On Happiness Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDEFFGGHHIIJJKK LLMMNNOOAAPPQQRRSSTT UUVWUUCCTTXKKYYUUUUZ ZPPUUA2A2GB2C2C2BBCC D2D2SUPPAAE2E2PPAAUU F2F2PPYYPPCCUUG2H2PP I2I2FFUSJ2K2SUUUKKPP UUUUUUUUPPAAKKTTL2M2 UUB2GYYCCN2N2NNO2P2U UUUWarm'd by the summer sun's meridian ray | A |
As underneath a spreading oak I lay | A |
Contemplating the mighty load of woe | B |
In search of bliss that mortals undergo | B |
Who while they think they happiness enjoy | C |
Embrace a curse wrapt in delusive joy | C |
I reason'd thus Since the Creator God | D |
Who in eternal love makes his abode | E |
Hath blended with the essence of the soul | F |
An appetite as fixed as the pole | F |
That's always eager in pursuit of bliss | G |
And always veering till it points to this | G |
There is some object adequate to fill | H |
This boundless wish of our extended will | H |
Now while my thought round nature's circle runs | I |
A bolder journey than the furious sun's | I |
This chief and satiating good to find | J |
The attracting centre of the human mind | J |
My ears they deafen'd to my swimming eyes | K |
His magic wand the drowsy God applies | K |
Bound all my senses in a silken sleep | L |
While mimic fancy did her vigils keep | L |
Yet still methinks some condescending power | M |
Ranged the ideas in my mind that hour | M |
Methought I wandering was with thousands more | N |
Beneath a high prodigious hill before | N |
Above the clouds whose towering summit rose | O |
With utmost labour only gained by those | O |
Who groveling prejudices throw away | A |
And with incessant straining climb'd their way | A |
Where all who stood their failing breath to gain | P |
With headlong ruin tumbled down amain | P |
This mountain is through every nation famed | Q |
And as I learned Contemplation named | Q |
O happy me when I had reach'd its top | R |
Unto my sight a boundless scene did ope | R |
First sadly I survey'd with downward eye | S |
Of restless men below the busy fry | S |
Who hunted trifles in an endless maze | T |
Like foolish boys on sunny summer days | T |
Pursuing butterflies with all their might | U |
Who can't their troubles in the chase requite | U |
The painted insect he who most admires | V |
Grieves most when it in his rude hand expires | W |
Or should it live with endless fears is toss'd | U |
Lest it take wing and be for ever lost | U |
Some men I saw their utmost art employ | C |
How to attain a false deceitful joy | C |
Which from afar conspicuously did blaze | T |
And at a distance fix'd their ravish'd gaze | T |
But nigh at hand it mock'd their fond embrace | X |
When lo again it flashed in their eyes | K |
But still as they drew near the fond illusion dies | K |
Just so I've seen a water dog pursue | Y |
An unflown duck within his greedy view | Y |
When he has panting at his prey arrived | U |
The coxcomb fooling suddenly it dived | U |
He gripping is almost with water choked | U |
And grieves that all his towering hopes are mock'd | U |
Then it emerges he renews his toil | Z |
And o'er and o'er again he gets the foil | Z |
Yea all the joys beneath the conscious sun | P |
And softer ones that his inspection shun | P |
Much of their pleasures in fruition fade | U |
Enjoyment o'er them throws a sullen shade | U |
The reason is we promise vaster things | A2 |
And sweeter joys than from their nature springs | A2 |
When they are lost we weep the apparent bliss | G |
And not what really in Fruition is | B2 |
So that our griefs are greater than our joys | C2 |
And real pain springs from fantastic toys | C2 |
Though all terrene delights of men below | B |
Are almost nothing but a glaring show | B |
Yet if there always were a virgin joy | C |
When t'other fades to soothe the wanton boy | C |
He somewhat might excuse his heedless course | D2 |
Some show of reason for the same enforce | D2 |
But frugal nature wisely does deny | S |
To mankind such profuse variety | U |
Has what is needful only to us given | P |
To feed and cheer us in the way to Heaven | P |
And more would but the traveller delay | A |
Impede and clog him in his upward way | A |
I from the mount all mortal pleasures saw | E2 |
Themselves within a narrow compass draw | E2 |
The libertine a nauseous circle run | P |
And dully acted what he'd often done | P |
Just so when Luna darts her silver ray | A |
And pours on silent earth a paler day | A |
From Stygian caves the flitting fairies scud | U |
And on the margent of some limpid flood | U |
Which by reflected moonlight darts a glance | F2 |
In midnight circles range themselves and dance | F2 |
To morrow cries he will us entertain | P |
Pray what's to morrow but to day again | P |
Deluded youth no more the chase pursue | Y |
So oft deceived no more the toil renew | Y |
But in a constant and a fix'd design | P |
Of acting well there is a lasting mine | P |
Of solid satisfaction purest joy | C |
For virtue's pleasures never never cloy | C |
Then hither come climb up the steep ascent | U |
Your painful labour you will ne'er repent | U |
From Heaven itself here you're but one remove | G2 |
Here's the pr ludium of the joys above | H2 |
Here you'll behold the awful Godhead shine | P |
And all perfections in the same combine | P |
You'll see that God who by his powerful call | I2 |
From empty nothing drew this spacious all | I2 |
Made beauteous order the rude mass control | F |
And every part subservient to the whole | F |
Here you'll behold upon the fatal tree | U |
The God of nature bleed expire and die | S |
For such as 'gainst his holy laws rebel | J2 |
And such as bid defiance to his hell | K2 |
Through the dark gulf here you may clearly pry | S |
'Twixt narrow Time and vast Eternity | U |
Behold the Godhead just as well as good | U |
And vengeance pour'd on tramplers on his blood | U |
But all the tears wiped from his people's eyes | K |
And for their entrance cleave the parting skies | K |
Then sure you will with holy ardours burn | P |
And to seraphic heats your passion turn | P |
Then in your eyes all mortal fair will fade | U |
And leave of mortal beauties but the shade | U |
Yourself to him you'll solemnly devote | U |
To him without whose providence you're not | U |
You'll of his service relish the delight | U |
And to his praises all your powers excite | U |
You'll celebrate his name in heavenly sound | U |
Which well pleased skies in echoes will rebound | U |
This is the greatest happiness that can | P |
Possessed be in this short life by man | P |
But darkly here the Godhead we survey | A |
Confined and cramped in this cage of clay | A |
What cruel band is this to earth that ties | K |
Our souls from soaring to their native skies | K |
Upon the bright eternal face to gaze | T |
And there drink in the beatific rays | T |
There to behold the good one and the fair | L2 |
A ray from whom all mortal beauties are | M2 |
In beauteous nature all the harmony | U |
Is but the echo of the Deity | U |
Of all perfection who the centre is | B2 |
And boundless ocean of untainted bliss | G |
For ever open to the ravish'd view | Y |
And full enjoyment of the radiant crew | Y |
Who live in raptures of eternal joy | C |
Whose flaming love their tuneful harps employ | C |
In solemn hymns Jehovah's praise to sing | N2 |
And make all heaven with hallelujahs ring | N2 |
These realms of light no further I'll explore | N |
And in these heights I will no longer soar | N |
Not like our grosser atmosphere beneath | O2 |
The ether here's too thin for me to breathe | P2 |
The region is unsufferable bright | U |
And flashes on me with too strong a light | U |
Then from the mountain lo I now descend | U |
And to my vision put a hasty end | U |
James Thomson
(1)
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