To James Boswell In London Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCD CDEFEF GHGCIJ IJIKLMNOOOOO PQPRSSCC| Boswell you old rake I have tried to imitate | A |
| your style but it is no use my dialogues are | B |
| all between my selves and though I sit up late | A |
| make endless notes and jottings that I hope will jar | B |
| my memory it is in vain for in the end | C |
| I have no Dr Johnson but myself | D |
| - | |
| The difference is I think between our lives You spend | C |
| the morning at the coffee house nourish yourself | D |
| with talk and kippers before proceeding on to dine | E |
| A ramble across London perks the appetite | F |
| Every step is an adventure the written line | E |
| distills itself from life How can you help but write | F |
| - | |
| I consort with books while you see men haunt the shelves | G |
| where your London lies buried Your book once opened | H |
| I become the ghost a pale phantom who delves | G |
| into your life to borrow moments penned | C |
| two hundred years ago I roam your world ignored | I |
| while my own life waiting outside questions my motives | J |
| - | |
| A man should never live more than he can record | I |
| you say but what if he records more than he lives | J |
| My journal swarms with me and even I am bored | I |
| I am all my personae children lovers wives | K |
| philosophers and country wenches Though I give them | L |
| different robes and wigs to wear all converse alike | M |
| all reason falsely with the same stratagem | N |
| each suspects the logic of the other dislikes | O |
| him yet cannot prove him wrong Petty cavils | O |
| grow to monstrous issues belabored arguments | O |
| resolve themselves only in sleep darkness prevails | O |
| Only the living find solace in common sense | O |
| - | |
| Safe preserved from the rape of the world I grow | P |
| dishonest and pen my crooked words for one can lie | Q |
| with ease about those things the world will never know | P |
| Conversation that clearinghouse for thoughts denied | R |
| the mind gets gouty and the conscience needs a cane | S |
| Notions unuttered seem to echo through the brain | S |
| and our monologues are doomed to the same end | C |
| We all think better interrupted by a friend | C |
Erica Jong
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about To James Boswell In London poem by Erica Jong
Best Poems of Erica Jong