The Hares, A Fable. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEFGGHHIIJJKK LL MM NNOOOO OOPPQRSTDDUUVVWXYYZZ OOA2A2OOCCOOB2 C2C2D2D2 E2F2OOG2G2H2H2I2I2J2 J2OOK2K2OOL2L2L2L2M2 M2OOL2L2L2L2M2M2 H2H2OON2N2L2L2O2O2P2 P2H2H2 L2L2Q2DD2D2OOH2I2XWR 2R2OOO L2L2S2S2L2L2L2L2OO H2H2S2S2L2L2L2L2OOT2 T2 L2L2L2L2L2L2YYD2D2OO M2M2OOL2L2 L2L2L2L2L2L2U2U2L2L2 OOOOOOL2L2OOXWYY I2I2L2L2OOS2S2OOZZV2 I2IW2X2O2OOT2U2Yes yes I grant the sons of earth | A |
Are doom'd to trouble from their birth | A |
We all of sorrow have our share | B |
But say is yours without compare | B |
Look round the world perhaps you'll find | C |
Each individual of our kind | C |
Press'd with an equal load of ill | D |
Equal at least Look further still | D |
And own your lamentable case | E |
Is little short of happiness | F |
In yonder hut that stands alone | G |
Attend to Famine's feeble moan | G |
Or view the couch where Sickness lies | H |
Mark his pale cheek and languid eyes | H |
His frame by strong convulsion torn | I |
His struggling sighs and looks forlorn | I |
Or see transfix'd with keener pangs | J |
Where o'er his hoard the miser hangs | J |
Whistles the wind he starts he stares | K |
Nor Slumber's balmy blessing shares | K |
Despair Remorse and Terror roll | L |
Their tempests on his harass'd soul | L |
- | |
But here perhaps it may avail | M |
T'enforce our reasoning with a tale | M |
- | |
Mild was the morn the sky serene | N |
The jolly hunting band convene | N |
The beagle's breast with ardour burns | O |
The bounding steed the champaign spurns | O |
And Fancy oft the game descries | O |
Through the hound's nose and huntsman's eyes | O |
- | |
Just then a council of the hares | O |
Had met on national affairs | O |
The chiefs were set while o'er their head | P |
The furze its frizzled covering spread | P |
Long lists of grievances were heard | Q |
And general discontent appear'd | R |
'Our harmless race shall every savage | S |
Both quadruped and biped ravage | T |
Shall horses hounds and hunters still | D |
Unite their wits to work us ill | D |
The youth his parent's sole delight | U |
Whose tooth the dewy lawns invite | U |
Whose pulse in every vein beats strong | V |
Whose limbs leap light the vales along | V |
May yet ere noontide meet his death | W |
And lie dismember'd on the heath | X |
For youth alas nor cautious age | Y |
Nor strength nor speed eludes their rage | Y |
In every field we meet the foe | Z |
Each gale comes fraught with sounds of wo | Z |
The morning but awakes our fears | O |
The evening sees us bathed in tears | O |
But must we ever idly grieve | A2 |
Nor strive our fortunes to relieve | A2 |
Small is each individual's force | O |
To stratagem be our recourse | O |
And then from all our tribes combined | C |
The murderer to his cost may find | C |
No foes are weak whom Justice arms | O |
Whom Concord leads and Hatred warms | O |
Be roused or liberty acquire | B2 |
Or in the great attempt expire ' | - |
He said no more for in his breast | C2 |
Conflicting thoughts the voice suppress'd | C2 |
The fire of vengeance seem'd to stream | D2 |
From his swoln eyeball's yellow gleam | D2 |
- | |
And now the tumults of the war | E2 |
Mingling confusedly from afar | F2 |
Swell in the wind Now louder cries | O |
Distinct of hounds and men arise | O |
Forth from the brake with beating heart | G2 |
Th' assembled hares tumultuous start | G2 |
And every straining nerve on wing | H2 |
Away precipitately spring | H2 |
The hunting band a signal given | I2 |
Thick thundering o'er the plain are driven | I2 |
O'er cliff abrupt and shrubby mound | J2 |
And river broad impetuous bound | J2 |
Now plunge amid the forest shades | O |
Glance through the openings of the glades | O |
Now o'er the level valley sweep | K2 |
Now with short steps strain up the steep | K2 |
While backward from the hunter's eyes | O |
The landscape like a torrent flies | O |
At last an ancient wood they gain'd | L2 |
By pruner's axe yet unprofaned | L2 |
High o'er the rest by Nature rear'd | L2 |
The oak's majestic boughs appear'd | L2 |
Beneath a copse of various hue | M2 |
In barbarous luxuriance grew | M2 |
No knife had curb'd the rambling sprays | O |
No hand had wove th' implicit maze | O |
The flowering thorn self taught to wind | L2 |
The hazle's stubborn stem entwined | L2 |
And bramble twigs were wreathed around | L2 |
And rough furze crept along the ground | L2 |
Here sheltering from the sons of murther | M2 |
The hares drag their tired limbs no further | M2 |
- | |
But lo the western wind erelong | H2 |
Was loud and roar'd the woods among | H2 |
From rustling leaves and crashing boughs | O |
The sound of wo and war arose | O |
The hares distracted scour the grove | N2 |
As terror and amazement drove | N2 |
But danger wheresoe'er they fled | L2 |
Still seem'd impending o'er their head | L2 |
Now crowded in a grotto's gloom | O2 |
All hope extinct they wait their doom | O2 |
Dire was the silence till at length | P2 |
Even from despair deriving strength | P2 |
With bloody eye and furious look | H2 |
A daring youth arose and spoke | H2 |
- | |
'O wretched race the scorn of Fate | L2 |
Whom ills of every sort await | L2 |
O cursed with keenest sense to feel | Q2 |
The sharpest sting of every ill | D |
Say ye who fraught with mighty scheme | D2 |
Of liberty and vengeance dream | D2 |
What now remains To what recess | O |
Shall we our weary steps address | O |
Since fate is evermore pursuing | H2 |
All ways and means to work our ruin | I2 |
Are we alone of all beneath | X |
Condemn'd to misery worse than death | W |
Must we with fruitless labour strive | R2 |
In misery worse than death to live | R2 |
No Be the smaller ill our choice | O |
So dictates Nature's powerful voice | O |
Death's pang will in a moment cease | O |
And then All hail eternal peace ' | - |
Thus while he spoke his words impart | L2 |
The dire resolve to every heart | L2 |
A distant lake in prospect lay | S2 |
That glittering in the solar ray | S2 |
Gleam'd through the dusky trees and shot | L2 |
A trembling light along the grott | L2 |
Thither with one consent they bend | L2 |
Their sorrows with their lives to end | L2 |
While each in thought already hears | O |
The water hissing in his ears | O |
- | |
Fast by the margin of the lake | H2 |
Conceal'd within a thorny brake | H2 |
A Linnet sat whose careless lay | S2 |
Amused the solitary day | S2 |
Careless he sung for on his breast | L2 |
Sorrow no lasting trace impress'd | L2 |
When suddenly he heard a sound | L2 |
Of swift feet traversing the ground | L2 |
Quick to the neighbouring tree he flies | O |
Thence trembling cast around his eyes | O |
No foe appear'd his fears were vain | T2 |
Pleased he renews the sprightly strain | T2 |
- | |
The hares whose noise had caused his fright | L2 |
Saw with surprise the linnet's flight | L2 |
Is there on earth a wretch they said | L2 |
Whom our approach can strike with dread | L2 |
An instantaneous change of thought | L2 |
To tumult every bosom wrought | L2 |
So fares the system building sage | Y |
Who plodding on from youth to age | Y |
At last on some foundation dream | D2 |
Has rear'd aloft his goodly scheme | D2 |
And proved his predecessors fools | O |
And bound all nature by his rules | O |
So fares he in that dreadful hour | M2 |
When injured Truth exerts her power | M2 |
Some new phenomenon to raise | O |
Which bursting on his frighted gaze | O |
From its proud summit to the ground | L2 |
Proves the whole edifice unsound | L2 |
- | |
'Children ' thus spoke a hare sedate | L2 |
Who oft had known th' extremes of fate | L2 |
'In slight events docile mind | L2 |
May hints of good instruction find | L2 |
That our condition is the worst | L2 |
And we with such misfortunes cursed | L2 |
As all comparison defy | U2 |
Was late the universal cry | U2 |
When lo an accident so slight | L2 |
As yonder little linnet's flight | L2 |
Has made your stubborn heart confess | O |
So your amazement bids me guess | O |
That all our load of woes and fears | O |
Is but a part of what he bears | O |
Where can he rest secure from harms | O |
Whom even a helpless hare alarms | O |
Yet he repines not at his lot | L2 |
When pass'd the danger is forgot | L2 |
On yonder bough he trims his wings | O |
And with unusual rapture stings | O |
While we less wretched sink beneath | X |
Our lighter ills and rush to death | W |
No more of this unmeaning rage | Y |
But hear my friends the words of age | Y |
- | |
'When by the winds of autumn driven | I2 |
The scatter'd clouds fly cross the heaven | I2 |
Oft have we from some mountain's head | L2 |
Beheld th' alternate light and shade | L2 |
Sweep the long vale Here hovering lours | O |
The shadowy cloud there downward pours | O |
Streaming direct a flood of day | S2 |
Which from the view flies swift away | S2 |
It flies while other shades advance | O |
And other streaks of sunshine glance | O |
Thus checker'd is the life below | Z |
With gleams of joy and clouds of wo | Z |
Then hope not while we journey on | V2 |
Still to be basking in the sun | I2 |
Nor fear though now in shades ye mourn | I |
That sunshine will no more return | W2 |
If by your terrors overcome | X2 |
Ye fly before th' approaching gloom | O2 |
The rapid clouds your flight pursue | O |
And darkness still o'ercasts your view | O |
Who longs to reach the radiant plain | T2 |
Must onward urge hi | U2 |
James Beattie
(1)
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