The Little Bell Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFAAGG HHIIJJKKLL MMGGNNOOPP QQRRSS TTUUJJVV WWAAQQXXKK SSYZA2A2 B2B2C2C2JJ WW| HOW weak is man how changeable his mind | A |
| His promises are naught too oft we find | A |
| I vowed I hope in tolerable verse | B |
| Again no idle story to rehearse | B |
| And whence this promise Not two days ago | C |
| I'm quite confounded better I should know | C |
| A rhymer hear then who himself can boast | D |
| Quite steady for a minute at the most | D |
| The pow'rs above could PRUDENCE ne'er design | E |
| For those who fondly court the SISTERS NINE | E |
| Some means to please they've got you will confess | F |
| But none with certainty the charm possess | F |
| If howsoever I were doomed to find | A |
| Such lines as fully would content the mind | A |
| Though I should fail in matter still in art | G |
| I might contrive some pleasure to impart | G |
| - | |
| LET'S see what we are able to obtain | H |
| A bachelor resided in Touraine | H |
| A sprightly youth who oft the maids beset | I |
| And liked to prattle to the girls he met | I |
| With sparkling eyes white teeth and easy air | J |
| Plain russet petticoat and flowing hair | J |
| Beside a rivulet while Io round | K |
| With little bell that gave a tinkling sound | K |
| On herbs her palate gratified at will | L |
| And gazed and played and fondly took her fill | L |
| - | |
| AMONG the rustic nymphs our spark perceived | M |
| A charming girl for whom his bosom heaved | M |
| Too young however to feel the poignant smart | G |
| By Cupid oft inflicted on the heart | G |
| I will not say thirteen's an age unfit | N |
| The contrary most fully I admit | N |
| The LAW supposes such its prudent fears | O |
| Maturity at still more early years | O |
| But this apparently refers to towns | P |
| While LOVE was born for groves and lawns and downs | P |
| - | |
| THE youth exerted ev'ry art to please | Q |
| But all in vain he only seemed to teaze | Q |
| Whate'er he said however nicely graced | R |
| Ill humour inexperience or distaste | R |
| Induced the belle unlearned in Cupid's book | S |
| To treat his passion with a froward look | S |
| - | |
| BELIEVING ev'ry artifice in love | T |
| Was tolerated by the pow'rs above | T |
| One eve he turned a heifer from the rest | U |
| Conducted by the girl his thoughts possessed | U |
| The others left not counted by the fair | J |
| Youth seldom shows the necessary care | J |
| With easy loit'ring steps the cottage sought | V |
| Where ev'ry night they usually were brought | V |
| - | |
| HER mother more experienced than the maid | W |
| Observed that from the cattle one had strayed | W |
| The girl was scolded much and sent to find | A |
| The heifer indiscreetly left behind | A |
| Fair Isabella gave a vent to tears | Q |
| Invoked sweet echo to disperse her fears | Q |
| Solicited with fervent piercing cry | X |
| To tell her where lorn Io she might spy | X |
| Whose little bell the spark deprived of sound | K |
| When he withdrew her from the herd around | K |
| - | |
| THE lover now the tinkling metal shook | S |
| The path that t'wards it led the charmer took | S |
| The well known note was pleasing to her ear | Y |
| Without suspecting treachery was near | Z |
| She followed to a wood both deep and large | A2 |
| In hopes at least she might regain her charge | A2 |
| - | |
| GUESS her surprise good reader when she heard | B2 |
| A lover's voice who would not be deterred | B2 |
| Said he fair maid whene'er the heart's on fire | C2 |
| 'Tis all permitted that can quench desire | C2 |
| On this with piercing cries she rent the air | J |
| But no one came she sunk to dire despair | J |
| - | |
| YE beauteous dames avoid the Sylvan shade | W |
| Dread dangers solitary woods pervade | W |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
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