Virgil's First Eclogue Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDEA AFGAFF AAHBIAJFGFK AFABEAFFA AK AABLKKEMNK AAOAAB APAAAGQ AKCAGJAAFDKOAAA AGQFAM AAAFKFRAFFSFIAMTBQFM AKAAAA| MELIBOEUS | A |
| Tityrus thou in the shade of a spreading beech tree reclining | B |
| Meditatest with slender pipe the Muse of the woodlands | A |
| We our country's bounds and pleasant pastures relinquish | C |
| We our country fly thou Tityrus stretched in the shadow | D |
| Teachest the woods to resound with the name of the fair | E |
| Amaryllis | A |
| - | |
| TITYRUS | A |
| O Meliboeus a god for us this leisure created | F |
| For he will be unto me a god forever his altar | G |
| Oftentimes shall imbue a tender lamb from our sheepfolds | A |
| He my heifers to wander at large and myself as thou seest | F |
| On my rustic reed to play what I will hath permitted | F |
| - | |
| MELIBOEUS | A |
| Truly I envy not I marvel rather on all sides | A |
| In all the fields is such trouble Behold my goats I am | H |
| driving | B |
| Heartsick further away this one scarce Tityrus lead I | I |
| For having here yeaned twins just now among the dense hazels | A |
| Hope of the flock ah me on the naked flint she hath left them | J |
| Often this evil to me if my mind had not been insensate | F |
| Oak trees stricken by heaven predicted as now I remember | G |
| Often the sinister crow from the hollow ilex predicted | F |
| Nevertheless who this god may be O Tityrus tell me | K |
| - | |
| TITYRUS | A |
| O Meliboeus the city that they call Rome I imagined | F |
| Foolish I to be like this of ours where often we shepherds | A |
| Wonted are to drive down of our ewes the delicate offspring | B |
| Thus whelps like unto dogs had I known and kids to their | E |
| mothers | A |
| Thus to compare great things with small had I been accustomed | F |
| But this among other cities its head as far hath exalted | F |
| As the cypresses do among the lissome viburnums | A |
| - | |
| MELIBOEUS | A |
| And what so great occasion of seeing Rome hath possessed thee | K |
| - | |
| TITYRUS | A |
| Liberty which though late looked upon me in my inertness | A |
| After the time when my beard fell whiter front me in shaving | B |
| Yet she looked upon me and came to me after a long while | L |
| Since Amaryllis possesses and Galatea hath left me | K |
| For I will even confess that while Galatea possessed me | K |
| Neither care of my flock nor hope of liberty was there | E |
| Though from my wattled folds there went forth many a victim | M |
| And the unctuous cheese was pressed for the city ungrateful | N |
| Never did my right hand return home heavy with money | K |
| - | |
| MELIBOEUS | A |
| I have wondered why sad thou invokedst the gods Amaryllis | A |
| And for whom thou didst suffer the apples to hang on the | O |
| branches | A |
| Tityrus hence was absent Thee Tityrus even the pine trees | A |
| Thee the very fountains the very copses were calling | B |
| - | |
| TITYRUS | A |
| What could I do No power had I to escape from my bondage | P |
| Nor had I power elsewhere to recognize gods so propitious | A |
| Here I beheld that youth to whom each year Meliboeus | A |
| During twice six days ascends the smoke of our altars | A |
| Here first gave he response to me soliciting favor | G |
| 'Feed as before your heifers ye boys and yoke up your | Q |
| bullocks ' | - |
| - | |
| MELIBOEUS | A |
| Fortunate old man So then thy fields will be left thee | K |
| And large enough for thee though naked stone and the marish | C |
| All thy pasture lands with the dreggy rush may encompass | A |
| No unaccustomed food thy gravid ewes shall endanger | G |
| Nor of the neighboring flock the dire contagion inject them | J |
| Fortunate old man Here among familiar rivers | A |
| And these sacred founts shalt thou take the shadowy coolness | A |
| On this side a hedge along the neighboring cross road | F |
| Where Hyblaean bees ever feed on the flower of the willow | D |
| Often with gentle susurrus to fall asleep shall persuade thee | K |
| Yonder beneath the high rock the pruner shall sing to the | O |
| breezes | A |
| Nor meanwhile shalt thy heart's delight the hoarse wood pigeons | A |
| Nor the turtle dove cease to mourn from aerial elm trees | A |
| - | |
| TITYRUS | A |
| Therefore the agile stags shall sooner feed in the ether | G |
| And the billows leave the fishes bare on the sea shore | Q |
| Sooner the border lands of both overpassed shall the exiled | F |
| Parthian drink of the Soane or the German drink of the Tigris | A |
| Than the face of him shall glide away from my bosom | M |
| - | |
| MELIBOEUS | A |
| But we hence shall go a part to the thirsty Afries | A |
| Part to Scythia come and the rapid Cretan Oaxes | A |
| And to the Britons from all the universe utterly sundered | F |
| Ah shall I ever a long time hence the bounds of my country | K |
| And the roof of my lowly cottage covered with greensward | F |
| Seeing with wonder behold my kingdoms a handful of | R |
| wheat ears | A |
| Shall an impious soldier possess these lands newly cultured | F |
| And these fields of corn a barbarian Lo whither dicord | F |
| Us wretched people hath brought for whom our fields we have | S |
| planted | F |
| Graft Meliboeus thy pear trees now put in order thy | I |
| vine yards | A |
| Go my goats go hence my flocks so happy aforetime | M |
| Never again henceforth outstretched in my verdurous cavern | T |
| Shall I behold you afar from the bushy precipice hanging | B |
| Songs no more shall I sing not with me ye goats as your | Q |
| shepherd | F |
| Shall ye browse on the bitter willow or blooming laburnum | M |
| - | |
| TITYRUS | A |
| Nevertheless this night together with me canst thou rest thee | K |
| Here on the verdant leaves for us there are mellowing apples | A |
| Chestnuts soft to the touch and clouted cream in abundance | A |
| And the high roofs now of the villages smoke in the distance | A |
| And from the lofty mountains are falling larger the shadows | A |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1)
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