The Countryman And The Serpent Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEFEGHHIIJJKKLL LMM NNNN| A | |
| - | |
| A countryman as Aesop certifies | B |
| A charitable man but not so wise | B |
| One day in winter found | C |
| Stretch'd on the snowy ground | C |
| A chill'd or frozen snake | D |
| As torpid as a stake | D |
| And if alive devoid of sense | E |
| He took him up and bore him home | F |
| And thinking not what recompense | E |
| For such a charity would come | G |
| Before the fire stretch'd him | H |
| And back to being fetch'd him | H |
| The snake scarce felt the genial heat | I |
| Before his heart with native malice beat | I |
| He raised his head thrust out his fork d tongue | J |
| Coil'd up and at his benefactor sprung | J |
| 'Ungrateful wretch ' said he 'is this the way | K |
| My care and kindness you repay | K |
| Now you shall die ' With that his axe he takes | L |
| And with two blows three serpents makes | L |
| Trunk head and tail were separate snakes | L |
| And leaping up with all their might | M |
| They vainly sought to reunite | M |
| - | |
| 'Tis good and lovely to be kind | N |
| But charity should not be blind | N |
| For as to wretchedness ingrate | N |
| You cannot raise it from its wretched state | N |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
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