What Is Life? Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCBC DEFDF CCGCG FHFHIFIF| And what is Life An hour glass on the run | A |
| A mist retreating from the morning sun | A |
| A busy bustling still repeated dream | B |
| Its length A minute's pause a moment's thought | C |
| And Happiness A bubble on the stream | B |
| That in the act of seizing shrinks to nought | C |
| - | |
| And what is Hope The puffing gale of morn | D |
| That of its charms divests the dewy lawn | E |
| And robs each flow'ret of its gem and dies | F |
| A cobweb hiding disappointment's thorn | D |
| Which stings more keenly through the thin disguise | F |
| - | |
| And what is Death Is still the cause unfound | C |
| That dark mysterious name of horrid sound | C |
| A long and lingering sleep the weary crave | G |
| And Peace Where can its happiness abound | C |
| Nowhere at all save heaven and the grave | G |
| - | |
| Then what is Life When stripped of its disguise | F |
| A thing to be desired it cannot be | H |
| Since everything that meets our foolish eyes | F |
| Gives proof sufficient of its vanity | H |
| 'Tis but a trial all must undergo | I |
| To teach unthankful mortals how to prize | F |
| That happiness vain man's denied to know | I |
| Until he's called to claim it in the skies | F |
John Clare
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