Prologue[1] To His Royal Highness, Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEBBFGFHHIIJJK KLLMMNNLLOOPPMQRRBBD DDSS| UPON HIS FIRST APPEARANCE AT THE DUKE'S THEATRE AFTER HIS RETURN FROM SCOTLAND | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| In those cold regions which no summers cheer | B |
| Where brooding darkness covers half the year | B |
| To hollow caves the shivering natives go | C |
| Bears range abroad and hunt in tracks of snow | C |
| But when the tedious twilight wears away | D |
| And stars grow paler at the approach of day | D |
| The longing crowds to frozen mountains run | E |
| Happy who first can see the glimmering sun | E |
| The surly savage offspring disappear | B |
| And curse the bright successor of the year | B |
| Yet though rough bears in covert seek defence | F |
| White foxes stay with seeming innocence | G |
| That crafty kind with daylight can dispense | F |
| Still we are throng'd so full with Reynard's race | H |
| That loyal subjects scarce can find a place | H |
| Thus modest truth is cast behind the crowd | I |
| Truth speaks too low hypocrisy too loud | I |
| Let them be first to flatter in success | J |
| Duty can stay but guilt has need to press | J |
| Once when true zeal the sons of God did call | K |
| To make their solemn show at heaven's Whitehall | K |
| The fawning Devil appear'd among the rest | L |
| And made as good a courtier as the best | L |
| The friends of Job who rail'd at him before | M |
| Came cap in hand when he had three times more | M |
| Yet late repentance may perhaps be true | N |
| Kings can forgive if rebels can but sue | N |
| A tyrant's power in rigour is express'd | L |
| The father yearns in the true prince's breast | L |
| We grant an o'ergrown Whig no grace can mend | O |
| But most are babes that know not they offend | O |
| The crowd to restless motion still inclined | P |
| Are clouds that tack according to the wind | P |
| Driven by their chiefs they storms of hailstones pour | M |
| Then mourn and soften to a silent shower | Q |
| O welcome to this much offending land | R |
| The prince that brings forgiveness in his hand | R |
| Thus angels on glad messages appear | B |
| Their first salute commands us not to fear | B |
| Thus Heaven that could constrain us to obey | D |
| With reverence if we might presume to say | D |
| Seems to relax the rights of sovereign sway | D |
| Permits to man the choice of good and ill | S |
| And makes us happy by our own free will | S |
John Dryden
(1)
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