The Sinner And The Spider Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B A A A A A ACC A DDCCAA A EEAAFGDDHHCC A EEII A JJEEAAAACCCCBBKK A ELEE A MMAAEEEENNOPCCQQRREE SSEEEETTUUEEVVPPCCWW VV A AA A VVEEVVPPAAEE A AA A EEWWVVPPEEVVLLXXPPVV LLVVVV A YY A VVAAVVPPQQEEVVAAEEVV VVPPAAQQVVVVAAVVVVAA VVZZASinner | A |
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What black what ugly crawling thing art thou | B |
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Spider | A |
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I am a spider | A |
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Sinner | A |
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A spider ay also a filthy creature | A |
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Spider | A |
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Not filthy as thyself in name or feature | A |
My name entailed is to my creation | C |
My features from the God of thy salvation | C |
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Sinner | A |
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I am a man and in God's image made | D |
I have a soul shall neither die nor fade | D |
God has possessed me with human reason | C |
Speak not against me lest thou speakest treason | C |
For if I am the image of my Maker | A |
Of slanders laid on me He is partaker | A |
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Spider | A |
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I know thou art a creature far above me | E |
Therefore I shun I fear and also love thee | E |
But though thy God hath made thee such a creature | A |
Thou hast against him often played the traitor | A |
Thy sin has fetched thee down leave off to boast | F |
Nature thou hast defiled God's image lost | G |
Yea thou thyself a very beast hast made | D |
And art become like grass which soon doth fade | D |
Thy soul thy reason yea thy spotless state | H |
Sin has subjected to th' most dreadful fate | H |
But I retain my primitive condition | C |
I've all but what I lost by thy ambition | C |
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Sinner | A |
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Thou venomed thing I know not what to call thee | E |
The dregs of nature surely did befall thee | E |
Thou wast made of the dross and scum of all | I |
Man hates thee doth in scorn thee spider call | I |
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Spider | A |
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My venom's good for something 'cause God made it | J |
Thy sin hath spoiled thy nature doth degrade it | J |
Of human virtues therefore though I fear thee | E |
I will not though I might despise and jeer thee | E |
Thou say'st I am the very dregs of nature | A |
Thy sin's the spawn of devils 'tis no creature | A |
Thou say'st man hates me 'cause I am a spider | A |
Poor man thou at thy God art a derider | A |
My venom tendeth to my preservation | C |
Thy pleasing follies work out thy damnation | C |
Poor man I keep the rules of my creation | C |
Thy sin has cast thee headlong from thy station | C |
I hurt nobody willingly but thou | B |
Art a self murderer thou know'st not how | B |
To do what good is no thou lovest evil | K |
Thou fliest God's law adherest to the devil | K |
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Sinner | A |
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Ill shaped creature there's antipathy | E |
'Twixt man and spiders 'tis in vain to lie | L |
I hate thee stand off if thou dost come nigh me | E |
I'll crush thee with my foot I do defy thee | E |
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Spider | A |
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They are ill shaped who warped are by sin | M |
Antipathy in thee hath long time been | M |
To God no marvel then if me his creature | A |
Thou dost defy pretending name and feature | A |
But why stand off My presence shall not throng thee | E |
'Tis not my venom but thy sin doth wrong thee | E |
Come I will teach thee wisdom do but hear me | E |
I was made for thy profit do not fear me | E |
But if thy God thou wilt not hearken to | N |
What can the swallow ant or spider do | N |
Yet I will speak I can but be rejected | O |
Sometimes great things by small means are effected | P |
Hark then though man is noble by creation | C |
He's lapsed now to such degeneration | C |
Is so besotted and so careless grown | Q |
As not to grieve though he has overthrown | Q |
Himself and brought to bondage everything | R |
Created from the spider to the king | R |
This we poor sensitives do feel and see | E |
For subject to the curse you made us be | E |
Tread not upon me neither from me go | S |
'Tis man which has brought all the world to woe | S |
The law of my creation bids me teach thee | E |
I will not for thy pride to God impeach thee | E |
I spin I weave and all to let thee see | E |
Thy best performances but cobwebs be | E |
Thy glory now is brought to such an ebb | T |
It doth not much excel the spider's web | T |
My webs becoming snares and traps for flies | U |
Do set the wiles of hell before thine eyes | U |
Their tangling nature is to let thee see | E |
Thy sins too of a tangling nature be | E |
My den or hole for that 'tis bottomless | V |
Doth of damnation show the lastingness | V |
My lying quiet until the fly is catch'd | P |
Shows secretly hell hath thy ruin hatch'd | P |
In that I on her seize when she is taken | C |
I show who gathers whom God hath forsaken | C |
The fly lies buzzing in my web to tell | W |
Thee how the sinners roar and howl in hell | W |
Now since I show thee all these mysteries | V |
How canst thou hate me or me scandalize | V |
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Sinner | A |
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Well well I no more will be a derider | A |
I did not look for such things from a spider | A |
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Spider | A |
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Come hold thy peace what I have yet to say | V |
If heeded help thee may another day | V |
Since I an ugly ven'mous creature be | E |
There is some semblance 'twixt vile man and me | E |
My wild and heedless runnings are like those | V |
Whose ways to ruin do their souls expose | V |
Daylight is not my time I work in th' night | P |
To show they are like me who hate the light | P |
The maid sweeps one web down I make another | A |
To show how heedless ones convictions smother | A |
My web is no defence at all to me | E |
Nor will false hopes at judgment be to thee | E |
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Sinner | A |
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O spider I have heard thee and do wonder | A |
A spider should thus lighten and thus thunder | A |
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Spider | A |
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Do but hold still and I will let thee see | E |
Yet in my ways more mysteries there be | E |
Shall not I do thee good if I thee tell | W |
I show to thee a four fold way to hell | W |
For since I set my web in sundry places | V |
I show men go to hell in divers traces | V |
One I set in the window that I might | P |
Show some go down to hell with gospel light | P |
One I set in a corner as you see | E |
To show how some in secret snared be | E |
Gross webs great store I set in darksome places | V |
To show how many sin with brazen faces | V |
Another web I set aloft on high | L |
To show there's some professing men must die | L |
Thus in my ways God wisdom doth conceal | X |
And by my ways that wisdom doth reveal | X |
I hide myself when I for flies do wait | P |
So doth the devil when he lays his bait | P |
If I do fear the losing of my prey | V |
I stir me and more snares upon her lay | V |
This way and that her wings and legs I tie | L |
That sure as she is catch'd so she must die | L |
But if I see she's like to get away | V |
Then with my venom I her journey stay | V |
All which my ways the devil imitates | V |
To catch men 'cause he their salvation hates | V |
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Sinner | A |
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O spider thou delight'st me with thy skill | Y |
I pr'ythee spit this venom at me still | Y |
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Spider | A |
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I am a spider yet I can possess | V |
The palace of a king where happiness | V |
So much abounds Nor when I do go thither | A |
Do they ask what or whence I come or whither | A |
I make my hasty travels no not they | V |
They let me pass and I go on my way | V |
I seize the palace do with hands take hold | P |
Of doors of locks or bolts yea I am bold | P |
When in to clamber up unto the throne | Q |
And to possess it as if 'twere mine own | Q |
Nor is there any law forbidding me | E |
Here to abide or in this palace be | E |
Yea if I please I do the highest stories | V |
Ascend there sit and so behold the glories | V |
Myself is compassed with as if I were | A |
One of the chiefest courtiers that be there | A |
Here lords and ladies do come round about me | E |
With grave demeanour nor do any flout me | E |
For this my brave adventure no not they | V |
They come they go but leave me there to stay | V |
Now my reproacher I do by all this | V |
Show how thou may'st possess thyself of bliss | V |
Thou art worse than a spider but take hold | P |
On Christ the door thou shalt not be controll'd | P |
By him do thou the heavenly palace enter | A |
None chide thee will for this thy brave adventure | A |
Approach thou then unto the very throne | Q |
There speak thy mind fear not the day's thine own | Q |
Nor saint nor angel will thee stop or stay | V |
But rather tumble blocks out of the way | V |
My venom stops not me let not thy vice | V |
Stop thee possess thyself of paradise | V |
Go on I say although thou be a sinner | A |
Learn to be bold in faith of me a spinner | A |
This is the way the glories to possess | V |
And to enjoy what no man can express | V |
Sometimes I find the palace door uplock'd | V |
And so my entrance thither has upblock'd | V |
But am I daunted No I here and there | A |
Do feel and search so if I anywhere | A |
At any chink or crevice find my way | V |
I crowd I press for passage make no stay | V |
And so through difficulty I attain | Z |
The palace yea the throne where princes reign | Z |
I cro | A |
John Bunyan
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Write your comment about The Sinner And The Spider poem by John Bunyan
Rebecca : Strikingly honest.
God speaks to us through simple beings.
I surrender to Him, by choice, with all my heart.
Thank you John.