Don Juan: Canto The First Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDCDEFAGHGHGHIA JDKDKDLM IDIDIDNM EOCOCOCM PDQDQDRM STSTSTIM MTMTMTIM FMFMFMMM UIUIUIIM VMVMVMWM MXMXMXYM ZA2ZA2ZA2IM MMMMMMDA2

IA
I want a hero an uncommon wantB
When every year and month sends forth a new oneC
Till after cloying the gazettes with cantD
The age discovers he is not the true oneC
Of such as these I should not care to vauntD
I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don JuanE
We all have seen him in the pantomimeF
Sent to the Devil somewhat ere his time IIA
Vernon the butcher Cumberland Wolfe HawkeG
Prince Ferdinand Granby Burgoyne Keppel HoweH
Evil and good have had their tithe of talkG
And filled their sign posts then like Wellesley nowH
Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalkG
Followers of fame nine farrow of that sowH
France too had Buonapart and DumourierI
Recorded in the Moniteur and Courier IIIA
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Barnave Brissot Condorcet MirabeauJ
P tion Clootz Danton Marat La FayetteD
Were French and famous people as we knowK
And there were others scarce forgotten yetD
Joubert Hoche Marceau Lannes Desaix MoreauK
With many of the military setD
Exceedingly remarkable at timesL
But not at all adapted to my rhymes IVM
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Nelson was once Britannia's god of WarI
And still should be so but the tide is turn'dD
There's no more to be said of TrafalgarI
'Tis with our hero quietly inurn'dD
Because the army's grown more popularI
At which the naval people are concern'dD
Besides the Prince is all for the land serviceN
Forgetting Duncan Nelson Howe and Jervis VM
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Brave men were living before AgamemnonE
And since exceeding valorous and sageO
A good deal like him too though quite the same noneC
But then they shone not on the poet's pageO
And so have been forgotten I condemn noneC
But can't find any in the present ageO
Fit for my poem that is for my new oneC
So as I said I'll take my friend Don Juan VIM
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Most epic poets plunge in medias resP
Horace makes this the heroic turnpike roadD
And then your hero tells whene'er you pleaseQ
What went before by way of episodeD
While seated after dinner at his easeQ
Beside his mistress in some soft abodeD
Palace or garden paradise or cavernR
Which serves the happy couple for a tavern VIIM
-
That is the usual method but not mineS
My way is to begin with the beginningT
The regularity of my designS
Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinningT
And therefore I shall open with a lineS
Although it cost me half an hour in spinningT
Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's fatherI
And also of his mother if you'd rather CCM
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My poem's epic and is meant to beM
Divided in twelve books each book containingT
With love and war a heavy gale at seaM
A list of ships and captains and kings reigningT
New characters the episodes are threeM
A panoramic view of Hell's in trainingT
After the style of Virgil and of HomerI
So that my name of Epic's no misnomer CCIM
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All these things will be specified in timeF
With strict regard to Aristotle's rulesM
The Vade Mecum of the true sublimeF
Which makes so many poets and some foolsM
Prose poets like blank verse I'm fond of rhymeF
Good workmen never quarrel with their toolsM
I've got new mythological machineryM
And very handsome supernatural scenery CCIIM
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There's only one slight difference betweenU
Me and my epic brethren gone beforeI
And here the advantage is my own I weenU
Not that I have not several merits moreI
But this will more peculiarly be seenU
They so embellish that 'tis quite a boreI
Their labyrinth of fables to thread throughI
Whereas this story's actually true CCIIIM
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If any person doubt it I appealV
To history tradition and to factsM
To newspapers whose truth all know and feelV
To plays in five and operas in three actsM
All these confirm my statement a good dealV
But that which more completely faith exactsM
Is that myself and several now in SevilleW
Saw Juan's last elopement with the Devil CCIVM
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If ever I should condescend to proseM
I'll write poetical commandments whichX
Shall supersede beyond all doubt all thoseM
That went before in these I shall enrichX
My text with many things that no one knowsM
And carry precept to the highest pitchX
I'll call the work Longinus o'er a BottleY
Or Every Poet his own Aristotle CCVM
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Thou shalt believe in Milton Dryden PopeZ
Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth Coleridge SoutheyA2
Because the first is craz'd beyond all hopeZ
The second drunk the third so quaint and mouthyA2
With Crabbe it may be difficult to copeZ
And Campbell's Hippocrene is somewhat drouthyA2
Thou shalt not steal from Samuel Rogers norI
Commit flirtation with the muse of Moore CCVIM
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Thou shalt not covet Mr Sotheby's MuseM
His Pegasus nor anything that's hisM
Thou shalt not bear false witness like the BluesM
There's one at least is very fond of thisM
Thou shalt not write in short but what I chooseM
This is true criticism and you may kissM
Exactly as you please or not the rodD
But if you don't I'll lay it on by G dA2

George Gordon Byron



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