An Eclogue From Virgil Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DEFEF DDFDF DGHGHII HJFJF DI DKIKII HFEFE DIFI DIEIEDEDE DLMLK IBIBIININIOIO DFDFD| The exile Meliboeus finds Tityrus in possession of his own farm | A |
| restored to him by the emperor Augustus and a conversation ensues The | B |
| poem is in praise of Augustus peace and pastoral life | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| Meliboeus | D |
| Tityrus all in the shade of the wide spreading beech tree reclining | E |
| Sweet is that music you've made on your pipe that is oaten and slender | F |
| Exiles from home you beguile our hearts from their hopeless repining | E |
| As you sing Amaryllis the while in pastorals tuneful and tender | F |
| - | |
| Tityrus | D |
| A god yes a god I declare vouchsafes me these pleasant conditions | D |
| And often I gayly repair with a tender white lamb to his altar | F |
| He gives me the leisure to play my greatly admired compositions | D |
| While my heifers go browsing all day unhampered of bell and halter | F |
| - | |
| Meliboeus | D |
| I do not begrudge you repose I simply admit I'm confounded | G |
| To find you unscathed of the woes of pillage and tumult and battle | H |
| To exile and hardship devote and by merciless enemies hounded | G |
| I drag at this wretched old goat and coax on my famishing cattle | H |
| Oh often the omens presaged the horrors which now overwhelm me | I |
| But come if not elsewise engaged who is this good deity tell me | I |
| - | |
| Tityrus reminiscently | H |
| The city the city called Rome with my head full of herding and tillage | J |
| I used to compare with my home these pastures wherein you now wander | F |
| But I didn't take long to find out that the city surpasses the village | J |
| As the cypress surpasses the sprout that thrives in the thicket out yonder | F |
| - | |
| Meliboeus | D |
| Tell me good gossip I pray what led you to visit the city | I |
| - | |
| Tityrus | D |
| Liberty which on a day regarded my lot with compassion | K |
| My age and distresses forsooth compelled that proud mistress to pity | I |
| That had snubbed the attentions of youth in most reprehensible fashion | K |
| Oh happy thrice happy the day when the cold Galatea forsook me | I |
| And equally happy I say the hour when that other girl took me | I |
| - | |
| Meliboeus slyly as if addressing the damsel | H |
| So now Amaryllis the truth of your ill disguised grief I discover | F |
| You pined for a favorite youth with cityfied damsels hobnobbing | E |
| And soon your surroundings partook of your grief for your recusant lover | F |
| The pine trees the copse and the brook for Tityrus ever went sobbing | E |
| - | |
| Tityrus | D |
| Meliboeus what else could I do Fate doled me no morsel of pity | I |
| My toil was all in vain the year through no matter how earnest or clever | F |
| Till at last came that god among men that king from that wonderful city | I |
| And quoth 'Take your homesteads again they are yours and your assigns forever ' | - |
| - | |
| Meliboeus | D |
| Happy oh happy old man rich in what's better than money | I |
| Rich in contentment you can gather sweet peace by mere listening | E |
| Bees with soft murmurings go hither and thither for honey | I |
| Cattle all gratefully low in pastures where fountains are glistening | E |
| Hark in the shade of that rock the pruner with singing rejoices | D |
| The dove in the elm and the flock of wood pigeons hoarsely repining | E |
| The plash of the sacred cascade ah restful indeed are these voices | D |
| Tityrus all in the shade of your wide spreading beech tree reclining | E |
| - | |
| Tityrus | D |
| And he who insures this to me oh craven I were not to love him | L |
| Nay rather the fish of the sea shall vacate the water they swim in | M |
| The stag quit his bountiful grove to graze in the ether above him | L |
| While folk antipodean rove along with their children and women | K |
| - | |
| Meliboeus suddenly recalling his own misery | I |
| But we who are exiled must go and whither ah whither God knoweth | B |
| Some into those regions of snow or of desert where Death reigneth only | I |
| Some off to the country of Crete where rapid Oaxes down floweth | B |
| And desperate others retreat to Britain the bleak isle and lonely | I |
| Dear land of my birth shall I see the horde of invaders oppress thee | I |
| Shall the wealth that outspringeth from thee by the hand of the alien be squandered | N |
| Dear cottage wherein I was born shall another in conquest possess thee | I |
| Another demolish in scorn the fields and the groves where I've wandered | N |
| My flock never more shall you graze on that furze covered hillside above me | I |
| Gone gone are the halcyon days when my reed piped defiance to sorrow | O |
| Nevermore in the vine covered grot shall I sing of the loved ones that love me | I |
| Let yesterday's peace be forgot in dread of the stormy to morrow | O |
| - | |
| Tityrus | D |
| But rest you this night with me here my bed we will share it together | F |
| As soon as you've tasted my cheer my apples and chestnuts and cheeses | D |
| The evening a'ready is nigh the shadows creep over the heather | F |
| And the smoke is rocked up to the sky to the lullaby song of the breezes | D |
Eugene Field
(1)
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