To The Duke Of Dorset Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGGGHHII JJGGKKLLMMDD NNOOPPEEKK DDQQRRSSFFOOGGOOGGGG TTOOUVOOWWLLKKGGWWGG OOFF DDXX OOOODDOOYYZZGGGGOOA2 A2OODorset whose early steps with mine have stray'd | A |
Exploring every path of Ida's glade | A |
Whom still affection taught me to defend | B |
And made me less a tyrant than a friend | B |
Though the harsh custom of our youthful band | C |
Bade thee obey and gave me to command | C |
Thee on whose head a few short years will shower | D |
The gift of riches and the pride of power | D |
E'en now a name illustrious is thine own | E |
Renown'd in rank not far beneath the throne | E |
Yet Dorset let not this seduce thy soul | F |
To shun fair science or evade controul | F |
Though passive tutors fearful to dispraise | G |
The titled child whose future breath may raise | G |
View ducal errors with indulgent eyes | G |
And wink at faults they tremble to chastise | G |
When youthful parasites who bend the knee | H |
To wealth their golden idol not to thee | H |
And even in simple boyhood's opening dawn | I |
Some slaves are found to flatter and to fawn | I |
When these declare that pomp alone should wait | J |
On one by birth predestin'd to be great | J |
That books were only meant for drudging fools | G |
That gallant spirits scorn the common rules | G |
Believe them not they point the path to shame | K |
And seek to blast the honours of thy name | K |
Turn to the few in Ida's early throng | L |
Whose souls disdain not to condemn the wrong | L |
Or if amidst the comrades of thy youth | M |
None dare to raise the sterner voice of truth | M |
Ask thine own heart 'twill bid thee boy forbear | D |
For well I know that virtue lingers there | D |
- | |
Yes I have mark'd thee many a passing day | N |
But now new scenes invite me far away | N |
Yes I have mark'd within that generous mind | O |
A soul if well matur'd to bless mankind | O |
Ah though myself by nature haughty wild | P |
Whom Indiscretion hail'd her favourite child | P |
Though every error stamps me for her own | E |
And dooms my fall I fain would fall alone | E |
Though my proud heart no precept now can tame | K |
I love the virtues which I cannot claim | K |
- | |
'Tis not enough with other sons of power | D |
To gleam the lambent meteor of an hour | D |
To swell some peerage page in feeble pride | Q |
With long drawn names that grace no page beside | Q |
Then share with titled crowds the common lot | R |
In life just gaz'd at in the grave forgot | R |
While nought divides thee from the vulgar dead | S |
Except the dull cold stone that hides thy head | S |
The mouldering 'scutcheon or the Herald's roll | F |
That well emblazon'd but neglected scroll | F |
Where Lords unhonour'd in the tomb may find | O |
One spot to leave a worthless name behind | O |
There sleep unnotic'd as the gloomy vaults | G |
That veil their dust their follies and their faults | G |
A race with old armorial lists o'erspread | O |
In records destin'd never to be read | O |
Fain would I view thee with prophetic eyes | G |
Exalted more among the good and wise | G |
A glorious and a long career pursue | G |
As first in Rank the first in Talent too | G |
Spurn every vice each little meanness shun | T |
Not Fortune's minion but her noblest son | T |
Turn to the annals of a former day | O |
Bright are the deeds thine earlier Sires display | O |
One though a courtier lived a man of worth | U |
And call'd proud boast the British drama forth | V |
Another view not less renown'd for Wit | O |
Alike for courts and camps or senates fit | O |
Bold in the field and favour'd by the Nine | W |
In every splendid part ordain'd to shine | W |
Far far distinguished from the glittering throng | L |
The pride of Princes and the boast of Song | L |
Such were thy Fathers thus preserve their name | K |
Not heir to titles only but to Fame | K |
The hour draws nigh a few brief days will close | G |
To me this little scene of joys and woes | G |
Each knell of Time now warns me to resign | W |
Shades where Hope Peace and Friendship all were mine | W |
Hope that could vary like the rainbow's hue | G |
And gild their pinions as the moments flew | G |
Peace that reflection never frown'd away | O |
By dreams of ill to cloud some future day | O |
Friendship whose truth let Childhood only tell | F |
Alas they love not long who love so well | F |
- | |
To these adieu nor let me linger o'er | D |
Scenes hail'd as exiles hail their native shore | D |
Receding slowly through the dark blue deep | X |
Beheld by eyes that mourn yet cannot weep | X |
- | |
Dorset farewell I will not ask one part | O |
Of sad remembrance in so young a heart | O |
The coming morrow from thy youthful mind | O |
Will sweep my name nor leave a trace behind | O |
And yet perhaps in some maturer year | D |
Since chance has thrown us in the self same sphere | D |
Since the same senate nay the same debate | O |
May one day claim our suffrage for the state | O |
We hence may meet and pass each other by | Y |
With faint regard or cold and distant eye | Y |
For me in future neither friend nor foe | Z |
A stranger to thyself thy weal or woe | Z |
With thee no more again I hope to trace | G |
The recollection of our early race | G |
No more as once in social hours rejoice | G |
Or hear unless in crowds thy well known voice | G |
Still if the wishes of a heart untaught | O |
To veil those feelings which perchance it ought | O |
If these but let me cease the lengthen'd strain | A2 |
Oh if these wishes are not breath'd in vain | A2 |
The Guardian Seraph who directs thy fate | O |
Will leave thee glorious as he found thee great | O |
George Gordon Lord Byron
(1)
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