The Wishes Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEEFGHIIHJKLJMMNO POQQRRSSIITTQQUUVVQQ WWRR XRXRYYZZUUA2A2B2B2 C2D2FIIE2E2E2UUF2F2Q QQ| Within the Great Mogul's domains there are | A |
| Familiar sprites of much domestic use | B |
| They sweep the house and take a tidy care | C |
| Of equipage nor garden work refuse | D |
| But if you meddle with their toil | E |
| The whole at once you're sure to spoil | E |
| One near the mighty Ganges flood | F |
| The garden of a burgher good | G |
| Work'd noiselessly and well | H |
| To master mistress garden bore | I |
| A love that time and toil outwore | I |
| And bound him like a spell | H |
| Did friendly zephyrs blow | J |
| The demon's pains to aid | K |
| For so they do 'tis said | L |
| I own I do not know | J |
| But for himself he rested not | M |
| And richly bless'd his master's lot | M |
| What mark'd his strength of love | N |
| He lived a fixture on the place | O |
| In spite of tendency to rove | P |
| So natural to his race | O |
| But brother sprites conspiring | Q |
| With importunity untiring | Q |
| So teased their goblin chief that he | R |
| Of his caprice or policy | R |
| Our sprite commanded to attend | S |
| A house in Norway's farther end | S |
| Whose roof was snow clad through the year | I |
| And shelter'd human kind with deer | I |
| Before departing to his hosts | T |
| Thus spake this best of busy ghosts | T |
| 'To foreign parts I'm forced to go | Q |
| For what sad fault I do not know | Q |
| But go I must a month's delay | U |
| Or week's perhaps and I'm away | U |
| Seize time three wishes make at will | V |
| For three I'm able to fulfil | V |
| No more ' Quick at their easy task | Q |
| Abundance first these wishers ask | Q |
| Abundance with her stores unlock'd | W |
| Barns coffers cellars larder stock'd | W |
| Corn cattle wine and money | R |
| The overflow of milk and honey | R |
| - | |
| But what to do with all this wealth | X |
| What inventories cares and worry | R |
| What wear of temper and of health | X |
| Both lived in constant slavish hurry | R |
| Thieves took by plot and lords by loan | Y |
| The king by tax the poor by tone | Y |
| Thus felt the curses which | Z |
| Arise from being rich | Z |
| 'Remove this affluence ' they pray | U |
| The poor are happier than they | U |
| Whose riches make them slaves | A2 |
| 'Go treasures to the winds and waves | A2 |
| Come goddess of the quiet breast | B2 |
| Who sweet'nest toil with rest | B2 |
| Dear Mediocrity return ' | - |
| The prayer was granted as we learn | C2 |
| Two wishes thus expended | D2 |
| Had simply ended | F |
| In bringing them exactly where | I |
| When they set out they were | I |
| So usually it fares | E2 |
| With those who waste in such vain prayers | E2 |
| The time required by their affairs | E2 |
| The goblin laugh'd and so did they | U |
| However ere he went away | U |
| To profit by his offer kind | F2 |
| They ask'd for wisdom wealth of mind | F2 |
| A treasure void of care and sorrow | Q |
| A treasure fearless of the morrow | Q |
| Let who will steal or beg or borrow | Q |
Jean De La Fontaine
(1)
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