Annus Mirabilis, The Year Of Wonders, 1666 Poem Rhyme Scheme

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John Dryden

Annus Mirabilis, The Year Of Wonders, 1666 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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	A
In thriving arts long time had Holland grown	B
Crouching at home and cruel when abroad	C
Scarce leaving us the means to claim our own	B
Our King they courted and our merchants awed	C
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Trade which like blood should circularly flow	D
Stopp'd in their channels found its freedom lost	E
Thither the wealth of all the world did go	D
And seem'd but shipwreck'd on so base a coast	F
	-
	-
For them alone the heavens had kindly heat	G
In eastern quarries ripening precious dew	H
For them the Idumaean balm did sweat	I
And in hot Ceylon spicy forests grew	H
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The sun but seem'd the labourer of the year	J
Each waxing moon supplied her watery store	K
To swell those tides which from the line did bear	L
Their brimful vessels to the Belgian shore	K
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Thus mighty in her ships stood Carthage long	M
And swept the riches of the world from far	N
Yet stoop'd to Rome less wealthy but more strong	M
And this may prove our second Punic war	K
	-
	-
What peace can be where both to one pretend	O
But they more diligent and we more strong	M
Or if a peace it soon must have an end	O
For they would grow too powerful were it long	M
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	-
Behold two nations then engaged so far	N
That each seven years the fit must shake each land	P
Where France will side to weaken us by war	K
Who only can his vast designs withstand	P
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	-
See how he feeds the Iberian with delays	Q
To render us his timely friendship vain	R
And while his secret soul on Flanders preys	Q
He rocks the cradle of the babe of Spain	R
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Such deep designs of empire does he lay	S
O'er them whose cause he seems to take in hand	P
And prudently would make them lords at sea	T
To whom with ease he can give laws by land	P
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This saw our King and long within his breast	U
His pensive counsels balanced to and fro	D
He grieved the land he freed should be oppress'd	U
And he less for it than usurpers do	H
	-
	-
His generous mind the fair ideas drew	H
Of fame and honour which in dangers lay	S
Where wealth like fruit on precipices grew	H
Not to be gather'd but by birds of prey	S
	-
	-
The loss and gain each fatally were great	V
And still his subjects call'd aloud for war	K
But peaceful kings o'er martial people set	I
Each other's poise and counterbalance are	N
	-
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He first survey'd the charge with careful eyes	W
Which none but mighty monarchs could maintain	R
Yet judged like vapours that from limbecks rise	W
It would in richer showers descend again	X
	-
	-
At length resolved to assert the watery ball	Y
He in himself did whole Armadoes bring	Z
Him aged seamen might their master call	Y
And choose for general were he not their king	Z
	-
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It seems as every ship their sovereign knows	A2
His awful summons they so soon obey	S
So hear the scaly herd when Proteus blows	A2
And so to pasture follow through the sea	T
	-
	-
To see this fleet upon the ocean move	B2
Angels drew wide the curtains of the skies	W
And heaven as if there wanted lights above	C2
For tapers made two glaring comets rise	W
	-
	-
Whether they unctuous exhalations are	N
Fired by the sun or seeming so alone	B
Or each some more remote and slippery star	N
Which loses footing when to mortals shown	B
	-
	-
Or one that bright companion of the sun	D2
Whose glorious aspect seal'd our new born king	Z
And now a round of greater years begun	D2
New influence from his walks of light did bring	Z
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Victorious York did first with famed success	E2
To his known valour make the Dutch give place	F2
Thus Heaven our monarch's fortune did confess	E2
Beginning conquest from his royal race	F2
	-
	-
But since it was decreed auspicious King	Z
In Britain's right that thou shouldst wed the main	R
Heaven as a gage would cast some precious thing	Z
And therefore doom'd that Lawson should be slain	R
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Lawson amongst the foremost met his fate	V
Whom sea green Sirens from the rocks lament	G2
Thus as an offering for the Grecian state	V
He first was kill'd who first to battle went	G2
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Their chief blown up in air not waves expired	H2
To which his pride presumed to give the law	I2
The Dutch confess'd Heaven present and retired	H2
And all was Britain the wide ocean saw	I2
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To nearest ports their shatter'd ships repair	L
Where by our dreadful cannon they lay awed	C
So reverently men quit the open air	L
When thunder speaks the angry gods abroad	C
	-
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And now approach'd their fleet from India fraught	J2
With all the riches of the rising sun	D2
And precious sand from southern climates brought	J2
The fatal regions where the war begun	D2
	-
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Like hunted castors conscious of their store	K
Their waylaid wealth to Norway's coasts they bring	Z
There first the north's cold bosom spices bore	K
And winter brooded on the eastern spring	Z
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By the rich scent we found our perfumed prey	S
Which flank'd with rocks did close in covert lie	K2
And round about their murdering cannon lay	S
At once to threaten and invite the eye	K2
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Fiercer than cannon and than rocks more hard	L2
The English undertake the unequal war	K
Seven ships alone by which the port is barr'd	L2
Besiege the Indies and all Denmark dare	L
	-
	-
These fight like husbands but like lovers those	A2
These fain would keep and those more fain enjoy	M2
And to such height their frantic passion grows	A2
That what both love both hazard to destroy	M2
	-
	-
Amidst whole heaps of spices lights a ball	Y
And now their odours arm'd against them fly	K2
Some preciously by shatter'd porcelain fall	Y
And some by aromatic splinters die	K2
	-
	-
And though by tempests of the prize bereft	N2
In Heaven's inclemency some ease we find	O2
Our foes we vanquish'd by our valour left	N2
And only yielded to the seas and wind	O2
	-
	-
Nor wholly lost we so deserved a prey	S
For storms repenting part of it restored	P2
Which as a tribute from the Baltic sea	T
The British ocean sent her mighty lord	P2
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	-
Go mortals now and vex yourselves in vain	R
For wealth which so uncertainly must come	Q2
When what was brought so far and with such pain	R
Was only kept to lose it nearer home	R2
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The son who twice three months on th' ocean tost	P2
Prepared to tell what he had pass'd before	K
Now sees in English ships the Holland coast	P2
And parents' arms in vain stretch'd from the shore	K
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This careful husband had been long away	S
Whom his chaste wife and little children mourn	S2
Who on their fingers learn'd to tell the day	S
On which their father promised to return	T2
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Such are the proud designs of human kind	P2
And so we suffer shipwreck every where	L
Alas what port can such a pilot find	P2
Who in the night of fate must blindly steer	J
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The undistinguish'd seeds of good and ill	U2
Heaven in his bosom from our knowledge hides	V2
And draws them in contempt of human skill	U2
Which oft for friends mistaken foes provides	V2
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Let Munster's prelate ever be accurst	P2
In whom we seek the German faith in vain	R
Alas that he should teach the English first	P2
That fraud and avarice in the Church could reign	R
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Happy who never trust a stranger's will	U2
Whose friendship's in his interest understood	P2
Since money given but tempts him to be ill	U2
When power is too remote to make him good	P2
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Till now alone the mighty nations strove	W2
The rest at gaze without the lists did stand	P2
And threatening France placed like a painted Jove	W2
Kept idle thunder in his lifted hand	P2
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That eunuch guardian of rich Holland's trade	P2
Who envies us what he wants power to enjoy	M2
Whose noiseful valour does no foe invade	P2
And weak assistance will his friends destroy	M2
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Offended that we fought without his leave	W2
He takes this time his secret hate to show	D
Which Charles does with a mind so calm receive	W2
As one that neither seeks nor shuns his foe	D
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With France to aid the Dutch the Danes unite	P2
France as their tyrant Denmark as their slave	W2
But when with one three nations join to fight	P2
They silently confess that one more brave	W2
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Lewis had chased the English from his shore	K
But Charles the French as subjects does invite	P2
Would Heaven for each some Solomon restore	K
Who by their mercy may decide their right	P2
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Were subjects so but only by their choice	X2
And not from birth did forced dominion take	Y2
Our prince alone would have the public voice	X2
And all his	Z2