To The Earl Of Carlisle, K. G. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDEFFEE A GHGHICJJCC A CCKKLMNNMCOCOO A PQPNRSTUVS A WKWKXXXYY A SSZZVA2B2C2A2D2CD2CD 2I | A |
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Retired remote from human noise | B |
An humble Poet dwelt serene | C |
His lot was lowly yet his joys | B |
Were manifold I ween | C |
He laid him by the brawling brook | D |
At eventide to ruminate | E |
He watch'd the swallow skimming round | F |
And mused in reverie profound | F |
On wayward man's unhappy state | E |
And ponder'd much and paused on deeds of ancient date | E |
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II | A |
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Oh 'twas not always thus he cried | G |
There was a time when genius claim'd | H |
Respect from even towering pride | G |
Nor hung her head ashamed | H |
But now to wealth alone we bow | I |
The titled and the rich alone | C |
Are honour'd while meek merit pines | J |
On penury's wretched couch reclines | J |
Unheeded in his dying moan | C |
As overwhelmed with want and woe he sinks unknown | C |
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III | A |
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Yet was the muse not always seen | C |
In poverty's dejected mien | C |
Not always did repining rue | K |
And misery her steps pursue | K |
Time was when nobles thought their titles graced | L |
By the sweet honours of poetic bays | M |
When Sidney sung his melting song | N |
When Sheffield join'd the harmonious throng | N |
And Lyttelton attuned to love his lays | M |
Those days are gone alas for ever gone | C |
No more our nobles love to grace | O |
Their brows with anadems by genius won | C |
But arrogantly deem the muse as base | O |
How differently thought the sires of this degenerate race | O |
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I | A |
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Thus sang the minstrel still at eve | P |
The upland's woody shades among | Q |
In broken measures did he grieve | P |
With solitary song | N |
And still his shame was aye the same | R |
Neglect had stung him to the core | S |
And he with pensive joy did love | T |
To seek the still congenial grove | U |
And muse on all his sorrows o'er | V |
And vow that he would join the abjured world no more | S |
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II | A |
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But human vows how frail they be | W |
Fame brought Carlisle unto his view | K |
And all amazed he thought to see | W |
The Augustan age anew | K |
Fill'd with wild rapture up he rose | X |
No more he ponders on the woes | X |
Which erst he felt that forward goes | X |
Regrets he'd sunk in impotence | Y |
And hails the ideal day of virtuous eminence | Y |
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III | A |
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Ah silly man yet smarting sore | S |
With ills which in the world he bore | S |
Again on futile hope to rest | Z |
An unsubstantial prop at best | Z |
And not to know one swallow makes no summer | V |
Ah soon he'll find the brilliant gleam | A2 |
Which flash'd across the hemisphere | B2 |
Illumining the darkness there | C2 |
Was but a single solitary beam | A2 |
While all around remained in custom'd night | D2 |
Still leaden ignorance reigns serene | C |
In the false court's delusive height | D2 |
And only one Carlisle is seen | C |
To illume the heavy gloom with pure and steady light | D2 |
Henry Kirk White
(1)
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