The Rat Retired From The World Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCCDDEFGEHCCIJJKK LLMMNMOMPPQQLLRIMMST STT| The sage Levantines have a tale | A |
| About a rat that weary grew | B |
| Of all the cares which life assail | A |
| And to a Holland cheese withdrew | B |
| His solitude was there profound | C |
| Extending through his world so round | C |
| Our hermit lived on that within | D |
| And soon his industry had been | D |
| With claws and teeth so good | E |
| That in his novel hermitage | F |
| He had in store for wants of age | G |
| Both house and livelihood | E |
| What more could any rat desire | H |
| He grew fair fat and round | C |
| 'God's blessings thus redound | C |
| To those who in His vows retire ' | I |
| One day this personage devout | J |
| Whose kindness none might doubt | J |
| Was ask'd by certain delegates | K |
| That came from Rat United States | K |
| For some small aid for they | L |
| To foreign parts were on their way | L |
| For succour in the great cat war | M |
| Ratopolis beleaguer'd sore | M |
| Their whole republic drain'd and poor | N |
| No morsel in their scrips they bore | M |
| Slight boon they craved of succour sure | O |
| In days at utmost three or four | M |
| 'My friends ' the hermit said | P |
| 'To worldly things I'm dead | P |
| How can a poor recluse | Q |
| To such a mission be of use | Q |
| What can he do but pray | L |
| That God will aid it on its way | L |
| And so my friends it is my prayer | R |
| That God will have you in his care ' | I |
| His well fed saintship said no more | M |
| But in their faces shut the door | M |
| What think you reader is the service | S |
| For which I use this niggard rat | T |
| To paint a monk No but a dervise | S |
| A monk I think however fat | T |
| Must be more bountiful than that | T |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Rat Retired From The World poem by Jean De La Fontaine
Best Poems of Jean De La Fontaine