The Oak And The Reed Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFGGFHHIJIJKF KFL BBEMMENNOOPPKKQQRRSS| A | |
| - | |
| The oak one day address'd the reed | B |
| 'To you ungenerous indeed | B |
| Has nature been my humble friend | C |
| With weakness aye obliged to bend | C |
| The smallest bird that flits in air | D |
| Is quite too much for you to bear | D |
| The slightest wind that wreathes the lake | E |
| Your ever trembling head doth shake | E |
| The while my towering form | F |
| Dares with the mountain top | G |
| The solar blaze to stop | G |
| And wrestle with the storm | F |
| What seems to you the blast of death | H |
| To me is but a zephyr's breath | H |
| Beneath my branches had you grown | I |
| That spread far round their friendly bower | J |
| Less suffering would your life have known | I |
| Defended from the tempest's power | J |
| Unhappily you oftenest show | K |
| In open air your slender form | F |
| Along the marshes wet and low | K |
| That fringe the kingdom of the storm | F |
| To you declare I must | L |
| Dame Nature seems unjust ' | - |
| Then modestly replied the reed | B |
| 'Your pity sir is kind indeed | B |
| But wholly needless for my sake | E |
| The wildest wind that ever blew | M |
| Is safe to me compared with you | M |
| I bend indeed but never break | E |
| Thus far I own the hurricane | N |
| Has beat your sturdy back in vain | N |
| But wait the end ' Just at the word | O |
| The tempest's hollow voice was heard | O |
| The North sent forth her fiercest child | P |
| Dark jagged pitiless and wild | P |
| The oak erect endured the blow | K |
| The reed bow'd gracefully and low | K |
| But gathering up its strength once more | Q |
| In greater fury than before | Q |
| The savage blast | R |
| O'erthrew at last | R |
| That proud old sky encircled head | S |
| Whose feet entwined the empire of the dead | S |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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