The Rabbits Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDCCDEEFGGFHIBBBBII JJKKLLMMHMIBBBBNN HDDOPPQQ RRSSJEEJTTTDDBBBBUVU VWWWBBBBBBXYZZA2A2B2 B2C2KC2KKD2KD2

A
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An Address To The Duke De La RochefoucauldB
-
While watching man in all his phasesC
And seeing that in many casesC
He acts just like the brute creationD
I've thought the lord of all these racesC
Of no less failings show'd the tracesC
Than do his lieges in relationD
And that in making it Dame NatureE
Hath put a spice in every creatureE
From off the self same spirit stuffF
Not from the immaterialG
But what we call etherealG
Refined from matter roughF
An illustration please to hearH
Just on the still frontierI
Of either day or nightB
Or when the lord of lightB
Reclines his radiant headB
Upon his watery bedB
Or when he dons the gearI
To drive a new careerI
While yet with doubtful swayJ
The hour is ruled 'twixt night and dayJ
Some border forest tree I climbK
And acting Jove from height sublimeK
My fatal bolt at will directingL
I kill some rabbit unsuspectingL
The rest that frolick'd on the heathM
Or browsed the thyme with dainty teethM
With open eye and watchful earH
Behold all scampering from beneathM
Instinct with mortal fearI
All frighten'd simply by the soundB
Hie to their city undergroundB
But soon the danger is forgotB
And just as soon the fear lives notB
The rabbits gayer than beforeN
I see beneath my hand once moreN
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Are not mankind well pictured hereH
By storms asunder drivenD
They scarcely reach their havenD
And cast their anchor ereO
They tempt the same dread shocksP
Of tempests waves and rocksP
True rabbits back they friskQ
To meet the self same riskQ
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I add another common caseR
When dogs pass through a placeR
Beyond their customary boundsS
And meet with others curs or houndsS
Imagine what a holidayJ
The native dogs whose interests centreE
In one great organ term'd the venterE
The strangers rush at bite and bayJ
With cynic pertness tease and worryT
And chase them off their territoryT
So too do men Wealth grandeur gloryT
To men of office or professionD
Of every sort in every nationD
As tempting are and sweetB
As is to dogs the refuse meatB
With us it is a general factB
One sees the latest come attack'dB
And plunder'd to the skinU
Coquettes and authors we may viewV
As samples of the sinU
For woe to belle or writer newV
The fewer eaters round the cakeW
The fewer players for the stakeW
The surer each one's self to takeW
A hundred facts my truth might testB
But shortest works are always bestB
In this I but pursue the chartB
Laid down by masters of the artB
And on the best of themes I holdB
The truth should never all be toldB
Hence here my sermon ought to closeX
O thou to whom my fable owesY
Whate'er it has of solid worthZ
Who great by modesty as well as birthZ
Hast ever counted praise a painA2
Whose leave I could so ill obtainA2
That here your name receiving homageB2
Should save from every sort of damageB2
My slender works which name well knownC2
To nations and to ancient TimeK
All France delights to ownC2
Herself more rich in names sublimeK
Than any other earthly climeK
Permit me here the world to teachD2
That you have given my simple rhymeK
The text from which it dares to preachD2

Jean De La Fontaine



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