Epilogue To "the Pilgrim." Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEBBFGHHIJKKLL MMNNOOPPOOBBQQQCCOOO RROOSSS| Perhaps the parson stretch'd a point too far | A |
| When with our Theatres he waged a war | B |
| He tells you that this very moral age | C |
| Received the first infection from the stage | C |
| But sure a banish'd court with lewdness fraught | D |
| The seeds of open vice returning brought | D |
| Thus lodged as vice by great example thrives | E |
| It first debauch'd the daughters and the wives | E |
| London a fruitful soil yet never bore | B |
| So plentiful a crop of horns before | B |
| The poets who must live by courts or starve | F |
| Were proud so good a government to serve | G |
| And mixing with buffoons and pimps profane | H |
| Tainted the stage for some small snip of gain | H |
| For they like harlots under bawds profess'd | I |
| Took all the ungodly pains and got the least | J |
| Thus did the thriving malady prevail | K |
| The court its head the poets but the tail | K |
| The sin was of our native growth 'tis true | L |
| The scandal of the sin was wholly new | L |
| Misses they were but modestly conceal'd | M |
| Whitehall the naked Venus first reveal'd | M |
| Who standing as at Cyprus in her shrine | N |
| The strumpet was adored with rites divine | N |
| Ere this if saints had any secret motion | O |
| 'Twas chamber practice all and close devotion | O |
| I pass the peccadilloes of their time | P |
| Nothing but open lewdness was a crime | P |
| A monarch's blood was venial to the nation | O |
| Compared with one foul act of fornication | O |
| Now they would silence us and shut the door | B |
| That let in all the barefaced vice before | B |
| As for reforming us which some pretend | Q |
| That work in England is without an end | Q |
| Well may we change but we shall never mend | Q |
| Yet if you can but bear the present Stage | C |
| We hope much better of the coming age | C |
| What would you say if we should first begin | O |
| To stop the trade of love behind the scene | O |
| Where actresses make bold with married men | O |
| For while abroad so prodigal the dolt is | R |
| Poor spouse at home as ragged as a colt is | R |
| In short we'll grow as moral as we can | O |
| Save here and there a woman or a man | O |
| But neither you nor we with all our pains | S |
| Can make clean work there will be some remains | S |
| While you have still your Oates and we our Haines | S |
John Dryden
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About Epilogue To "the Pilgrim."
Epilogue To "the Pilgrim." is a poem by John Dryden. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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