The Heron Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCDECFFGGGHHIIJJKKL LMMNNO GGM MMMMPPQQRRSSGGTTMMUU| A | |
| - | |
| One day no matter when or where | B |
| A long legg'd heron chanced to fare | B |
| By a certain river's brink | C |
| With his long sharp beak | D |
| Helved on his slender neck | E |
| 'Twas a fish spear you might think | C |
| The water was clear and still | F |
| The carp and the pike there at will | F |
| Pursued their silent fun | G |
| Turning up ever and anon | G |
| A golden side to the sun | G |
| With ease might the heron have made | H |
| Great profits in his fishing trade | H |
| So near came the scaly fry | I |
| They might be caught by the passer by | I |
| But he thought he better might | J |
| Wait for a better appetite | J |
| For he lived by rule and could not eat | K |
| Except at his hours the best of meat | K |
| Anon his appetite return'd once more | L |
| So approaching again the shore | L |
| He saw some tench taking their leaps | M |
| Now and then from their lowest deeps | M |
| With as dainty a taste as Horace's rat | N |
| He turn'd away from such food as that | N |
| 'What tench for a heron poh | O |
| I scorn the thought and let them go ' | - |
| The tench refused there came a gudgeon | G |
| 'For all that ' said the bird 'I budge on | G |
| I'll ne'er open my beak if the gods please | M |
| For such mean little fishes as these ' | - |
| He did it for less | M |
| For it came to pass | M |
| That not another fish could he see | M |
| And at last so hungry was he | M |
| That he thought it of some avail | P |
| To find on the bank a single snail | P |
| Such is the sure result | Q |
| Of being too difficult | Q |
| Would you be strong and great | R |
| Learn to accommodate | R |
| Get what you can and trust for the rest | S |
| The whole is oft lost by seeking the best | S |
| Above all things beware of disdain | G |
| Where at most you have little to gain | G |
| The people are many that make | T |
| Every day this sad mistake | T |
| 'Tis not for the herons I put this case | M |
| Ye featherless people of human race | M |
| List to another tale as true | U |
| And you'll hear the lesson brought home to you | U |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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