The Persevering Tortoise And The Pretentious Hare Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD AEAEAFAF AAAAGDGD AHAHIJIJ EAEAHCHC KLKLMDNK EOEO| Once a turtle finding plenty | A |
| In seclusion to bewitch | B |
| Lived a dolce far niente | A |
| Kind of life within a ditch | B |
| Rivers had no charm for him | C |
| As he told his wife and daughter | D |
| Though my friends are in the swim | C |
| Mud is thicker far than water | D |
| - | |
| One fine day as was his habit | A |
| He was dozing in the sun | E |
| When a young and flippant rabbit | A |
| Happened by the ditch to run | E |
| Come and race me he exclaimed | A |
| Fat inhabitant of puddles | F |
| Sluggard You should be ashamed | A |
| Such a life the brain befuddles | F |
| - | |
| This of course was banter merely | A |
| But it stirred the torpid blood | A |
| Of the turtle and severely | A |
| Forth he issued from the mud | A |
| Done he cried The race began | G |
| But the hare resumed his banter | D |
| Seeing how his rival ran | G |
| In a most unlovely canter | D |
| - | |
| Shouting Terrapin you're bested | A |
| You'd be wiser dear old chap | H |
| If you sat you down and rested | A |
| When you reach the second lap | H |
| Quoth the turtle I refuse | I |
| As for you with all your talking | J |
| Sit on any lap you choose | I |
| I shall simply go on walking | J |
| - | |
| Now this sporting proposition | E |
| Was upon its face absurd | A |
| Yet the hare with expedition | E |
| Took the tortoise at his word | A |
| Ran until the final lap | H |
| Then supposing he'd outclassed him | C |
| Laid him down and took a nap | H |
| And the patient turtle passed him | C |
| - | |
| Plodding on he shortly made the | K |
| Line that marked the victor's goal | L |
| Paused and found he'd won and laid the | K |
| Flattering unction to his soul | L |
| Then in fashion grandiose | M |
| Like an after dinner speaker | D |
| Touched his flipper to his nose | N |
| And remarked Ahem Eureka | K |
| - | |
| And THE MORAL lest you miss one | E |
| Is There's often time to spare | O |
| And that races are like this one | E |
| Won not always by a hair | O |
Guy Wetmore Carryl
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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