The Wolf And Shepherds. A Fable Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGGHHAIJJKLBIFF MNOOPPQQNRSSTUVWXXYY JJZZA2A2B2HC2C2D2E2C 2C2WVF2F2G2B2HHC2C2C 2C2H2H2D2D2C2C2I2J2G 2K2WWL2L2M2M2GGC2C2L 2L2N2O2FHG2G2P2Q2L2L 2R2R2C2C2S2K2C2C2T2U 2V2W2X2K2JJLaws as we read in ancient sages | A |
Have been like cobwebs in all ages | B |
Cobwebs for little flies are spread | C |
And laws for little folks are made | D |
But if an insect of renown | E |
Hornet or beetle wasp or drone | F |
Be caught in quest of sport or plunder | G |
The flimsy fetter flies in sunder | G |
Your simile perhaps may please one | H |
With whom wit holds the place of reason | H |
But can you prove that this in fact is | A |
Agreeable to life and practice | I |
Then hear what in his simple way | J |
Old sop told me t' other day | J |
In days of yore but which is very odd | K |
Our author mentions not the period | L |
We mortal men less given to speeches | B |
Allow'd the beasts sometimes to teach us | I |
But now we all are prattlers grown | F |
And suffer no voice but our own | F |
With us no beast has leave to speak | M |
Although his honest heart should break | N |
'Tis true your asses and your apes | O |
And other brutes in human shapes | O |
And that thing made of sound and show | P |
Which mortals have misnamed a beau | P |
But in the language of the sky | Q |
Is call'd a two legg'd butterfly | Q |
Will make your very heartstrings ache | N |
With loud and everlasting clack | R |
And beat your auditory drum | S |
Till you grow deaf or they grow dumb | S |
But to our story we return | T |
'Twas early on a Summer morn | U |
A Wolf forsook the mountain den | V |
And issued hungry on the plain | W |
Full many a stream and lawn he past | X |
And reach'd a winding vale at last | X |
Where from a hollow rock he spied | Y |
The shepherds drest in flowery pride | Y |
Garlands were strew'd and all was gay | J |
To celebrate a holiday | J |
The merry tabor's gamesome sound | Z |
Provoked the sprightly dance around | Z |
Hard by a rural board was rear'd | A2 |
On which in fair array appear'd | A2 |
The peach the apple and the raisin | B2 |
And all the fruitage of the season | H |
But more distinguish'd than the rest | C2 |
Was seen a wether ready drest | C2 |
That smoking recent from the flame | D2 |
Diffused a stomach rousing steam | E2 |
Our Wolf could not endure the sight | C2 |
Courageous grew his appetite | C2 |
His entrails groan'd with tenfold pain | W |
He lick'd his lips and lick'd again | V |
At last with lightning in his eyes | F2 |
He bounces forth and fiercely cries | F2 |
'Shepherds I am not given to scolding | G2 |
But now my spleen I cannot hold in | B2 |
By Jove such scandalous oppression | H |
Would put an elephant in passion | H |
You who your flocks as you pretend | C2 |
By wholesome laws from harm defend | C2 |
Which make it death for any beast | C2 |
How much soe'er by hunger press'd | C2 |
To seize a sheep by force or stealth | H2 |
For sheep have right to life and health | H2 |
Can you commit uncheck'd by shame | D2 |
What in a beast so much you blame | D2 |
What is a law if those who make it | C2 |
Become the forwardest to break it | C2 |
The case is plain you would reserve | I2 |
All to yourselves while others starve | J2 |
Such laws from base self interest spring | G2 |
Not from the reason of the thing ' | K2 |
He was proceeding when a swain | W |
Burst out 'And dares a wolf arraign | W |
His betters and condemn their measures | L2 |
And contradict their wills and pleasures | L2 |
We have establish'd laws 'tis true | M2 |
But laws are made for such as you | M2 |
Know sirrah in its very nature | G |
A law can't reach the legislature | G |
For laws without a sanction join'd | C2 |
As all men know can never bind | C2 |
But sanctions reach not us the makers | L2 |
For who dares punish us though breakers | L2 |
'Tis therefore plain beyond denial | N2 |
That laws were ne'er design'd to tie all | O2 |
But those whom sanctions reach alone | F |
We stand accountable to none | H |
Besides 'tis evident that seeing | G2 |
Laws from the great derive their being | G2 |
They as in duty bound should love | P2 |
The great in whom they live and move | Q2 |
And humbly yield to their desires | L2 |
'Tis just what gratitude requires | L2 |
What suckling dandled on the lap | R2 |
Would tear away its mother's pap | R2 |
But hold Why deign I to dispute | C2 |
With such a scoundrel of a brute | C2 |
Logic is lost upon a knave | S2 |
Let action prove the law our slave ' | K2 |
An angry nod his will declared | C2 |
To his gruff yeoman of the guard | C2 |
The full fed mongrels train'd to ravage | T2 |
Fly to devour the shaggy savage | U2 |
The beast had now no time to lose | V2 |
In chopping logic with his foes | W2 |
'This argument ' quoth he 'has force | X2 |
And swiftness is my sole resource ' | K2 |
He said and left the swains their prey | J |
And to the mountains scour'd away | J |
James Beattie
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Wolf And Shepherds. A Fable poem by James Beattie
Best Poems of James Beattie