Egotism Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGGHHII JJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRSS TTUUV QQWW XX YGZZA2A2B2B2C2C2D2D2 AAE2E2HF2G2G2H2H2 I2I2J2J2I2I2 NNI2I2J2J2K2K2I2I2C2 C2 L2M2C2C2N2N2O2O2I2I2 C2C2I2I2 AAI2I2I2I2C2C2I2I2II QQ M2M2I2I2P2P2Q2Q2R2R2 N2N2I2I2S2EI2I2UUI2I 2I2I2T2U2W QQV2V2V2I2I2S2S2QQ W2W2X2X2Y2Y2N2N2N2N2 N2N2Z2Z2A3A3X2X2I2I2 I2| YE powers fantastic goblin sylph and fay | A |
| Whose subtle forms no laws material sway | A |
| Ethereal essences that dart and glide | B |
| Wherever pleasure or caprice may guide | B |
| Who leap with equal ease if ye are bid | C |
| A lady's thimble and a pyramid | C |
| And scale alike regardless of a fall | D |
| The parlour fender and the Chinese wall | D |
| Slip through a key hole 'neath the listed door | E |
| Or from the smallest crevice in the floor | E |
| Or steer your way and man's devices mock | F |
| Through the dark mazes of a patent lock | F |
| Of you I sing not but my theme shall be | G |
| Of things as quick and volatile as ye | G |
| Those busy subtle pronouns I and Me | G |
| Unsought and unexpected they appear | H |
| No barriers heed they and no laws revere | H |
| But wind and penetrate with dextrous force | I |
| Through all the cracks and crannies of discourse | I |
| - | |
| Of those with whom self proves the darling theme | J |
| Not all indulge it in a like extreme | J |
| Some have the sense to cover it no doubt | K |
| Would they had sense enough to root it out | K |
| We therefore bring as first upon the list | L |
| The loud loquacious vulgar egotist | L |
| Whose I's and Me's are scattered in his talk | M |
| Thick as the pebbles on a gravel walk | M |
| Whate'er the topic be through thick and thin | N |
| Himself is thrust or squeezed or sidled in | N |
| Conceiving thus his own importance swells | O |
| He makes himself a part of all he tells | O |
| And still to this he winds the subject round | P |
| Suppose his friend is married sick or drowned | P |
| He brought about the match he lets you know | Q |
| Told him about Miss B a year ago | Q |
| Or never shall forget whate'er ensues | R |
| How much he felt when first he heard the news | R |
| A horseman thrown lay weltering in the mud | S |
| He thought of something that would stop the blood | S |
| A neighhour had a quarrel with his wife | T |
| He never saw such doings in his life | T |
| A fire broke out at midnight in the town | U |
| He started up threw on his flannel gown | U |
| Seized an old hat full twice as large as his | V |
| And said says he 'I wonder where it is ' | - |
| Was doubtful if 'twere best to stay or go | Q |
| And trembled like a leaf from top to toe | Q |
| In vain at times some modest stander by | W |
| Catching a pause to make his brief reply | W |
| Cries 'dear ' or 'only think ' or 'so did I ' | - |
| For he by no such obstacles deterred | X |
| Runs on must tell his tale and will be heard | X |
| - | |
| Woe to themselves and woe to small and great | Y |
| When two good egotists are t te t te | G |
| A battle this though not of swords but tongues | Z |
| And he the victor who has strongest lungs | Z |
| Too eager each in what himself recites | A2 |
| To see how little interest it invites | A2 |
| Each takes the attention his companion shows | B2 |
| For pleasure in the story as it goes | B2 |
| Though judging by himself he might have known | C2 |
| He is but waiting to begin his own | C2 |
| Watching some gap in the opponent's speech | D2 |
| To force it in like soldiers at a breach | D2 |
| - | |
| Few talkers can detain themselves to weigh | A |
| The true impression made by what they say | A |
| And of all talkers egotists are last | E2 |
| E'en to suspect that they may talk too fast | E2 |
| But often while pursuing their career | H |
| Rejoiced that while they speak the rest must hear | F2 |
| Some dry observer whom they scarce perceive | G2 |
| Sits smiling in his philosophic sleeve | G2 |
| Impelled while others carelessly condemn | H2 |
| To blush for human nature and for them | H2 |
| - | |
| But 'tis not only with the loud and rude | I2 |
| That self betrays its nature unsubdued | I2 |
| Polite attention and refined address | J2 |
| But ill conceal it and can ne'er suppress | J2 |
| One truth despite of manner stands confest | I2 |
| They love themselves unspeakably the best | I2 |
| - | |
| Many monopolists of words have been | N |
| Unconscious quite of their besetting sin | N |
| Of strong susceptibility possessed | I2 |
| Enraptured oft and oft as much distrest | I2 |
| They deem themselves nor others deem them less | J2 |
| Affectionate and feeling to excess | J2 |
| The charge of selfishness or unconcern | K2 |
| In other's weal with indignation spurn | K2 |
| And think their failing and their weakest part | I2 |
| Is having as the phrase is too much heart | I2 |
| But tender hearts as well were hearts of stone | C2 |
| If what they feel is for themselves alone | C2 |
| - | |
| Have you no knowledge of this species then | L2 |
| Take fair Matilda for a specimen | M2 |
| Compare the sketch with faces you have known | C2 |
| And ere you quite discard it with your own | C2 |
| What has Matilda then no heart to feel | N2 |
| Generous emotion for another's weal | N2 |
| Oh yes she has the doubt she would declare | O2 |
| Hard and unjust to her beyond compare | O2 |
| Her friends' and neighbours' interests to forget | I2 |
| She were the last to bear the blame but yet | I2 |
| Engrossed by cares and interests of her own | C2 |
| In fact she gladly lets her friends alone | C2 |
| Too eager and too busy to reflect | I2 |
| What others may and what they do expect | I2 |
| - | |
| Calm observation and acute survey | A |
| Of others and ourselves are swept away | A |
| By that strong rude velocity of thought | I2 |
| Which meets no proper barrier where it ought | I2 |
| But rushes on impetuous and unstemmed | I2 |
| Astonished and abashed and self condemned | I2 |
| Would stand Matilda could she once be shown | C2 |
| Not other people's failings but her own | C2 |
| And see how borne on that perpetual tide | I2 |
| She thinks and talks of self and none beside | I2 |
| Then might she learn to check its rapid force | I |
| Abate its swiftness and divert its course | I |
| Make it through other fields meandering go | Q |
| And drain in time the selfish channel low | Q |
| - | |
| Matilda's friend as few besides had done | M2 |
| A patient quiet unpretending one | M2 |
| Sits cheerful and unwearied day by day | I2 |
| To hear as usual what she has to say | I2 |
| By long experience now at length she learns | P2 |
| To drop all reference to her own concerns | P2 |
| The insipid 'dear ' or 'sure ' too well declares | Q2 |
| Impatience in discussing those affairs | Q2 |
| And then the eager tone and altered brow | R2 |
| How much her own are dearer so that now | R2 |
| Whether her heart be aching or it swell | N2 |
| With some sweet hope 'twould be a joy to tell | N2 |
| She cheeks the inclination to attend | I2 |
| To some new project of her eager friend | I2 |
| How she intends as soon as winter's o'er | S2 |
| To make a passage to the nursery door | E |
| Enlarge the parlour where she loves to sit | I2 |
| And have the Turkey carpet made to fit | I2 |
| Or how she means next spring to go to town | U |
| And then to have her aunt and uncle down | U |
| Or if more intellectual in her mood | I2 |
| How she employs her hours of solitude | I2 |
| Her plans how much they fail or how succeed | I2 |
| What last she read and what she means to read | I2 |
| What time she rises and what time retires | T2 |
| And how her deeds fall short of her desires | U2 |
| All this is very well perhaps you cry | W |
| True if her friend might whisper 'so do I ' | - |
| - | |
| Whene'er from home Matilda has to go | Q |
| With the same theme her letters overflow | Q |
| Sheet after sheet in rapid course she sends | V2 |
| Brimful and crossed and written at both ends | V2 |
| About her journey visits feelings friends | V2 |
| Still still the same or if her friend had cast | I2 |
| Down in a modest postscript in her last | I2 |
| Some line which to transactions may refer | S2 |
| Of vital consequence perhaps to her | S2 |
| Matilda in reply just scrawls you know | Q |
| Along that slip on which the seal must go | Q |
| 'I'm glad or grieved to hear of so and so ' | - |
| - | |
| How can she pardon such unkind neglects | W2 |
| Why 'tis poor human nature she reflects | W2 |
| Judging with kindness candour and good sense | X2 |
| Takes it from whence it comes without offence | X2 |
| And she with meekness gifted to endure | Y2 |
| The evil she laments but cannot cure | Y2 |
| Too wise to censure or resent the ill | N2 |
| Sees it and smiles as even friendship will | N2 |
| Resolves to watch herself with double toil | N2 |
| And root the selfish weeds from nature's soil | N2 |
| And so should we for we are selfish all | N2 |
| Without one real exception since the fall | N2 |
| Good nature and good sense in some 'tis true | Z2 |
| Do much the vicious temper to subdue | Z2 |
| While some unwittingly allow its growth | A3 |
| Who yet might fair pretensions make to both | A3 |
| Of all impostors he least wisdom shows | X2 |
| Who can and does upon himself impose | X2 |
| Self knowledge of all knowledge is the best | I2 |
| By most pretended but by few possessed | I2 |
| That true philosophy not understo | I2 |
Jane Taylor
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