguish bringK
Than the body's sufferingK
That pain is not the worst of illsO
Not when it the body killsO
That in fair religion's causeP
For thy country or the lawsQ
When occasion due shall offerR
'Tis reproachful not to sufferR
If thou shouldst a soldier beN
And a wound should trouble theeN
If without the soldier's fameS
Thou to chance shouldst owe a maimS
Do not for a little painM
On thy manhood bring a stainM
But to keep thy spirits wholeI
Think on the Spartan and the coalI

Charles Lamb



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