The Farmer, The Dog, And The Fox Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFFGGHIJKKJLL MML NNOOPPFNFNQQNNLLNNNR FRFRSEETUUVVMWXMYZA2 NLLB2 C2D2E2E2E2 FFVVF2F2FF| A | |
| - | |
| The wolf and fox are neighbours strange | B |
| I would not build within their range | B |
| The fox once eyed with strict regard | C |
| From day to day a poultry yard | C |
| But though a most accomplish'd cheat | D |
| He could not get a fowl to eat | D |
| Between the risk and appetite | E |
| His rogueship's trouble was not slight | E |
| 'Alas ' quoth he 'this stupid rabble | F |
| But mock me with their constant gabble | F |
| I go and come and rack my brains | G |
| And get my labour for my pains | G |
| Your rustic owner safe at home | H |
| Takes all the profits as they come | I |
| He sells his capons and his chicks | J |
| Or keeps them hanging on his hook | K |
| All dress'd and ready for his cook | K |
| But I adept in art and tricks | J |
| Should I but catch the toughest crower | L |
| Should be brimful of joy and more | L |
| O Jove supreme why was I made | M |
| A master of the fox's trade | M |
| By all the higher powers and lower | L |
| I swear to rob this chicken grower ' | - |
| Revolving such revenge within | N |
| When night had still'd the various din | N |
| And poppies seem'd to bear full sway | O |
| O'er man and dog as lock'd they lay | O |
| Alike secure in slumber deep | P |
| And cocks and hens were fast asleep | P |
| Upon the populous roost he stole | F |
| By negligence a common sin | N |
| The farmer left unclosed the hole | F |
| And stooping down the fox went in | N |
| The blood of every fowl was spill'd | Q |
| The citadel with murder fill'd | Q |
| The dawn disclosed sad sights I ween | N |
| When heaps on slaughter'd heaps were seen | N |
| All weltering in their mingled gore | L |
| With horror stricken as of yore | L |
| The sun well nigh shrunk back again | N |
| To hide beneath the liquid main | N |
| Such sight once saw the Trojan plain | N |
| When on the fierce Atrides' head | R |
| Apollo's awful anger fell | F |
| And strew'd the crimson field with dead | R |
| Of Greeks scarce one was left to tell | F |
| The carnage of that night so dread | R |
| Such slaughter too around his tent | S |
| The furious Ajax made one night | E |
| Of sheep and goats in easy fight | E |
| In anger blindly confident | T |
| That by his well directed blows | U |
| Ulysses fell or some of those | U |
| By whose iniquity and lies | V |
| That wily rival took the prize | V |
| The fox thus having Ajax play'd | M |
| Bore off the nicest of the brood | W |
| As many pullets as he could | X |
| And left the rest all prostrate laid | M |
| The owner found his sole resource | Y |
| His servants and his dog to curse | Z |
| 'You useless puppy better drown'd | A2 |
| Why did you not your 'larum sound ' | - |
| 'Why did you not the evil shun ' | - |
| Quoth Towser 'as you might have done | N |
| If you whose interest was more | L |
| Could sleep and leave an open door | L |
| Think you that I a dog at best | B2 |
| Would watch and lose my precious rest ' | - |
| This pithy speech had been in truth | C2 |
| Good logic in a master's mouth | D2 |
| But coming from a menial's lip | E2 |
| It even lack'd the lawyership | E2 |
| To save poor Towser from the whip | E2 |
| - | |
| O thou who head'st a family | F |
| An honour never grudged by me | F |
| Thou art a patriarch unwise | V |
| To sleep and trust another's eyes | V |
| Thyself shouldst go to bed the last | F2 |
| Thy doors all seen to shut and fast | F2 |
| I charge you never let a fox see | F |
| Your special business done by proxy | F |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
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