The Horoscope Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AA ABCCDEEDFFGGHHAAIJIJ AAJJKLLMMNNOOE PQRRSTTSMM SSUVUVWWXXYYXZZ A2B2A2C2WWD2D2E2E2F2 G2F2G2H2H2I2H2I2I2VV H2H2J2J2K2K2H2H2H2H2 L2L2J2J2M2M2N2N2M2H2 H2H2O2H2O2On death we mortals often run | A |
Just by the roads we take to shun | A |
- | |
A father's only heir a son | A |
Was over loved and doted on | B |
So greatly that astrology | C |
Was question'd what his fate might be | C |
The man of stars this caution gave | D |
That until twenty years of age | E |
No lion even in a cage | E |
The boy should see his life to save | D |
The sire to silence every fear | F |
About a life so very dear | F |
Forbade that any one should let | G |
His son beyond his threshold get | G |
Within his palace walls the boy | H |
Might all that heart could wish enjoy | H |
Might with his mates walk leap and run | A |
And frolic in the wildest fun | A |
When come of age to love the chase | I |
That exercise was oft depicted | J |
To him as one that brought disgrace | I |
To which but blackguards were addicted | J |
But neither warning nor derision | A |
Could change his ardent disposition | A |
The youth fierce restless full of blood | J |
Was prompted by the boiling flood | J |
To love the dangers of the wood | K |
The more opposed the stronger grew | L |
His mad desire The cause he knew | L |
For which he was so closely pent | M |
And as where'er he went | M |
In that magnificent abode | N |
Both tapestry and canvas show'd | N |
The feats he did so much admire | O |
A painted lion roused his ire | O |
'Ah monster ' cried he in his rage | E |
'Tis you that keep me in my cage ' | - |
With that he clinch'd his fist | P |
To strike the harmless beast | Q |
And did his hand impale | R |
Upon a hidden nail | R |
And thus this cherish'd head | S |
For which the healing art | T |
But vainly did its part | T |
Was hurried to the dead | S |
By caution blindly meant | M |
To shun that sad event | M |
- | |
The poet Aeschylus 'tis said | S |
By much the same precaution bled | S |
A conjuror foretold | U |
A house would crush him in its fall | V |
Forth sallied he though old | U |
From town and roof protected hall | V |
And took his lodgings wet or dry | W |
Abroad beneath the open sky | W |
An eagle bearing through the air | X |
A tortoise for her household fare | X |
Which first she wish'd to break | Y |
The creature dropp'd by sad mistake | Y |
Plump on the poet's forehead bare | X |
As if it were a naked rock | Z |
To Aeschylus a fatal shock | Z |
- | |
From these examples it appears | A2 |
This art if true in any wise | B2 |
Makes men fulfil the very fears | A2 |
Engender'd by its prophecies | C2 |
But from this charge I justify | W |
By branding it a total lie | W |
I don't believe that Nature's powers | D2 |
Have tied her hands or pinion'd ours | D2 |
By marking on the heavenly vault | E2 |
Our fate without mistake or fault | E2 |
That fate depends upon conjunctions | F2 |
Of places persons times and tracks | G2 |
And not upon the functions | F2 |
Of more or less of quacks | G2 |
A king and clown beneath one planet's nod | H2 |
Are born one wields a sceptre one a hod | H2 |
But it is Jupiter that wills it so | I2 |
And who is he A soulless clod | H2 |
How can he cause such different powers to flow | I2 |
Upon the aforesaid mortals here below | I2 |
And how indeed to this far distant ball | V |
Can he impart his energy at all | V |
How pierce the ether deeps profound | H2 |
The sun and globes that whirl around | H2 |
A mote might turn his potent ray | J2 |
For ever from its earthward way | J2 |
Will find it then in starry cope | K2 |
The makers of the horoscope | K2 |
The war with which all Europe's now afflicted | H2 |
Deserves it not by them to've been predicted | H2 |
Yet heard we not a whisper of it | H2 |
Before it came from any prophet | H2 |
The suddenness of passion's gush | L2 |
Of wayward life the headlong rush | L2 |
Permit they that the feeble ray | J2 |
Of twinkling planet far away | J2 |
Should trace our winding zigzag course | M2 |
And yet this planetary force | M2 |
As steady as it is unknown | N2 |
These fools would make our guide alone | N2 |
Of all our varied life the source | M2 |
Such doubtful facts as I relate | H2 |
The petted child's and poet's fate | H2 |
Our argument may well admit | H2 |
The blindest man that lives in France | O2 |
The smallest mark would doubtless hit | H2 |
Once in a thousand times by chance | O2 |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
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