The Library Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHHIIJ JKKLLMMNNOOPPQ PRRSSIITUV JJWWXXYYZZA2A2PPB2B2 C2C2D2D2E2E2F2F2G2G2 PPH2H2I2I2JJJ2J2AAFF G2G2K2K2PPVVPPL2L2M2 M2N2N2O2P2PPQ2Q2D2D2 G2 R2 S2S2JGPPCT2U2U2M2M2B 2B2NNV2V2DDSSZZW2 X2X2D2D2F2F2XXW2 SSXXB2B2XXY2Y2Z2Z2A3 A3G2XB3B3XXSSXXSSSSX XDDXXWhen the sad soul by care and grief oppress'd | A |
Looks round the world but looks in vain for rest | A |
When every object that appears in view | B |
Partakes her gloom and seems dejected too | B |
Where shall affliction from itself retire | C |
Where fade away and placidly expire | C |
Alas we fly to silent scenes in vain | D |
Care blasts the honours of the flow'ry plain | D |
Care veils in clouds the sun's meridian beam | E |
Sighs through the grove and murmurs in the stream | E |
For when the soul is labouring in despair | F |
In vain the body breathes a purer air | F |
No storm tost sailor sighs for slumbering seas | G |
He dreads the tempest but invokes the breeze | G |
On the smooth mirror of the deep resides | H |
Reflected woe and o'er unruffled tides | H |
The ghost of every former danger glides | H |
Thus in the calms of life we only see | I |
A steadier image of our misery | I |
But lively gales and gently clouded skies | J |
Disperse the sad reflections as they rise | J |
And busy thoughts and little cares avail | K |
To ease the mind when rest and reason fail | K |
When the dull thought by no designs employ'd | L |
Dwells on the past or suffer'd or enjoy'd | L |
We bleed anew in every former grief | M |
And joys departed furnish no relief | M |
Not Hope herself with all her flattering art | N |
Can cure this stubborn sickness of the heart | N |
The soul disdains each comfort she prepares | O |
And anxious searches for congenial cares | O |
Those lenient cares which with our own combined | P |
By mix'd sensations ease th' afflicted mind | P |
And steal our grief away and leave their own | Q |
- | |
behind | P |
A lighter grief which feeling hearts endure | R |
Without regret nor e'en demand a cure | R |
But what strange art what magic can dispose | S |
The troubled mind to change its native woes | S |
Or lead us willing from ourselves to see | I |
Others more wretched more undone than we | I |
This BOOKS can do nor this alone they give | T |
New views to life and teach us how to live | U |
They soothe the grieved the stubborn they | V |
- | |
chastise | J |
Fools they admonish and confirm the wise | J |
Their aid they yield to all they never shun | W |
The man of sorrow nor the wretch undone | W |
Unlike the hard the selfish and the proud | X |
They fly not sullen from the suppliant crowd | X |
Nor tell to various people various things | Y |
But show to subjects what they show to kings | Y |
Come Child of Care to make thy soul serene | Z |
Approach the treasures of this tranquil scene | Z |
Survey the dome and as the doors unfold | A2 |
The soul's best cure in all her cares behold | A2 |
Where mental wealth the poor in thought may find | P |
And mental physic the diseased in mind | P |
See here the balms that passion's wounds assuage | B2 |
See coolers here that damp the fire of rage | B2 |
Here alt'ratives by slow degrees control | C2 |
The chronic habits of the sickly soul | C2 |
And round the heart and o'er the aching head | D2 |
Mild opiates here their sober influence shed | D2 |
Now bid thy soul man's busy scenes exclude | E2 |
And view composed this silent multitude | E2 |
Silent they are but though deprived of sound | F2 |
Here all the living languages abound | F2 |
Here all that live no more preserved they lie | G2 |
In tombs that open to the curious eye | G2 |
Blest be the gracious Power who taught mankind | P |
To stamp a lasting image of the mind | P |
Beasts may convey and tuneful birds may sing | H2 |
Their mutual feelings in the opening spring | H2 |
But Man alone has skill and power to send | I2 |
The heart's warm dictates to the distant friend | I2 |
'Tis his alone to please instruct advise | J |
Ages remote and nations yet to rise | J |
In sweet repose when Labour's children sleep | J2 |
When Joy forgets to smile and Care to weep | J2 |
When Passion slumbers in the lover's breast | A |
And Fear and Guilt partake the balm of rest | A |
Why then denies the studious man to share | F |
Man's common good who feels his common care | F |
Because the hope is his that bids him fly | G2 |
Night's soft repose and sleep's mild power defy | G2 |
That after ages may repeat his praise | K2 |
And fame's fair meed be his for length of days | K2 |
Delightful prospect when we leave behind | P |
A worthy offspring of the fruitful mind | P |
Which born and nursed through many an anxious day | V |
Shall all our labour all our care repay | V |
Yet all are not these births of noble kind | P |
Not all the children of a vigorous mind | P |
But where the wisest should alone preside | L2 |
The weak would rule us and the blind would guide | L2 |
Nay man's best efforts taste of man and show | M2 |
The poor and troubled source from which they flow | M2 |
Where most he triumphs we his wants perceive | N2 |
And for his weakness in his wisdom grieve | N2 |
But though imperfect all yet wisdom loves | O2 |
This seat serene and virtue's self approves | P2 |
Here come the grieved a change of thought to find | P |
The curious here to feed a craving mind | P |
Here the devout their peaceful temple choose | Q2 |
And here the poet meets his favouring Muse | Q2 |
With awe around these silent walks I tread | D2 |
These are the lasting mansions of the dead | D2 |
'The dead ' methinks a thousand tongues reply | G2 |
'These are the tombs of such as cannot die ' | - |
Crown'd with eternal fame they sit sublime | R2 |
'And laugh at all the little strife of time ' | - |
Hail then immortals ye who shine above | S2 |
Each in his sphere the literary Jove | S2 |
And ye the common people of these skies | J |
A humbler crowd of nameless deities | G |
Whether 'tis yours to lead the willing mind | P |
Through History's mazes and the turnings find | P |
Or whether led by Science ye retire | C |
Lost and bewilder'd in the vast desire | T2 |
Whether the Muse invites you to her bowers | U2 |
And crowns your placid brows with living flowers | U2 |
Or godlike Wisdom teaches you to show | M2 |
The noblest road to happiness below | M2 |
Or men and manners prompt the easy page | B2 |
To mark the flying follies of the age | B2 |
Whatever good ye boast that good impart | N |
Inform the head and rectify the heart | N |
Lo all in silence all in order stand | V2 |
And mighty folios first a lordly band | V2 |
Then quartos their well order'd ranks maintain | D |
And light octavos fill a spacious plain | D |
See yonder ranged in more frequented rows | S |
A humbler band of duodecimos | S |
While undistinguish'd trifles swell the scene | Z |
The last new play and fritter'd magazine | Z |
Thus 'tis in life where first the proud the | W2 |
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great | X2 |
In leagued assembly keep their cumbrous state | X2 |
Heavy and huge they fill the world with dread | D2 |
Are much admired and are but little read | D2 |
The commons next a middle rank are found | F2 |
Professions fruitful pour their offspring round | F2 |
Reasoners and wits are next their place allowed | X |
And last of vulgar tribes a countless crowd | X |
First let us view the form the size the | W2 |
- | |
dress | S |
For these the manners nay the mind express | S |
That weight of wood with leathern coat o'erlaid | X |
Those ample clasps of solid metal made | X |
The close press'd leaves unclosed for many an age | B2 |
The dull red edging of the well fill'd page | B2 |
On the broad back the stubborn ridges roll'd | X |
Where yet the title stands in tarnish'd gold | X |
These all a sage and labour'd work proclaim | Y2 |
A painful candidate for lasting fame | Y2 |
No idle wit no trifling verse can lurk | Z2 |
In the deep bosom of that weighty work | Z2 |
No playful thoughts degrade the solemn style | A3 |
Nor one light sentence claims a transient smile | A3 |
Hence in these times untouch'd the pages lie | G2 |
And slumber out their immortality | X |
They HAD their day when after after all his toil | B3 |
His morning study and his midnight oil | B3 |
At length an author's ONE great work appeared | X |
By patient hope and length of days endear'd | X |
Expecting nations hail'd it from the press | S |
Poetic friends prefix'd each kind address | S |
Princes and kings received the pond'rous gift | X |
And ladies read the work they could not lift | X |
Fashion though Folly's child and guide of fools | S |
Rules e'en the wisest and in learning rules | S |
From crowds and courts to 'Wisdom's seat she goes | S |
And reigns triumphant o'er her mother's foes | S |
For lo these fav'rites of the ancient mode | X |
Lie all neglected like the Birthday Ode | X |
Ah needless now this weight of massy chain | D |
Safe in themselves the once loved works remain | D |
No readers now invade their still retreat | X |
None try to steal them from their parent seat | X |
L | - |
George Crabbe
(1)
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