The Horoscope Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AA ABCCDEEDFFGGHHAAIJIJ AAJJKLLMMNNOOE PQRRSTTSMM SSUVUVWWXXYYXZZ A2B2A2C2WWD2D2E2E2F2 G2F2G2H2H2I2H2I2I2VV H2H2J2J2K2K2H2H2H2H2 L2L2J2J2M2M2N2N2M2H2 H2H2O2H2O2

On death we mortals often runA
Just by the roads we take to shunA
-
A father's only heir a sonA
Was over loved and doted onB
So greatly that astrologyC
Was question'd what his fate might beC
The man of stars this caution gaveD
That until twenty years of ageE
No lion even in a cageE
The boy should see his life to saveD
The sire to silence every fearF
About a life so very dearF
Forbade that any one should letG
His son beyond his threshold getG
Within his palace walls the boyH
Might all that heart could wish enjoyH
Might with his mates walk leap and runA
And frolic in the wildest funA
When come of age to love the chaseI
That exercise was oft depictedJ
To him as one that brought disgraceI
To which but blackguards were addictedJ
But neither warning nor derisionA
Could change his ardent dispositionA
The youth fierce restless full of bloodJ
Was prompted by the boiling floodJ
To love the dangers of the woodK
The more opposed the stronger grewL
His mad desire The cause he knewL
For which he was so closely pentM
And as where'er he wentM
In that magnificent abodeN
Both tapestry and canvas show'dN
The feats he did so much admireO
A painted lion roused his ireO
'Ah monster ' cried he in his rageE
'Tis you that keep me in my cage '-
With that he clinch'd his fistP
To strike the harmless beastQ
And did his hand impaleR
Upon a hidden nailR
And thus this cherish'd headS
For which the healing artT
But vainly did its partT
Was hurried to the deadS
By caution blindly meantM
To shun that sad eventM
-
The poet Aeschylus 'tis saidS
By much the same precaution bledS
A conjuror foretoldU
A house would crush him in its fallV
Forth sallied he though oldU
From town and roof protected hallV
And took his lodgings wet or dryW
Abroad beneath the open skyW
An eagle bearing through the airX
A tortoise for her household fareX
Which first she wish'd to breakY
The creature dropp'd by sad mistakeY
Plump on the poet's forehead bareX
As if it were a naked rockZ
To Aeschylus a fatal shockZ
-
From these examples it appearsA2
This art if true in any wiseB2
Makes men fulfil the very fearsA2
Engender'd by its propheciesC2
But from this charge I justifyW
By branding it a total lieW
I don't believe that Nature's powersD2
Have tied her hands or pinion'd oursD2
By marking on the heavenly vaultE2
Our fate without mistake or faultE2
That fate depends upon conjunctionsF2
Of places persons times and tracksG2
And not upon the functionsF2
Of more or less of quacksG2
A king and clown beneath one planet's nodH2
Are born one wields a sceptre one a hodH2
But it is Jupiter that wills it soI2
And who is he A soulless clodH2
How can he cause such different powers to flowI2
Upon the aforesaid mortals here belowI2
And how indeed to this far distant ballV
Can he impart his energy at allV
How pierce the ether deeps profoundH2
The sun and globes that whirl aroundH2
A mote might turn his potent rayJ2
For ever from its earthward wayJ2
Will find it then in starry copeK2
The makers of the horoscopeK2
The war with which all Europe's now afflictedH2
Deserves it not by them to've been predictedH2
Yet heard we not a whisper of itH2
Before it came from any prophetH2
The suddenness of passion's gushL2
Of wayward life the headlong rushL2
Permit they that the feeble rayJ2
Of twinkling planet far awayJ2
Should trace our winding zigzag courseM2
And yet this planetary forceM2
As steady as it is unknownN2
These fools would make our guide aloneN2
Of all our varied life the sourceM2
Such doubtful facts as I relateH2
The petted child's and poet's fateH2
Our argument may well admitH2
The blindest man that lives in FranceO2
The smallest mark would doubtless hitH2
Once in a thousand times by chanceO2

Jean De La Fontaine



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