The Tortoise And The Two Ducks Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDDEEFFEGGHIIHJ EEEKKL EEGMGMN O PPBB BEBE| A | |
| - | |
| A light brain'd tortoise anciently | B |
| Tired of her hole the world would see | C |
| Prone are all such self banish'd to roam | D |
| Prone are all cripples to abhor their home | D |
| Two ducks to whom the gossip told | E |
| The secret of her purpose bold | E |
| Profess'd to have the means whereby | F |
| They could her wishes gratify | F |
| 'Our boundless road ' said they 'behold | E |
| It is the open air | G |
| And through it we will bear | G |
| You safe o'er land and ocean | H |
| Republics kingdoms you will view | I |
| And famous cities old and new | I |
| And get of customs laws a notion | H |
| Of various wisdom various pieces | J |
| As did indeed the sage Ulysses ' | - |
| The eager tortoise waited not | E |
| To question what Ulysses got | E |
| But closed the bargain on the spot | E |
| A nice machine the birds devise | K |
| To bear their pilgrim through the skies | K |
| Athwart her mouth a stick they throw | L |
| 'Now bite it hard and don't let go ' | - |
| They say and seize each duck an end | E |
| And swiftly flying upward tend | E |
| It made the people gape and stare | G |
| Beyond the expressive power of words | M |
| To see a tortoise cut the air | G |
| Exactly poised between two birds | M |
| 'A miracle ' they cried 'is seen | N |
| There goes the flying tortoise queen ' | - |
| 'The queen ' 'twas thus the tortoise spoke | O |
| 'I'm truly that without a joke ' | - |
| Much better had she held her tongue | P |
| For opening that whereby she clung | P |
| Before the gazing crowd she fell | B |
| And dash'd to bits her brittle shell | B |
| - | |
| Imprudence vanity and babble | B |
| And idle curiosity | E |
| An ever undivided rabble | B |
| Have all the same paternity | E |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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