The Curse Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBAACCC DEEDDFFG DHHDDIII JDDJKDDDWhoever guesses thinks or dreams he knows | A |
Who is my mistress wither by this curse | B |
Him only for his purse | B |
May some dull whore to love dispose | A |
And then yield unto all that are his foes | A |
May he be scorn'd by one whom all else scorn | C |
Forswear to others what to her he hath sworn | C |
With fear of missing shame of getting torn | C |
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Madness his sorrow gout his cramps may he | D |
Make by but thinking who hath made him such | E |
And may he feel no touch | E |
Of conscience but of fame and be | D |
Anguish'd not that 'twas sin but that 'twas she | D |
Or may he for her virtue reverence | F |
One that hates him only for impotence | F |
And equal traitors be she and his sense | G |
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May he dream treason and believe that he | D |
Meant to perform it and confesses and die | H |
And no record tell why | H |
His sons which none of his may be | D |
Inherit nothing but his infamy | D |
Or may he so long parasites have fed | I |
That he would fain be theirs whom he hath bred | I |
And at the last be circumcised for bread | I |
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The venom of all stepdames gamesters' gall | J |
What tyrants and their subjects interwish | D |
What plants mine beasts fowl fish | D |
Can contribute all ill which all | J |
Prophets or poets spake and all which shall | K |
Be annex'd in schedules unto this by me | D |
Fall on that man For if it be a she | D |
Nature beforehand hath out curs d me | D |
John Donne
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Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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cheyenne: umm should i read this out loud
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