An Essay Upon Satire Poem Rhyme Scheme

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 36 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Wonderful Women
by Umaru Kanneh Boima
Freedom To Scratch In Peace
by Olute Aete
Happy New Year
by Felix Menda
Human Beings
by Dana Graslie
Lust
by Wisdom Greatness
An Isolated Tree's Song
by Sayeed Abubakar
A Strange Boy
by Sayeed Abubakar
O Soil
by Sayeed Abubakar
No War, No War-monger
by Sayeed Abubakar
Night's Town
by Sayeed Abubakar

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2414 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)

John Dryden

An Essay Upon Satire Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Write your comment about An Essay Upon Satire poem by John Dryden

Recent Interactions*

New Poems

Popular Poets

By Me Dryden And The Earl Of Mulgrave	A
	-
How dull and how insensible a beast	B
Is man who yet would lord it o'er the rest	C
Philosophers and poets vainly strove	A
In every age the lumpish mass to move	A
But those were pedants when compared with these	D
Who know not only to instruct but please	D
Poets alone found the delightful way	E
Mysterious morals gently to convey	E
In charming numbers so that as men grew	F
Pleased with their poems they grew wiser too	F
Satire has always shone among the rest	C
And is the boldest way if not the best	C
To tell men freely of their foulest faults	G
To laugh at their vain deeds and vainer thoughts	H
In satire too the wise took different ways	I
To each deserving its peculiar praise	I
Some did all folly with just sharpness blame	J
Whilst others laugh'd and scorn'd them into shame	J
But of these two the last succeeded best	C
As men aim rightest when they shoot in jest	C
Yet if we may presume to blame our guides	K
And censure those who censure all besides	K
In other things they justly are preferr'd	L
In this alone methinks the ancients err'd	M
Against the grossest follies they declaim	J
Hard they pursue but hunt ignoble game	J
Nothing is easier than such blots to hit	N
And 'tis the talent of each vulgar wit	N
Besides 'tis labour lost for who would preach	O
Morals to Armstrong or dull Aston teach	O
'Tis being devout at play wise at a ball	P
Or bringing wit and friendship to Whitehall	P
But with sharp eyes those nicer faults to find	Q
Which lie obscurely in the wisest mind	Q
That little speck which all the rest does spoil	R
To wash off that would be a noble toil	R
Beyond the loose writ libels of this age	S
Or the forced scenes of our declining stage	S
Above all censure too each little wit	N
Will be so glad to see the greater hit	N
Who judging better though concern'd the most	T
Of such correction will have cause to boast	T
In such a satire all would seek a share	U
And every fool will fancy he is there	U
Old story tellers too must pine and die	V
To see their antiquated wit laid by	V
Like her who miss'd her name in a lampoon	W
And grieved to find herself decay'd so soon	W
No common coxcomb must be mentioned here	X
Not the dull train of dancing sparks appear	Y
Nor fluttering officers who never fight	Z
Of such a wretched rabble who would write	Z
Much less half wits that's more against our rules	A2
For they are fops the other are but fools	A2
Who would not be as silly as Dunbar	B2
As dull as Monmouth rather than Sir Carr	B2
The cunning courtier should be slighted too	F
Who with dull knavery makes so much ado	F
Till the shrewd fool by thriving too too fast	C2
Like sop's fox becomes a prey at last	C2
Nor shall the royal mistresses be named	D2
Too ugly or too easy to be blamed	D2
With whom each rhyming fool keeps such a pother	B2
They are as common that way as the other	B2
Yet sauntering Charles between his beastly brace	E2
Meets with dissembling still in either place	E2
Affected humour or a painted face	E2
In loyal libels we have often told him	F2
How one has jilted him the other sold him	F2
How that affects to laugh how this to weep	G2
But who can rail so long as he can sleep	G2
Was ever prince by two at once misled	H2
False foolish old ill natured and ill bred	H2
Earnely and Aylesbury with all that race	E2
Of busy blockheads shall have here no place	E2
At council set as foils on Danby's score	B2
To make that great false jewel shine the more	B2
Who all that while was thought exceeding wise	I2
Only for taking pains and telling lies	I2
But there's no meddling with such nauseous men	J2
Their very names have tired my lazy pen	J2
'Tis time to quit their company and choose	K2
Some fitter subject for sharper muse	K2
	-
First let's behold the merriest man alive	A
Against his careless genius vainly strive	A
Quit his dear ease some deep design to lay	E
'Gainst a set time and then forget the day	E
Yet he will laugh at his best friends and be	L2
Just as good company as Nokes and Lee	L2
But when he aims at reason or at rule	M2
He turns himself the best to ridicule	M2
Let him at business ne'er so earnest sit	N
Show him but mirth and bait that mirth with wit	N
That shadow of a jest shall be enjoy'd	N2
Though he left all mankind to be destroy'd	N2
So cat transform'd sat gravely and demure	B2
Till mouse appear'd and thought himself secure	B2
But soon the lady had him in her eye	V
And from her friend did just as oddly fly	V
Reaching above our nature does no good	O2
We must fall back to our old flesh and blood	P2
As by our little Machiavel we find	Q
That nimblest creature of the busy kind	Q
His limbs are crippled and his body shakes	Q2
Yet his hard mind which all this bustle makes	Q2
No pity of its poor companion takes	Q2
What gravity can hold from laughing out	R2
To see him drag his feeble legs about	R2
Like hounds ill coupled Jowler lugs him still	S2
Through hedges ditches and through all that's ill	S2
'Twere crime in any man but him alone	T2
To use a body so though 'tis one's own	T2
Yet this false comfort never gives him o'er	B2
That whilst he creeps his vigorous thoughts can soar	B2
Alas that soaring to those few that know	U2
Is but a busy grovelling here below	U2
So men in rapture think they mount the sky	V
Whilst on the ground the entranced wretches lie	V
So modern fops have fancied they could fly	V
As the new earl with parts deserving praise	I
And wit enough to laugh at his own ways	I
Yet loses all soft days and sensual nights	V2
Kind nature checks and kinder fortune slights	V2
Striving against his quiet all he can	W2
For the fine notion of a busy man	W2
And what is that at best but one whose mind	Q
Is made to tire himself and all mankind	Q
For Ireland he would go faith let him reign	X2
For if some odd fantastic lord would fain	X2
Carry in trunks and all my drudgery do	F
I'll not only pay him but admire him too	F
But is there any other beast that lives	Y2
Who his own harm so wittingly contrives	Y2
Will any dog that has his teeth and stones	Y2
Refinedly leave his bitches and his bones	Y2
To turn a wheel and bark to be employ'd	N2
While Venus is by rival dogs enjoy'd	N2
Yet this fond man to get a statesman's name	J
Forfeits his friends his freedom and his fame	J
	-
Though satire nicely writ with humour stings	Y2
But those who merit praise in other things	Y2
Yet we must needs this one exception make	Z2
And break our rules for silly Tropos' sake	Z2
Who was too much despised to be accused	A3
And therefore scarce deserves to be abused	A3
Raised only by his mercenary tongue	B3
For railing smoothly and for reasoning wrong	C3
As boys on holidays let loose to play	E
Lay waggish traps for girls that pass that way	E
Then shout to see in dirt and deep distress	Y2
Some silly cit in her flower'd foolish dress	Y2
So have I mighty satisfaction found	D3
To see his tinsel reason on the ground	D3
To see the florid fool despised and know it	N
By some who scarce have words enough to show it	N
For sense sits silent and condemns for weaker	B2
The finer nay sometimes the wittier speaker	B2
But 'tis prodigious so much eloquence	Y2
Should be acquir d by such little sense	Y2
For words and wit did anciently agree	L2
And Tully was no fool though this man be	L2
At bar abusive on the bench unable	E3
Knave on the woolsack fop at council table	E3
These are the grievances of such fools as would	O2
Be rather wise than honest great than good	O2
	-
Some other kind of wits must be made known	T2
Whose harmless errors hurt themselves alone	T2
Excess of luxury they think can please	Y2
And laziness call loving of their ease	Y2
To live dissolved in pleasures still they feign	X2
Though their whole life's but intermitting pain	X2
So much of surfeits headaches claps are seen	F3
We scarce perceive the little time between	F3
Well meaning men who make this gross mistake	Z2
And pleasure lose only for pleasure's sake	Z2
Each pleasure has its price and when we pay	E
Too much of pain we squander life away	E
	-
Thus Dorset purring like a thoughtful cat	G3
Married but wiser puss ne'er thought of that	G3
And first he worried her with railing rhyme	H3
Like Pembroke's mastives at his kindest time	H3
Then for one night sold all his slavish life	A
A teeming widow but a barren wife	A
Swell'd by contact of such a fulsome toad	I3
He lugg'd about the matrimonial load	I3
Till fortune blindly kind as well as he	L2
Has ill restored him to his liberty	L2
Which he would use in his old sneaking way	E
Drinking all night and dozing all the day	E
Dull as Ned Howard whom his brisker times	Y2
Had famed for dulness in malicious rhymes	Y2
	-
Mulgrave had much ado to 'scape the snare	B2
Though learn'd in all those arts that cheat the fair	B2
For after all his vulgar marriage mocks	Y2
With beauty dazzled Numps was in the stocks	Y2
Deluded parents dried their weeping eyes	Y2
To see him catch his Tartar for his prize	Y2
The impatient town waited the wish'd for change	J3
And cuckolds smiled in hopes of sweet revenge	K3
Till Petworth plot made us with sorrow see	L2
As his estate his person too was free	L2
Him no soft thoughts no gratitude could move	A
To gold he fled from beauty and from love	A
Yet failing there he keeps his freedom still	S2
Forced to live happily against his will	S2
'Tis not his fault if too much wealth and power	B2
Break not his boasted quiet every hour	B2
	-
And little Sid for simile renown'd	D3
Pleasure has always sought but never found	D3
Though all his thoughts on wine and women fall	P
His are so bad sure he ne'er thinks at all	P
The flesh he lives upon is rank and strong	C3
His meat and mistresses are kept too long	C3
But sure we all mistake this pious man	W2
Who mortifies his person all he can	W2
What we uncharitably take for sin	L3
Are only rules of this odd capuchin	L3
For never hermit under grave pretence	L2
Has lived more contrary to common sense	L2
And 'tis a miracle we may suppose	L2
No nastiness offends his skilful nose	L2
Which from all stink can with peculiar art	M3
Extract perfume and essence from a f t	L2
Expecting supper is his great delight	Z
He toils all day but to be drunk at night	Z
Then o'er his cups this night bird chirping sits	L2
Till he takes Hewet and Jack Hall for wits	L2
	-
Rochester I despise for want of wit	N
Though thought to have a tail and cloven feet	N3
For while he mischief means to all mankind	Q
Himself alone the ill effects does find	Q
And so like witches justly suffer shame	J
Whose harmless malice is so much the same	J
False are his words affected is his wit	N
So often he does aim so seldom hit	N
To every face he cringes while he speaks	L2
But when the back is turn'd the head he breaks	L2
Mean in each action lewd in every limb	F2
Manners themselves are mischievous in him	F2
A proof that chance alone makes every creature	B2
A very Killigrew without good nature	B2
For what a Bessus has he always lived	O3
And his own kickings notably contrived	O3
For there's the folly that's still mix'd with fear	B2
Cowards more blows than any hero bear	B2
Of fighting sparks some may their pleasures say	L2
But 'tis a bolder thing to run away	L2
The world may well forgive him all his ill	S2
For every fault does prove his penance still	S2
Falsely he falls into some dangerous noose	L2
And then as meanly labours to get loose	L2
A life so infamous is better quitting	P3
Spent in base injury and low submitting	P3
I'd like to have left out his poetry	L2
Forgot by all almost as well as me	L2
Sometimes he has some humour never wit	N
And if it rarely very rarely hit	N
'Tis under so much nasty rubbish laid	Q3
To find it out's the cinderwoman's trade	Q3
Who for the wretched remnants of a fire	B2
Must toil all day in ashes and in mire	B2
So lewdly dull his idle works appear	B2
The wretched texts deserve no comments here	B2
Where one poor thought sometimes left all alone	L3
For a whole page of dulness must atone	L3
	-
How vain a thing is man and how unwise	L2
Even he who would himself the most despise	L2
I who so wise and humble seem to be	L2
Now my own vanity and pride can't see	L2
While the world's nonsense is so sharply shown	L3
We pull down others' but to raise our own	L3
That we may angels seem we paint them elves	L2
And are but satires to set up ourselves	L2
I who have all this while been finding fault	R3
Even with my master who first satire taught	S3
And did by that describe the task so hard	T3
It seems stupendous and above reward	U3
Now labour with unequal force to climb	H3
That lofty hill unreach'd by former time	H3
'Tis just that I should to the bottom fall	P
Learn to write well or not to write at all	P