The Complaint: Or Night Thoughts (excerpt) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGCHIJKLLMNOPCQ LRSLTUVWXLYZLA2B2LB2 C2D2E2F2G2LLH2B2E2G2 I2J2LK2| By Nature's law what may be may be now | A |
| There's no prerogative in human hours | B |
| In human hearts what bolder thought can rise | C |
| Than man's presumption on to morrow's dawn | D |
| Where is to morrow In another world | E |
| For numbers this is certain the reverse | F |
| Is sure to none and yet on this perhaps | G |
| This peradventure infamous for lies | C |
| As on a rock of adamant we build | H |
| Our mountain hopes spin out eternal schemes | I |
| As we the Fatal Sisters could out spin | J |
| And big with life's futurities expire | K |
| Not ev'n Philander had bespoke his shroud | L |
| Nor had he cause a warning was deny'd | L |
| How many fall as sudden not as safe | M |
| As sudden though for years admonish'd home | N |
| Of human ills the last extreme beware | O |
| Beware Lorenzo a slow sudden death | P |
| How dreadful that deliberate surprise | C |
| Be wise to day 'tis madness to defer | Q |
| Next day the fatal precedent will plead | L |
| Thus on till wisdom is push'd out of life | R |
| Procrastination is the thief of time | S |
| Year after year it steals till all are fled | L |
| And to the mercies of a moment leaves | T |
| The vast concerns of an eternal scene | U |
| If not so frequent would not this be strange | V |
| That 'tis so frequent this is stranger still | W |
| Of man's miraculous mistakes this bears | X |
| The palm quot That all men are about to live quot | L |
| For ever on the brink of being born | Y |
| All pay themselves the compliment to think | Z |
| They one day shall not drivel and their pride | L |
| On this reversion takes up ready praise | A2 |
| At least their own their future selves applauds | B2 |
| How excellent that life they ne'er will lead | L |
| Time lodg'd in their own hands is Folly's vails | B2 |
| That lodg'd in Fate's to Wisdom they consign | C2 |
| The thing they can't but purpose they postpone | D2 |
| 'Tis not in folly not to scorn a fool | E2 |
| And scarce in human wisdom to do more | F2 |
| All promise is poor dilatory man | G2 |
| And that through every stage when young indeed | L |
| In full content we sometimes nobly rest | L |
| Unanxious for ourselves and only wish | H2 |
| As duteous sons our fathers were more wise | B2 |
| At thirty man suspects himself a fool | E2 |
| Knows it at forty and reforms his plan | G2 |
| At fifty chides his infamous delay | I2 |
| Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve | J2 |
| In all the magnanimity of thought | L |
| Resolves and re resolves then dies the same | K2 |
Edward Young
(1)
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