English Bards And Scotch Reviewers: A Satire Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB AC DDEEFF GGHHIIJJKKLLHHMMNNOO PPQQRRSSTU FFVVWWQQDDQQQQXMYYQQ LLAAMA ZZA2A2B2B2C2C2D2D2E2 E2 F2F2G2G2H2H2E2E2E2E2 TUI2I2J2J2K2K2 L2H2E2E2E2 E2 M2M2 AAE2E2AAOOQQFFE2E2AA E2E2N2N2O2O2AAAAJ2J2 AAI2I2AARRP2P2E2E2 AAAAE2E2FFE2E2E2E2AA E2E2M2M2RRYY P2J2E2'I had rather be a kitten and cry mew | A |
Than one of these same metre ballad mongers' Shakespeare | B |
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'Such shameless bards we have and yet 'tis true | A |
There are as mad abandon'd critics too ' Pope | C |
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Still must I hear shall hoarse Fitzgerald bawl | D |
His creaking couplets in a tavern hall | D |
And I not sing lest haply Scotch reviews | E |
Should dub me scribbler and denounce my muse | E |
Prepare for rhyme I'll publish right or wrong | F |
Fools are my theme let satire be my song | F |
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O nature's noblest gift my grey goose quill | G |
Slave of my thoughts obedient to my will | G |
Torn from thy parent bird to form a pen | H |
That mighty instrument of little men | H |
The pen foredoom'd to aid the mental throes | I |
Of brains that labour big with verse or prose | I |
Though nymphs forsake and critics may deride | J |
The lover's solace and the author's pride | J |
What wits what poets dost thou daily raise | K |
How frequent is thy use how small thy praise | K |
Condemn'd at length to be forgotten quite | L |
With all the pages which 'twas thine to write | L |
But thou at least mine own especial pen | H |
Once laid aside but now assumed again | H |
Our task complete like Hamet's shall be free | M |
Though spurn'd by others yet beloved by me | M |
Then let us soar today no common theme | N |
No eastern vision no distemper'd dream | N |
Inspires our path though full of thorns is plain | O |
Smooth be the verse and easy be the strain | O |
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When Vice triumphant holds her sov'reign sway | P |
Obey'd by all who nought beside obey | P |
When Folly frequent harbinger of crime | Q |
Bedecks her cap with bells of every clime | Q |
When knaves and fools combined o'er all prevail | R |
And weigh their justice in a golden scale | R |
E'en then the boldest start from public sneers | S |
Afraid of shame unknown to other fears | S |
More darkly sin by satire kept in awe | T |
And shrink from ridicule though not from law | U |
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Such is the force of wit but not belong | F |
To me the arrows of satiric song | F |
The royal vices of our age demand | V |
A keener weapon and a mightier hand | V |
Still there are follies e'en for me to chase | W |
And yield at least amusement in the race | W |
Laugh when I laugh I seek no other fame | Q |
The cry is up and scribblers are my game | Q |
Speed Pegasus ye strains of great and small | D |
Ode epic elegy have at you all | D |
I too can scrawl and once upon a time | Q |
I pour'd along the town a flood of rhyme | Q |
A schoolboy freak unworthy praise or blame | Q |
I printed older children do the same | Q |
'Tis pleasant sure to see one's name in print | X |
A book's a book although there's nothing in't | M |
Not that a title's sounding charm can save | Y |
Or scrawl or scribbler from an equal grave | Y |
This Lambe must own since his patrician name | Q |
Fail'd to preserve the spurious farce from shame | Q |
No matter George continues still to write | L |
Though now the name is veil'd from public sight | L |
Moved by the great example I pursue | A |
The self same road but make my own review | A |
Not seek great Jeffrey's yet like him will be | M |
Self constituted judge of poesy | A |
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A man must serve his time to every trade | Z |
Save censure critics all are ready made | Z |
Take hackney'd jokes from Miller got by rote | A2 |
With just enough of learning to misquote | A2 |
A mind well skill'd to find or forge a fault | B2 |
A turn for punning call it Attic salt | B2 |
To Jeffrey go be silent and discreet | C2 |
His pay is just ten sterling pounds per sheet | C2 |
Fear not to lie 'twill seem a sharper hit | D2 |
Shrink not from blasphemy 'twill pass for wit | D2 |
Care not for feeling pass you proper jest | E2 |
And stand a critic hated yet carress'd | E2 |
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And shall we own such judgment no as soon | F2 |
Seek roses in December ice in June | F2 |
Hope constancy in wind or corn in chaff | G2 |
Believe a woman or an epitaph | G2 |
Or any other thing that's false before | H2 |
You trust in critics who themselves are sore | H2 |
Or yield one single thought to be misled | E2 |
By Jeffrey's heart or Lambe's Boeotian head | E2 |
To these young tyrants by themselves misplaced | E2 |
Combined usurpers on the throne of taste | E2 |
To these when authors bend in humble awe | T |
And hail their voice as truth their word as law | U |
While these are censors 't would be sin to spare | I2 |
While such are critics why should I forebear | I2 |
But yet so near all modern worthies run | J2 |
'Tis doubtful whom to seek or whom to shun | J2 |
Nor know we when to spare or where to strike | K2 |
Our bards and censors are so much alike | K2 |
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Then should you ask me why I venture o'er | L2 |
The path which Pope and Gifford trod before | H2 |
If not yet sicken'd you can still proceed | E2 |
Go on my rhyme will tell you as you read | E2 |
'But hold ' exclaims a friend 'here's come neglect | E2 |
This that and t'other line seem incorrect ' | - |
What then the self same blunder Pope has got | E2 |
And careless Dryden 'Ay but Pye has not ' | - |
Indeed 'tis granted faith but what care I | M2 |
Better to err with Pope than shine with Pye | M2 |
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Time was ere yet in these degenerate days | A |
Ignoble themes obtain'd mistaken praise | A |
When sense and wit with poesy allied | E2 |
No fabl'd graces flourish'd side by side | E2 |
From the same fount their inspiration drew | A |
And rear'd by taste bloom'd fairer as they grew | A |
Then in this happy isle a Pope's pure strain | O |
Sought the rapt soul to charm nor sought in vain | O |
A polish'd nation's praise aspir'd to claim | Q |
And rais'd the people's as the poet's fame | Q |
Like him great Dryden pour'd the tide of song | F |
In stream less smooth indeed yet doubly strong | F |
Then Congreve's scenes could cheer or Otway's melt | E2 |
For nature then an English audience felt | E2 |
But why these names or greater still retrace | A |
When all to feebler bards resign their place | A |
Yet to such times our lingering looks are cast | E2 |
When taste and reason with those times are past | E2 |
Now look around and turn each trifling page | N2 |
Survey the precious works that please the age | N2 |
This truth at least let satire's self allow | O2 |
No dearth of bards can be complain'd of now | O2 |
The loaded press beneath her labour groans | A |
And printers' devils shake their weary bones | A |
While Southey's epics cram the creaking shelves | A |
And Little's lyrics shine in hot press'd twelves | A |
Thus saith the Preacher 'Nought beneath the sun | J2 |
Is new' yet still from change to change we run | J2 |
What varied wonders tempt us as they pass | A |
The cow pox tractors galvanism and gas | A |
In turns appear to make the vulgar stare | I2 |
Till the swoll'n bubble bursts and all is air | I2 |
Nor less new schools of Poetry arise | A |
Where dull pretenders grapple for the prize | A |
O'er taste awhile these pseudo bards prevail | R |
Each country book club bows the knee to Baal | R |
And hurling lawful genius from the throne | P2 |
Erects a shrine and idol of its own | P2 |
Some leaden calf but whom it matters not | E2 |
From soaring Southey down to grovelling Stott | E2 |
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Behold in various throngs the scribbling crew | A |
For notice eager pass in long review | A |
Each spurs his jaded Pegasus apace | A |
And rhyme and blank maintain an equal race | A |
Sonnets on sonnets crowd and ode on ode | E2 |
And tales of terror jostle on the road | E2 |
Immeasurable measures move along | F |
For simpering folly loves a varied song | F |
To strange mysterious dullness still the friend | E2 |
Admires the strain she cannot comprehend | E2 |
Thus Lays of Minstrels may they be the last | E2 |
On half strung harps whine mournful to the blast | E2 |
While mountain spirits prate to river sprites | A |
That dames may listen to the sound at nights | A |
And goblin brats of Gilpin Horner's brood | E2 |
Decoy young border nobles through the wood | E2 |
And skip at every step Lord knows how high | M2 |
And frighten foolish babes the Lord knows why | M2 |
While highborn ladies in their magic cell | R |
Forbidding knights to read who cannot spell | R |
Despatch a courier to a wizard's grave | Y |
And fight with honest men to shield a knave | Y |
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Next view in state proud prancing on his roan | P2 |
The golden crested haughty Marmion | J2 |
Now forging scrolls now foremost in the fight | E2 |
Not quite a felon y | - |
George Gordon Byron
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