The Rat And The Oyster Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCD E FFGGHHHIHIJJ KLMNNOOPPPP QR SPSP TUUTVV| A | |
| - | |
| A country rat of little brains | B |
| Grown weary of inglorious rest | C |
| Left home with all its straws and grains | B |
| Resolved to know beyond his nest | C |
| When peeping through the nearest fence | D |
| 'How big the world is how immense ' | - |
| He cried 'there rise the Alps and that | E |
| Is doubtless famous Ararat ' | - |
| His mountains were the works of moles | F |
| Or dirt thrown up in digging holes | F |
| Some days of travel brought him where | G |
| The tide had left the oysters bare | G |
| Since here our traveller saw the sea | H |
| He thought these shells the ships must be | H |
| 'My father was in truth ' said he | H |
| 'A coward and an ignoramus | I |
| He dared not travel as for me | H |
| I've seen the ships and ocean famous | I |
| Have cross'd the deserts without drinking | J |
| And many dangerous streams unshrinking | J |
| Such things I know from having seen and felt them ' | - |
| And as he went in tales he proudly dealt them | K |
| Not being of those rats whose knowledge | L |
| Comes by their teeth on books in college | M |
| Among the shut up shell fish one | N |
| Was gaping widely at the sun | N |
| It breathed and drank the air's perfume | O |
| Expanding like a flower in bloom | O |
| Both white and fat its meat | P |
| Appear'd a dainty treat | P |
| Our rat when he this shell espied | P |
| Thought for his stomach to provide | P |
| 'If not mistaken in the matter ' | - |
| Said he 'no meat was ever fatter | Q |
| Or in its flavour half so fine | R |
| As that on which to day I dine ' | - |
| Thus full of hope the foolish chap | S |
| Thrust in his head to taste | P |
| And felt the pinching of a trap | S |
| The oyster closed in haste | P |
| - | |
| We're first instructed by this case | T |
| That those to whom the world is new | U |
| Are wonder struck at every view | U |
| And in the second place | T |
| That the marauder finds his match | V |
| And he is caught who thinks to catch | V |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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